Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2015
Smoke-free home and vehicle rules by tobacco use status among US adults.
To assess the prevalence and characteristics of smoke-free home and vehicle rules by tobacco use. ⋯ Most adults have smoke-free home and vehicle rules, but differences exist by tobacco use. Opportunities exist to educate adults about the dangers of secondhand smoke and the benefits of smoke-free environments, particularly among combustible tobacco users.
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Provide a recent update in the trends of suicidal ideation among adults in the United States from 2005 to 2012. ⋯ Suicidal ideation occurring nearly every day has increased for men, but recent decreases have been observed for women of non-Hispanic white and Mexican American race-ethnicity. Continued outreach efforts, particularly among men, are needed to help prevent the development of suicidal ideations into suicidal behavior and occurrence.
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The health and well-being of rapidly growing urban populations is a global health issue. Cities in the global north and south are faced with rising health inequities - or avoidable differences in health determinants and outcomes based on place, social status and ethnicity. This commentary suggests that focusing only on treatment interventions in cities is likely to fail because populations will be forced to go back into the urban living and working conditions that likely made them sick in the first place. City planning as preventive medicine includes taking a relational and systems approach to urban health, requiring health assessments for all urban policy making, promoting neighborhood health centers as engines of community economic development and gathering place-based health indicator data to track progress and adapt interventions over time as conditions change.
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2015
Independent and joint associations of race/ethnicity and educational attainment with sleep-related symptoms in a population-based US sample.
Prior studies have documented disparities in short and long sleep duration, excessive daytime sleepiness, and insomnia by educational attainment and race/ethnicity separately. We examined both independent and interactive effects of these factors with a broader range of sleep indicators in a racially/ethnically diverse sample. ⋯ Our results demonstrate the importance of examining both educational attainment and race/ethnicity simultaneously to more fully understand disparities in sleep health. Increased understanding of the mechanisms linking sociodemographic factors to sleep health is needed to determine whether policies and programs to increase educational attainment may also reduce these disparities within an increasingly diverse population.
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2015
Electronic health records to support obesity-related patient care: Results from a survey of United States physicians.
Obesity-related electronic health record functions increase the rates of measuring Body Mass Index, diagnosing obesity, and providing obesity services. This study describes the prevalence of obesity-related electronic health record functions in clinical practice and analyzes characteristics associated with increased obesity-related electronic health record sophistication. ⋯ Few electronic health records optimally supported physician's obesity-related clinical care. The low rates of obesity-related electronic health record functions currently in practice highlight areas to improve the clinical health information technology in primary care practice. More work can be done to develop, implement, and promote the effective utilization of obesity-related electronic health record functions to improve obesity treatment and prevention efforts.