American journal of preventive medicine
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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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Tobacco-cessation product packaging and instruction materials may not be appropriate for some smokers and may contribute to the underuse and misuse of evidence-based treatments. The dual goals of this project are to analyze literacy levels of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved and non-approved tobacco-cessation product packaging, directions, and claims, and to identify and categorize claims found on product packaging. The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK) maintains the Quitting and Reducing Tobacco Use Inventory of Products (QuiTIP) database, which catalogs products marketed and sold to consumers to reduce or quit use of tobacco products. ⋯ This paper assesses the reading levels required to understand product packaging, labeling, and instructions using the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) and identifies claims on the product package labels using standard qualitative methods. Key findings show that the average reading levels needed to understand instructions for both FDA-approved and non-approved cessation products are above the reading levels recommended to ensure maximum comprehension. Improving the packaging and directions of evidence-based tobacco-cessation products so that they are preferably at or below a fifth-grade reading level, along with using consumer-based design principles to develop packaging, may help smokers take advantage of and correctly use products that will greatly increase their chances of successful quitting.
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Tobacco use kills more than 400,000 Americans every year. For smokers, quitting is the biggest step they can take to improve their health, but it is a difficult step. Fortunately, policy-based interventions can both encourage smokers to quit and help them succeed. ⋯ Finally, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act has given the U. S. Food and Drug Administration new authority to regulate tobacco products and marketing, and to prevent tobacco companies from deceptively marketing new products that discourage smokers from quitting and keep them addicted.
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Data suggest that the prevalence of sun-protection behaviors is low (44%) among African Americans; the samples in such studies, however, tended to be small or nonrepresentative. ⋯ Tailored interventions to increase sun-protection behaviors among African Americans (men in particular) are needed.
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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.