Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2022
The role of housing characteristics in racial and ethnic disparities in SARS-CoV-2 antibody seropositivity among New York City adults: A population representative study.
Black and Latino populations have been disproportionately burdened by COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. Subsidized housing, crowding, and neighborhood poverty might be associated with increased COVID-19 transmission and play a role in observed racial and ethnic disparities, yet research is limited. Our study investigated whether these housing variables mediate the relationship between race and ethnicity and SARS-CoV-2 antibody seropositivity among New York City (NYC) adults. ⋯ While living in crowded housing and high-poverty neighborhoods contributed to racial and ethnic disparities in seropositivity the estimated contribution from living in subsidized housing was -9% (Black) and - 14% (Latino). Our findings revealed racial and ethnic disparities in seropositivity of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among NYC adults. Unlike crowding and neighborhood poverty, living in subsidized housing did not explain racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2022
Home e-cigarette rules and youth's vulnerability to initiate and sustain e-cigarette use.
Existing studies of the impact of home rules on youth's vulnerability to e-cigarette use were based on cross-sectional data, youth or parent reports alone, as well as youth's perceptions and susceptibility. This study capitalizes on the restricted-use data of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study to examine the longitudinal association between home rules for e-cigarette use and youth's vulnerability including initiation of use and regular use two years later. Secondary analysis was conducted on 1203 parent-youth pairs who participated in both Wave 4 (2016-2018) and Wave 5 (2018-2019) assessment of the PATH Study and while the youth were age 12-16 at Wave 4. ⋯ The results show that having a strict home rule for e-cigarette use was associated with youth's heightened level of perceived injunctive norms (β = 0.22, p < 0.01), higher expectancy of harmfulness (β = 0.28, p < 0.01) and lower odds for regular e-cigarette use (OR = 0.36, p < 0.05). In conclusion, the findings of this study support the potential protective effects of implementing a strict home rule for e-cigarette use. Future intervention efforts may promote parents' awareness of the potential protective effects of a strict home e-cigarette rule on youth's normative belief, harm expectancy, and behavior of e-cigarette use.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2022
Modeling the longitudinal transitions of electronic cigarettes and conventional cigarettes with time-dependent covariates among adolescents.
E-cigarettes may help combustible cigarette smokers switch to a less harmful alternative, or may increase the risk of subsequent initiation of cigarettes among non-smokers. Among youth, it is not clear whether both pathways occur equally, or whether one direction is more likely than the other. We used data from a prospective cohort study of youth in Southern California followed twice annually from Fall 2013 (9th grade) to Fall 2015 (11th grade) (N = 1977). ⋯ E-cigarettes were more strongly associated with subsequent cigarette initiation than the reverse, though both models indicated that use of either product seems to encourage use of the other. Models also indicated that use of either e-cigarettes or cigarettes resulted in reduced abstention of the other product. Findings suggest that prevention efforts for that continue to focus on both e-cigarettes and cigarettes are needed.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2022
Social participation and mild cognitive impairment in low- and middle-income countries.
Social participation may theoretically decrease risk for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, to date, no study has specifically investigated the association between social participation and MCI in LMICs, while the mediating role of loneliness is unknown. Thus, we investigated this association in a sample of adults aged ≥50 years from six low- and middle-income countries (LMICs; China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, South Africa) using nationally representative datasets. ⋯ Loneliness only explained 3.0% of the association. Greater levels of social participation were associated with a reduced odds for MCI, and this was not largely explained by loneliness. It may be prudent to implement interventions in LMICs to increase levels of social participation to aid in the prevention of MCI and ultimately dementia.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2022
Cardiovascular mortality risk prediction using objectively measured physical activity phenotypes in NHANES 2003-2006.
Increased physical activity (PA) has been associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality. However, most previous studies use self-reported PA instead of objectively measured PA assessed by wearable accelerometers. To the best of our knowledge, there have not been studies that quantified the univariate and multivariate ability of objectively measured PA summaries to predict the risk of CVD mortality. ⋯ The addition of PA measures to the best traditional model was significantly better at predicting CVD mortality (P < 0.001). Accelerometer-derived PA measures have excellent cardiovascular mortality prediction performance. Wearable accelerometers have a potential for assessment of individuals' CVD mortality risks.