Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2021
The Great East Japan Earthquake and suicide: The long-term consequences and underlying mechanisms.
How and why do major natural disasters affect suicide? This study revisits this question by focusing on the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) in March 2011 as a historically important natural disaster. Using an event-study analysis, we assessed how the GEJE changed the suicide rates in the regions affected by it and whether its effect persisted, attenuated, or escalated over time. ⋯ Furthermore, following the GEJE, government spending increased while divorce rates decreased in the affected prefectures, both of which were correlated with male suicide rates. These findings indicate that suicide after major natural disasters is preventable when political and social reactions to disasters provide a safety net, especially for men.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2021
Association of change in the school travel mode with changes in different physical activity intensities and sedentary time: A International Children's Accelerometry Database Study.
Our aim was to assess the association between changes in active travel to school and changes in different intensities of physical activity (i.e. moderate - MPA and vigorous - VPA) and time spent sedentary (SED) among adolescents and assess the moderating effect of children's sex, age and weight status. Data from six cohort studies in the International Children's Accelerometry Database were used (4108 adolescents aged 10-13y at baseline, with 1.9±0.7y of follow-up). Participants self-reported travel mode to school at baseline and follow-up. ⋯ There were no associations with SED. An interaction was observed, age group moderated the association with change in VPA: among 12-13y-olds a greater increase in VPA was observed for the passive/active group compared to active/active. Promoting active travel to school can be a strategy to attenuate the decline in physical activity through adolescence.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2021
Do predictors of adherence to pandemic guidelines change over time? A panel study of 22,000 UK adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the absence of a vaccine, governments have focused on behaviour change (e.g. social distancing and enhanced hygiene procedures) to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing research on the predictors of compliance with pandemic measures has often produced discrepant results. One explanation for this may be that the determinants of compliance are context specific. ⋯ Low compliance was strongly related to younger age and also to risk attitudes, empathic concern, and high income, among other factors. The size of some of these associations was larger in later months when less stringent lockdown and household mixing measures were in place. The results showed that compliance was lower and fell faster across some groups, suggesting the importance that public health communications adopt a plurality of messages to maximize broad adherence.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2021
Risk of hypertension in school-aged children undergoing a long-term community-based lifestyle intervention: Tehran lipid and glucose study.
Childhood hypertension which increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases in adulthood is becoming more prevalent. For the first time in the Middle-East region, this study aimed to assess the long-term effectiveness of a community-based lifestyle intervention on the incidence of hypertension in school-aged children during 16 years of follow-up. This study was conducted within the framework of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS). ⋯ Although the risk of hypertension in boys was more than twice that observed in girls, the effectiveness of the recent community-based healthy lifestyle intervention was observed only in girls and not in boys. Further studies are needed to understand gender differences in promoting the effectiveness of similar future programs. The TLGS is registered at Iran Registry for Clinical Trials, a WHO primary registry (http://irct.ir; IRCTID: IRCT138705301058N1).
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2021
Should physical activity calorie equivalent (PACE) labelling be introduced on food labels and menus to reduce excessive calorie consumption? Issues and opportunities.
PACE food labelling seeks to provide kilocalorie information with an interpretation of what the kilocalorie content of the food item or meal means for energy expenditure. For example, "the kilocalories in this pizza require 110 minutes of walking to expend". ⋯ However, several criticisms of this labelling system have been raised. This commentary explores both the issues and opportunities related to PACE food labelling, arguing that the benefits of implementation outweigh potential unintended consequences.