Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2021
Screen time and child behaviour and health-related quality of life: Effect of family context.
This study investigated family contextual effects on the association between screen time, behaviour and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in child siblings. Data were from 1772 participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health 1973-78 cohort and their three youngest children (N = 4010 siblings) aged two to 12, collected in Mothers and their Children's Health cross-sectional sub-study (2016/17). The exposure was average daily recreational screen time (televisions, computers, tablets, mobile phones, electronic games). ⋯ For HRQOL, within-family effects were found for psychosocial (-0.97 (-1.91, -0.02)) and physical (-1.32 (-2.25, -0.39)) HRQOL, but no between-family effects were found. In conclusion, the higher the average screen time by all children in the family, the worse the child's behaviour, while the greater the deviation of the child's screen time from their siblings, the poorer their HRQOL. Family contextual factors should be considered in screen time research and screen time recommendations.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2021
Randomized Controlled TrialInfluence of package colour, branding and health warnings on appeal and perceived harm of cannabis products among respondents in Canada and the US.
'Plain packaging' and health warnings can reduce appeal and increase risk perceptions of tobacco products. This study tested the effect of health warnings and restricted brand imagery on perceptions of cannabis products. Participants in Canada and the US (n = 45,378) were randomized to view packages of three cannabis brands in 2019. ⋯ Message recall was significantly higher for Canadian versus US health warnings, and for the US warning versus no warning (p < 0.001). Message recall was greater among those who saw plain versus fully branded packages for two of the three warning messages (p < 0.01). Prominent health warnings and restrictions on brand imagery may be warranted in jurisdictions considering non-medical cannabis legalization.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2021
Alcohol and drug offenses and suicide risk among men who purchased a handgun in California: A cohort study.
Firearm access is a risk factor for firearm suicide; substance use may confer additional risk. In this retrospective cohort study, we estimated the associations between prior alcohol and drug charges at the time of handgun purchase and subsequent suicide among men in California. The sample comprised all men who legally purchased a handgun in California in 2001 and who were age ≥ 21 at the time of acquisition (N = 101,377), identified in the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) Dealer's Record of Sale database. ⋯ Risk was most elevated among those with more recent charges and those with 2 or more charges, and in the time period closest to the purchase. The associations for drug charges and the combination of alcohol and drug charges were not distinguishable from the null. Firearm owners with alcohol offenses may benefit from intervention to reduce firearm access and alcohol use.
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In 2012, United States consensus guidelines were modified to recommend that cervical cancer screening not begin before age 21 and, since 2014, the Health Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS), a health plan quality measurement too, has included a measure for non-recommended cervical cancer screening among females ages 16-20. Our goal was to describe prevalence over time of cervical cancer screening before age 21 following the 2012 guideline change, and provide information to help understand how rapidly new guidelines may be disseminated and implemented into clinical practice. We used longitudinal clinical and administrative data from three diverse healthcare systems in the Population-based Research to Optimize the Screening Process (PROSPR II) consortium to examine annual trends in screening before age 21. ⋯ The observed steady decline suggests growing adherence to the 2012 consensus guidelines. This trend was consistent across diverse geographic regions, healthcare systems, and patient populations, strengthening the generalizability of the results; however, since we only had 1-2 years of study data prior to the consensus guidelines, we cannot discern whether screening under age 21 was already in decline. Nonetheless, these results provide data to compare with other guideline changes to de-implement non-recommended screening practices.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2021
Gender gap in health service utilisation and outcomes of depression: A cross-country longitudinal analysis of European middle-aged and older adults.
Research has shown that health service utilisation for depression (HSUD) is less common among men than women. However, most evidence is cross-sectional, and there is limited information about gendered outcomes of depression. This cross-country study assesses gender differences in HSUD and in the persistence of depression by using cross-sectional and longitudinal data. ⋯ Among those without HSUD, depression was more likely to persist among women (45.4%, OR = 0.79, 99%CI = 0.78-0.79). Results suggest that cross-sectional analyses underestimate men's disadvantage in HSUD. Interventions are needed to improve the demand for care and treatment adequacy among men, increasing their perception of need and their mental health literacy.