Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Oct 2016
The role of neighborhood characteristics and the built environment in understanding racial/ethnic disparities in childhood obesity.
Childhood obesity prevalence remains high and racial/ethnic disparities may be widening. Studies have examined the role of health behavioral differences. Less is known regarding neighborhood and built environment mediators of disparities. The objective of this study was to examine the extent to which racial/ethnic disparities in elevated child body mass index (BMI) are explained by neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) and built environment. ⋯ Neighborhood SES and the built environment may be important drivers of childhood obesity disparities. To accelerate progress in reducing obesity disparities, interventions must be tailored to the neighborhood contexts in which families live.
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Because of remarkable advances in the treatment of preterm birth, physicians increasingly encounter adult patients who were born preterm. However, research now shows that improved early survival may come at the expense of future health risks, including increased respiratory, cardiovascular, and kidney disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, and neuropsychiatric disorders. ⋯ This Letter aims to promote awareness of this issue among physicians in order to inform long-term patient care and policy. The continued high (~10%) prevalence of preterm birth and unprecedented numbers who are surviving into adulthood mean that the long-term health effects will have a growing clinical and public health impact in the future.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2016
From attitude to action: What shapes attitude toward walking to/from school and how does it influence actual behaviors?
Walking to/from school could promote children's physical activity and help combat childhood obesity. Parental attitudes have been identified as one of the important predictors. But it is unclear what factors shape parental attitudes, and how those in turn influence children's school travel. ⋯ Being Hispanic, increased car ownership, and stronger traffic safety concerns reduced enjoyment and increased attitudinal barriers, and thus decreased likelihood of walking to/from school. This study highlighted the importance of using multilevel interventions to reduce attitudinal barriers and increase enjoyment of walking to/from school. Collaborations among different stakeholders are needed to address environmental issues (e.g., safety concerns) and social factors (e.g., peer influence), while being sensitive to personal factors (e.g., age, ethnicity, and car ownership).
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2016
Drunkenness and heavy drinking among 11year olds - Findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study.
Heavy drinking among young people is linked to negative consequences including other risky behaviours, educational failure and premature mortality. There is a lack of research examining factors that influence heavy and binge drinking in early adolescence as prior work has focused on older teenagers. The objective of this paper was to identify individual and family factors associated with drunkenness and episodes of heavy drinking in early adolescence. ⋯ Associated with higher odds of drunkenness were: having friends who drank (OR=5.17); having positive expectancies towards alcohol (OR 2+=2.02); ever having smoked cigarettes (OR=5.32); the mother-child relationship not being close (OR=2.17). Associated with a reduced odds of drunkenness was having a heightened perception of harm from drinking 1-2 drinks daily (OR - some risk=0.48, great risk=0.40). Our findings support policies aimed at multiple levels, starting in the preadolescent years, which incorporate individual, family, and peer factors.