Preventive medicine
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Few studies have addressed the feasibility of promoting smokeless tobacco as an alternative for smokers. This study was intended to assess the characteristics and degree to which smokers from California are receptive to using the substitute for harm reduction. ⋯ Smokeless tobacco is an unacceptable alternative for most California smokers. But, the expected correlates, notably gender, accounted for minimal variability in SLT receptiveness, an observation that challenges concerns about the product's limited appeal to any one group.
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2009
Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale for Youth (NEWS-Y): reliability and relationship with physical activity.
To examine the psychometric properties of the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale-Youth (NEWS-Y) and explore its associations with context-specific and overall physical activity (PA) among youth. ⋯ The NEWS-Y has acceptable reliability and subscales were significantly correlated with specific types of youth PA. The NEWS-Y can be used to examine neighborhood environment correlates of youth PA.
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2009
Multicenter StudyTobacco use among Palestine refugee students (UNRWA) aged 13-15.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has made tobacco use prevention a primary health issue. UNRWA provides education, health, relief and social services in five fields of operation: Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The purpose of this paper is to compare tobacco use among Palestine refugee students and students in the general population of the five fields of operation. ⋯ The similarity in tobacco use among the three groups of students suggests that a coordinated plan between the UNRWA and the governmental authority could be most beneficial in reducing the burden of tobacco-related morbidity and mortality.
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Preventive medicine · Aug 2009
Temporal changes in trying to lose weight and recommended weight-loss strategies among overweight and obese Americans, 1996-2003.
We examined whether the reported prevalence of trying to lose weight among overweight and obese individuals has changed over time, and whether those trying to lose weight report using recommended weight-loss strategies. ⋯ Despite a rise in the number of overweight and obese people, there was little change among overweight adults in trying to lose weight over time, and a modest-but significant-change among obese adults in trying to lose weight over time. Among those who reported trying to lose weight, there were significant increases in their efforts to use recommended strategies.