American journal of preventive medicine
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Obesity and depression may each be associated with lower rates of cervical and breast cancer screening. Studies have examined obesity or depression alone, but not together, despite the established link between them. ⋯ Obesity and depression appear to have specific effects on receipt of different cancer-screening tests.
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Combat fatalities are reported by the media as a frequent cause of military deaths, yet they may not reflect the most common and preventable ways that soldiers die. ⋯ Public attention focuses on combat fatalities, yet most military members die from other causes. Avoiding future deaths requires targeting suicide, smoking, and alcohol consumption, in addition to trauma care for combat injuries.
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Smoking-cessation treatment policies could yield substantial increases in adult quit rates in the U.S. ⋯ If fully implemented in a coordinated fashion, cessation treatment policies could reduce smoking prevalence from its current rate of 20.5% to 17.2% within 1 year. By modeling the policy impacts on the components of the population quit rate (quit attempts, treatment use, treatment effectiveness), key indicators are identified that need to be analyzed in attempts to improve the effect of cessation treatment policies.
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Only large increases in adult cessation will rapidly reduce population smoking prevalence. Evidence-based smoking-cessation treatments and treatment policies exist but are underutilized. More needs to be done to coordinate the widespread, efficient dissemination and implementation of effective treatments and policies. ⋯ Public Health Service 2008 clinical practice guideline and other sources regarding the impact of five cessation treatment policies on quit attempts, use of evidence-based treatment, and quit rates. Cessation treatment policies would: (1) expand cessation treatment coverage and provider reimbursement; (2) mandate adequate funding for the use and promotion of evidence-based state-sponsored telephone quitlines; (3) support healthcare systems changes to prompt, guide, and incentivize tobacco treatment; (4) support and promote evidence-based treatment via the Internet; and (5) improve individually tailored, stepped-care approaches and the long-term effectiveness of evidence-based treatments. This series of papers provides an analytic framework to inform heuristic simulation models in order to take a new look at ways to markedly increase population smoking cessation by implementing a defined set of treatments and treatment-related policies with the potential to improve motivation to quit, evidence-based treatment use, and long-term effectiveness.
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Better understanding the possible effects of vaccinating employees is important and can help policymakers and businesses plan vaccine distribution and administration logistics, especially with the current H1N1 influenza vaccine in short supply. ⋯ Timely vaccination of at least 20% of the large-company workforce can play an important role in epidemic mitigation.