Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Mar 2022
Intention to vaccinate children for COVID-19: A segmentation analysis among Medicaid parents in Florida.
COVID-19 vaccines have been granted emergency use authorization for children ages 5 years and older. To understand how racially and ethnically diverse parents of young children enrolled in Medicaid feel about a prospective COVID-19 vaccine for their children, we administered an online survey that included both close-ended and open-ended items to a statewide sample in Florida (n = 1951). We used quantitative responses to conduct a statistical audience segmentation analysis that identified five distinct sub-groups that varied widely in the likelihood that they would get a COVID-19 vaccine for their child. ⋯ The youngest Black and White mothers were more likely to report their lives being worse during the COVID-19 pandemic, were far more negative and less positive about a COVID-19 vaccine, and were more concerned about paying bills than preventing COVID-19. Younger Hispanic and mixed-race parents were less negative, but more likely to use emotional language (e.g., scared, nervous, worried) talking about a COVID-19 vaccine, and more likely to report that protecting their child's health was their top concern. Recommendations are made for applying the insights gained in outreach and education efforts.
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Preventive medicine · Mar 2022
Physical activity intensity profiles associated with cardiometabolic risk in middle-aged to older men and women.
Accelerometers provide detailed data about physical activity (PA) across the full intensity spectrum. However, when examining associations with health, results are often aggregated to only a few summary measures [e.g. time spent "sedentary" or "moderate-to-vigorous" intensity PA]. Using multivariate pattern analysis, which can handle collinear exposure variables, we examined associations between the full PA intensity spectrum and cardiometabolic risk (CMR) in a population-based sample of middle-aged to older adults. ⋯ The strongest favourable associations were from 50 to 800 cpm (r = 0.10-0.12) in men, but from ≥2500 cpm (r = 0.18-0.20) in women; with higher proportions of model explained variance for women (R2 = 7.4% vs. 2.3%). Most of the PA intensity spectrum was beneficially associated with CMR in middle-aged to older adults, even at intensities lower than what has traditionally been considered "sedentary" or "light-intensity" activity. This supports encouragement of PA at almost any intensity in this age-group.
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Preventive medicine · Mar 2022
Cannabis legalization and cannabis-involved pregnancy hospitalizations in Colorado.
The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the association between presence of recreational cannabis dispensaries and prevalence of cannabis-involved pregnancy hospitalizations in Colorado. This was a retrospective cohort study of pregnancy-related hospitalizations co-coded with cannabis diagnosis codes in the Colorado Hospital Association from January 1, 2011, through December 31, 2018 (recreational cannabis began January 1, 2014). Our primary outcome was cannabis-involved pregnancy hospitalizations per 10 k live births per county. ⋯ When comparing counties with different densities of baseline medical cannabis market, low and high exposure counties had fewer hospitalizations than those counties with no exposure (low: IRR 0.97, CI: 0.96-0.99; high: 0.98, CI: 0.96-0.99). In Colorado, there was more than a two-fold increase in cannabis-involved pregnancy hospitalizations between 2011 and 2018. Counties with no baseline exposure to medical cannabis had a greater increase than other counties, suggesting the recreational market may influence cannabis use among pregnant individuals.
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Preventive medicine · Mar 2022
Firearm ownership, attitudes, and safe storage practices among a nationally representative sample of older U.S. adults age 50 to 80.
Firearms are a leading cause of injury mortality across the lifespan, with elevated risks for older adult populations. To inform prevention efforts, we conducted a probability-based web survey (12/1/2019-12/23/2019) of 2048 older adults (age 50-80) to characterize national estimates of firearm ownership, safety practices, and attitudes about health screening, counseling, and policy initiatives. Among older U. ⋯ Among firearm owners, there was support for state-level policy interventions, including allowing family/police to petition courts to restrict access when someone is a danger to self/others (78.9% [95%CI = 75.1-82.3]), comprehensive background checks (85.0% [95%CI = 81.5-87.9]), restricting access/ownership under domestic violence restraining orders (88.1%; 95%CI = 84.9-90.7], and removing firearms from older adults with dementia/confusion (80.6%; 95%CI = 76.8-84.0]. Healthcare and policy-level interventions maintained higher support among non-owners than owners (p's < 0.001). Overall, data highlights opportunities exist for more robust firearm safety prevention efforts among older adults, particularly healthcare-based counseling and state/federal policies that focus on addressing lethal means access among at-risk individuals.
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Preventive medicine · Mar 2022
Forgoing healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic in Geneva, Switzerland - A cross-sectional population-based study.
Health systems around the world continue to navigate through operational challenges surfaced by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; these have implications for access to healthcare. In this study, we estimate the prevalence and reasons for forgoing healthcare during the pandemic in Geneva, Switzerland; a country with a universal and mandatory private health insurance coverage. ⋯ Our paper highlights the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to healthcare and identifies population sub-groups at-risk for forgoing healthcare. These results necessitate public health efforts to ensure equitable and accessible healthcare as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.