Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Jan 2000
Leisure-time physical activity in school environments: an observational study using SOPLAY.
Schools provide settings for physical activity (PA), but objective tools for measuring PA are lacking. We assessed an instrument to directly observe group PA and measured the leisure-time PA of adolescents throughout the school day. ⋯ Few students use opportunities to be physically active during lesiure time at school. Policies and environmental manipulations (e.g., supervision, equipment, structured programs) are needed to attract more adolescents, especially girls, to existing activity areas. The feasibility of SOPLAY for measuring group PA was established.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 1999
Multicenter StudyAge of initiation, smoking patterns, and risk in a population of working adults.
Early age of initiation is a significant risk factor for long-term dependent smoking and may also relate to other unhealthy behaviors and increased likelihood of illness, independent of duration of smoking. ⋯ The overall strength of the findings was unexpected. Early initiation of regular smoking predicted a significant constellation of risk factors throughout adulthood. Interventions that significantly delay smoking onset, even in the absence of permanent prevention, could have important public health implications.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 1999
ReviewSocioeconomic considerations in the primordial prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Economic policy is an important determinant of population health; it is part of health policy. True primordial prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) may require regulation of the domestic and international market forces which produce and distribute CVD risk factors and their determinants. ⋯ No program of primordial prevention of smoking could possibly ignore the national and international economic interests of the tobacco industry. We need to start thinking about primordial prevention of CVD risk factors such as low physical activity, high-fat diet, and psychosocial stress in the same way.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 1999
Dissecting obesogenic environments: the development and application of a framework for identifying and prioritizing environmental interventions for obesity.
The "obesogenicity" of modern environments is fueling the obesity pandemic. We describe a framework, known as ANGELO (analysis grid for environments linked to obesity), which is a conceptual model for understanding the obesogenicity of environments and a practical tool for prioritizing environmental elements for research and intervention. ⋯ The ANGELO framework appears to be a flexible and robust instrument for the needs analysis and problem identification stages of reducing the obesogenicity of modern environments.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 1999
Comparative StudyA comparison of the advertising and accessibility of cigars, cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and loose tobacco.
Tobacco products were compared in regard to their price, point-of-purchase advertising, accessibility to shoplifters, and rate of sale to minors. ⋯ Point-of-purchase advertising for cigars may be increasing, and their lower price makes them more affordable to youths. Food and Drug Administration regulations that limit point-of-purchase advertising for tobacco products should be expanded to include cigars. Manufacturers pay retailers for the placement of product displays that allow the package to be used as an advertisement without the appearance of the Surgeon General's warning. Generic packaging may be necessary to protect children from point-of-purchase advertising.