Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Feb 2024
Disease incidence and not case fatality drives the rural disadvantage in myocardial-infarction-related mortality in Germany.
Demographic and infrastructural developments might compromise medical care provision in rural regions, particularly for acute health conditions. Studying the case of myocardial infarction (MI), we investigated how MI-related mortality at ages 65+ varies between rural and urban regions in Germany and to what extent differences are driven by varying case fatality and disease incidence. ⋯ MI incidence and not case fatality drives the rural disadvantage in MI-related mortality in Germany. Higher MI incidence points towards potential regional variation in the effectiveness of disease prevention. The findings highlight that improving disease prevention at the patient level carries larger opportunities for reducing regional MI-related mortality inequalities in Germany.
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Preventive medicine · Feb 2024
Impact of visit characteristics on intention to recommend HPV vaccine: An experiment with US health care professionals.
Presumptive recommendations that assume parents want to vaccinate can increase human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake. We sought to examine how visit characteristics affect health care professionals' (HCPs) intention to use this evidence-based recommendation style. ⋯ To better support visits with younger children and parents who have refused vaccines, HCPs may need more training for making presumptive recommendations for HPV vaccine. Reinforcing positive attitudes and self-efficacy can help HCPs adopt this evidence-based recommendation style.
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Preventive medicine · Feb 2024
Comparison of factors associated with seasonal influenza and COVID-19 booster vaccination coverage among healthcare personnel working at acute care hospitals during 2021-2022 influenza season, National Healthcare Safety Network, United States.
The simultaneous circulation of seasonal influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 variants will likely pose unique challenges to public health during the future influenza seasons. Persons who are undergoing treatment in healthcare facilities may be particularly at risk. It is important for healthcare personnel to protect themselves and patients by receiving vaccines. ⋯ At the end of the 2021-2022 influenza season, the overall pooled mean seasonal influenza coverage was 80.3%, and the pooled mean COVID-19 booster coverage was 39.5%. Several demographic and facility-level factors, such as employee type, facility ownership, and geographic region, were significantly associated with vaccination against influenza and COVID-19 among healthcare personnel working in acute care hospitals. Our findings highlight the need to increase the uptake of vaccination among healthcare personnel, particularly non-employees, those working in for-profit and non-medical school-affiliated facilities, and those residing in the South.
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Preventive medicine · Feb 2024
Individual and dual trajectories of insomnia symptoms and body mass index before and after retirement and their associations with changes in subjective cognitive functioning.
We examined individual and dual trajectories of insomnia symptoms and body mass index (BMI) before and after retirement, and their associations with changes in subjective cognitive functioning after retirement. ⋯ The association between dual trajectories of insomnia symptoms and BMI with subjective cognitive decline is dominated by insomnia symptoms.
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Preventive medicine · Feb 2024
Effect of long working hours on psychological distress among young workers in different types of occupation.
We investigated how the association between long working hours and psychological distress varies across different employment and occupation types in young workers. ⋯ Psychological distress caused by long working hours can be pronounced among white-collar and wage workers.