Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · May 2023
Counseling Women of reproductive age about emergency preparedness - Provider attitudes and practices.
We report healthcare provider attitudes and practices on emergency preparedness counseling for women of reproductive age (WRA), including pregnant, postpartum, and lactating women (PPLW), for disasters and weather emergencies. DocStyles is a web-based panel survey of primary healthcare providers in the United States. During March 17-May 17, 2021, obstetricians-gynecologists, family practitioners, internists, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants were asked about the importance of emergency preparedness counseling, level of confidence, frequency, barriers to providing counseling, and preferred resources to support counseling among WRA and PPLW. ⋯ Most respondents (79%) stated they would use emergency preparedness educational materials for WRA, and 60% said they were willing to take an emergency preparedness training. Healthcare providers have opportunities to provide emergency preparedness counseling; however, many have not, noting lack of time and knowledge as barriers. Emergency preparedness resources combined with training may improve healthcare provider confidence and increase delivery of emergency preparedness counseling.
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Preventive medicine · May 2023
Relationship between polyvictimization and overweight among adolescents from São Paulo city, Brazil.
This study is to identify victimization patterns and analyze the association between the experience of polyvictimization and overweight or obesity among adolescent girls and boys. The sample consisted of 2680 Brazilian ninth-graders enrolled in public and private schools, taken from the São Paulo Project for the social development of children and adolescents (SP-PROSO). Victimization was explored in two ways: (i) as per Finkelhor and (ii) by latent class analysis (LCA). ⋯ Only the class of high polyvictimization was associated with being overweight (ORadj: 1.60, 95%CI: 1.01-2.54) in girls. In this study, polyvictimization was associated with being overweight only among adolescent girls. Longitudinal studies in different contexts and populations are needed to understand this relationship.
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Preventive medicine · May 2023
Purpose in life and physical health in older U.S. military veterans: Cross-sectional results from the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study.
General population studies suggest purpose in life (PIL) is associated with a number of positive outcomes, including better mental and physical health. At present, however, scarce research has examined how PIL relates to these outcomes in veterans. The goal of this study was to determine the current prevalence of different levels of PIL and their associations with reported physical health in a nationally representative sample of predominantly older U. ⋯ Low PIL was associated with lower overall self-reported health and physical and cognitive functioning, as well as higher bodily pain, somatic symptoms, and physical role limitations (Cohen's d = 0.06-0.77). Low PIL was also associated with elevated rates of several physical health conditions, including sleep disorders, as well as obesity and disability with activities of daily living (i.e., ADLs) or instrumental activities of daily living (i.e., IADLs). These results suggest low PIL is associated with physical health difficulties, and underscore the importance of assessing and monitoring PIL, and evaluating whether interventions to promote PIL may help improve physical health and vice versa.
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Developing a public health approach to suicide prevention among United States (US) military veterans requires additional data and guidance on where, when, for whom, and what prevention resources should be deployed. This study examines veteran suicide mortality across one US state (Oregon) to identify county-level "hotspots" for veteran suicide, identify community characteristics associated with increased suicide among veterans, and examine excess spatial risk after accounting for space, time, and community characteristics. We linked Oregon mortality data with VA databases to identify veterans who had resided in Oregon and died by suicide between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2018 (n = 1727). ⋯ We found a small clustering of counties in the southwestern corner of Oregon that held the highest risk for veteran suicide across the ten years studied. In multivariable models, higher prevalence of unmarried persons was the only community measure significantly associated with increased veteran suicide risk. However, social contextual factors as a group, along with geographic space, explained most risk for suicide among veterans at the population level.
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Preventive medicine · May 2023
The longitudinal association between asthma severity and physical fitness among new York City public school youth.
Severe persistent childhood asthma is associated with low physical activity and may be associated with poor physical fitness. Research on the asthma severity-fitness association longitudinally and across sociodemographic subgroups is needed to inform fitness interventions targeting youth with asthma. We evaluated the relationship between asthma severity (categorized as severe, mild, or no asthma) and subsequent fitness in New York City (NYC) public school youth enrolled in grades 4-12 using the NYC Fitnessgram dataset (2010-2018). ⋯ After stratifying by demographics, the magnitude of the asthma severity-fitness relationship was highest for non-Hispanic white vs. all other racial/ethnic subgroups, and was similar across sex, grade level, and household poverty status. Overall, we observed an inverse longitudinal relationship between asthma severity and subsequent fitness among urban youth, particularly non-Hispanic Whites. Future research should examine how neighborhood-level factors impact the asthma severity-fitness relationship across racial/ethnic subgroups.