Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2024
Emotional barriers pose the greatest threat to cervical cancer screening for young adult women in the United Kingdom.
Low cervical screening coverage rate is the root-cause of cervical cancer mortality in the United Kingdom (UK), with 99 % of deaths being considered preventable. Research has consistently categorised reasons for non-attendance into emotional, practical, and cognitive barriers. Despite this, public health interventions have been unable to improve coverage rates. We propose a lifespan perspective is needed, to enable targeted interventions at appropriate milestones (i.e., common life events) during a woman's life. We start this lifespan perspective by investigating the perceived barriers young women report, who have and have not yet been invited to their first cervical screen (i.e., a common life event). ⋯ Emotional barriers pose the greatest threat to cervical screening attendance in young adult women. Interventions should start at school to encourage cervical screening to be viewed as routine healthcare. Future research should continue a lifespan perspective, indexed to common life events.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2024
Review Meta AnalysisA systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating the effectiveness of minimally supervised home and community exercise interventions in improving physical activity, body adiposity and quality of life in adults living with HIV.
People living with HIV (PLWH) are physically inactive and risk cardiometabolic dysfunction. Home and community exercise (HCE) is pragmatic, cost-effective and improves health in varied chronic conditions. This review aimed to synthesize evidence on the effectiveness of minimally supervised HCE for physical activity (PA), adiposity, quality of life (QoL), and other physical and psychological health indices for PLWH. ⋯ Minimally supervised HCE can improve PA, body fat, physical QoL and other health indices in PLWH.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2024
Review Meta AnalysisEvaluating the effectiveness of mailout smoking cessation support: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
One of the main barriers to smoking cessation support is accessibility. Mailout supports can potentially mitigate access barriers, but their effectiveness has not been explored. The aim of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness of mailout smoking cessation support. ⋯ Mailout smoking cessation support improves quitting, especially when interventions include NRT and delivered for longer than 12 weeks. While further research is needed to refine implementation strategies, mailout smoking cessation supports are effective and have potential to reduce access barriers.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2024
ReviewSystematic review of the evidence on physical activity prescriptions for youth.
Despite the well-documented benefits of physical activity (PA), globally, only 20 % of youth engage in sufficient PA. Reviews support the benefits of PA prescriptions on promoting adults' PA, but no comparable reviews exist on studies among youth. This systematic review 1) assesses the state of the evidence regarding PA prescriptions from healthcare practitioners on youths' PA; and 2) identifies gaps to inform future research and practice. ⋯ There is insufficient research on healthcare practitioner delivered PA prescriptions to promote youths' PA to determine effectiveness. Future research with objectively measured PA and more diverse youth samples would advance the evidence.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2024
Multicenter StudyFirearm violence and associated factors among young adults presenting to emergency departments in three cities: Baseline results from Project SPARK.
Recent shifts in U.S. violence dynamics call for updated violence epidemiology among general emergency department (ED) samples of young adults. Using baseline data from a multi-site longitudinal study of firearm violence prediction, we describe violence rates and associated factors. ⋯ Violence, including firearm assault, is common among young adults entering urban EDs, and is associated with several psychosocial factors. High rates of substance use and mental health symptoms underscore this as a high-need population. Leveraging this information could help tailor interventions and optimize resource allocation.