Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2024
Epidemiology of drug arrests in the United States: Evidence from the national survey on drug use and health, 2015-2019.
Following changes to drug criminalization policies, we re-examine the epidemiology of drug arrests among people who use drugs (PWUD) in the U.S. ⋯ Despite recent shifts away from punitive drug policies, we detected no reduction in drug arrests nationally and increasing prevalence in non-metro areas. Despite reporting the lowest level of illicit substance use and drug selling, NH Black individuals had significantly increased odds of arrest across years. Findings highlight the need for further examination of policy implementation and policing practices in different settings, with more research focused non-metro areas, to address enduring structural racism in drug enforcement and its consequences for health.
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2024
Loneliness and its cross-sectional associations with health, health behaviours, and perceptions in Finnish patients with overweight or obesity taking part in the healthy weight coaching.
To investigate cross-sectional associations between loneliness and health, health behaviours, and perceptions in Finnish individuals with overweight or obesity (BMI ≥25 kg/m2). ⋯ Loneliness had several untoward associations with health, health behaviours, and perceptions. Further research should explore the intricate relationship between obesity, loneliness, and physical and psychosocial health.
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2024
Application of a comprehensive disability measure: Disability prevalence among US veterans and non-veterans from the National Health Interview Survey Data from 2015 to 2018.
Current measures of condition-specific disabilities or those capturing only severe limitations may underestimate disability prevalence, including among Veterans. ⋯ Our disability metric demonstrates that Veterans have a higher disability prevalence than non-Veterans, and a higher prevalence than previously reported. Public policy and future research should consider this broader definition of disability to more fully account for the variable needs of people with disabilities.
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2024
Co-occurring conditions during pregnancy and hospitalizations in the first year postpartum among persons with opioid use disorder.
Pregnant persons with opioid use disorder (OUD) face a multitude of comorbid conditions that may increase the risk of adverse drug and health outcomes. This study characterizes typologies of comorbidities among pregnant persons with OUD and assesses the associations of these typologies with hospitalizations in the first year postpartum. ⋯ Findings highlight the need for long-term, multidisciplinary healthcare delivery interventions to address comorbidities and prevent adverse postpartum outcomes.
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2024
Does later school start improve adolescents' sleep and substance use?: A quasi-experimental study.
A later school start time policy has been recommended as a solution to adolescents' sleep deprivation. We estimated the impacts of later school start times on adolescents' sleep and substance use by leveraging a quasi-experiment in which school start time was delayed in some regions in South Korea. ⋯ Our findings suggest that policies that increase sleep in adolescents may have positive effects on health behaviors, but additional efforts may be required to sustain positive impacts over time. Physicians and education and health policymakers should consider the long-term effects of later school start times on adolescent health and well-being.