Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2022
Pre-pandemic social isolation as a predictor of the adverse impact of the pandemic on self-rated health: A longitudinal COVID-19 study in Japan.
Many studies have found adverse effects of the coronavirus disease pandemic on health. Irrespective of being infected by the coronavirus, lockdowns and other measures to restrict mobility have worsened an individual's subjective health assessment. Unlike previous studies, this study examined how pre-pandemic social isolation (in the form of no interaction with others and having no social support) affected the impact of the pandemic on self-rated health in Japan. ⋯ The state of emergency raised the probability of reporting poor health by 17.8 (95% confidence interval [CI]:1.9-33.8) percentage points among the participants who had not interacted with others before the pandemic, compared with only 0.7 (95% CI: -3.1-4.5) percentage points among other participants. Similar results were obtained in the absence of social support prior to the pandemic. In conclusion, pre-pandemic social isolation was detrimental to health, suggesting that policy measures are needed to avoid social isolation to increase the resilience of public health to external shocks.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2022
Availability and content of clinical guidance for tobacco use and dependence treatment - United States, 2000-2019.
Evidence-based treatments for tobacco use and dependence can increase cessation success but remain underutilized. Health professional societies and voluntary health organizations (advising organizations) are uniquely positioned to influence the delivery of cessation treatments by providing clinical guidance for healthcare providers. This study aimed to review the guidance produced by these organizations for content and consistency with current evidence. ⋯ Documents endorsed: screening (74%), pharmacotherapy (68%), counseling (89%), or follow-up (37%). Few documents endorsed more recent evidence-based treatments including combination nicotine replacement therapy (18%), and text- (11%) and web-based (11%) interventions. Advising organizations have opportunities to address identified gaps and enhance clinical guidance to contribute toward expanding the provision of comprehensive tobacco cessation support.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2022
Association between COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and trust in the medical profession and public health officials.
One's personal physician, national and state or local public health officials, and the broader medical profession play important roles in encouraging vaccine uptake for COVID-19. However, the relationship between trust in these experts and vaccine hesitancy has been underexplored, particularly among racial/minority groups where historic medical mistrust may reduce uptake. Using an April 2021 online sample of US adults (n = 3041) that explored vaccine hesitancy, regression models estimate levels of trust in each of these types of experts and between trust in each of these experts and the odds of being COVID-19 vaccine takers vs refusers or hesitaters. ⋯ For Hispanic respondents only, the odds of being a hesitater declined significantly when trust in the medical profession rose. Mistrust in the medical profession, one's doctor and national experts contributes to vaccine hesitancy. Mobilizing personal physicians to speak to their own patients may help.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2022
COVID-19 vaccination is associated with reduced non-COVID in-hospital mortality.
We retrieved data on a cohort of medical patients at a regional Israeli hospital. The dependent variable was non-COVID-19 hospital mortality; the independent variables were vaccination status, age, and laboratory data. ⋯ The odds ratio for in-hospital deaths of non-vaccinated patients was 2.01 (1.65-2.44) (unadjusted) and 1.61 (1.29-2.03) after adjustment for the independent variables. This "healthy adherer effect" may confound observational assessments of the clinical efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.