Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Jun 2023
Differences in influenza vaccination by gender identity and state-level gender equity policies: Behavioral risk factor surveillance system, 2015-2019.
It is estimated that there are one million transgender and over 340,000 gender non-conforming people in the United States, many of whom face significant health disparities including access to healthcare. Although previous studies have reported greater vaccine uptake in women compared to men, national-level estimates of influenza vaccine uptake among transgender and non-binary people are unknown. This study aims to characterize differences in influenza vaccine uptake by gender identity and examine associations between vaccination status and state-level gender equity policies. ⋯ Our results identified a disparity in influenza vaccine uptake among individuals across the gender spectrum. To improve vaccine equity, future research should explore barriers to and facilitators of vaccine uptake by gender identity, which could inform policies and health promotion interventions to improve uptake co-designed and implemented with the transgender and non-binary communities.
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Preventive medicine · Jun 2023
Sexual violence in early adolescence is associated with subsequent teen pregnancy and parenthood.
Being a victim of sexual violence (SV) is associated with risk for teen pregnancy in cross-sectional research. However, longitudinal data are necessary to determine if SV victimization plays a causal role in early pregnancy. To address this gap in research, we test whether experiencing SV victimization in early adolescence is associated with pregnancy and having children by mid-adolescence. ⋯ The present findings indicate that girls victimized by SV are at risk of becoming pregnant and becoming teen parents. The combined sequelae of SV and teen pregnancy impair health, economic, and social functioning across the lifespan and carry forward into future generations. Future research should explore mechanisms through which victimization confers risk for pregnancy to inform prevention strategies.
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Preventive medicine · Jun 2023
The contribution of modifiable risk factors to socioeconomic inequities in cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality: A nationally representative population-based cohort study.
This study examined the individual and joint effects of modifiable risk factors mediating the associations between socioeconomic position (SEP) and morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in a nationally representative sample of adults in Canada. Participants in the Canadian Community Health Survey (n = 289,800) were followed longitudinally for CVD morbidity and mortality using administrative health and mortality data. SEP was measured as a latent variable consisting of household income and individual educational attainment. ⋯ The mediating effects of physical inactivity were through joint mediating effects with obesity, diabetes or hypertension. There were additional joint mediating effects of obesity through diabetes or hypertension in females. Findings point to modifiable risk factors as important targets for interventions along with interventions that target structural determinants of health to reduce socioeconomic inequities in CVD.