American journal of preventive medicine
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The association between e-cigarette use and chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has not been studied thoroughly, particularly in populations defined by concomitant combustible smoking status. ⋯ The results suggest possible e-cigarette-related pulmonary toxicity across all the categories of combustible cigarette smoking status, including those who had never smoked combustible cigarettes.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Health for Hearts United Longitudinal Trial: Improving Dietary Behaviors in Older African Americans.
Church-based interventions have been shown to improve the dietary health of underserved populations, yet few studies have examined sustainability of health behavior change over time. This paper examines dietary outcomes over a 24-month period (baseline and 6, 18, and 24 months) for fruit and vegetable and fat consumption behaviors of African-American participants in the Health for Hearts United church-based intervention in North Florida. ⋯ Dietary behaviors of mid-life and older African Americans can be improved and sustained over 24 months using a church-based heart health intervention, with similar improvements noted for both comparison and treatment participants.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Male Adolescents' Gender Attitudes and Violence: Implications for Youth Violence Prevention.
This study analyzed the associations among male adolescents' gender attitudes, intentions to intervene, witnessing peers' abusive behaviors, and multiple forms of adolescent violence perpetration. This community-based evaluation aims to inform future youth violence prevention efforts through the identification of potential predictors of interpersonal violence perpetration. ⋯ This is the first U.S.-based study to elicit information from male adolescents in community-based settings (rather than schools or clinics) about multiple types of interpersonal violence perpetration. Findings support violence prevention strategies that challenge harmful gender and social norms while simultaneously increasing youths' skills in interrupting peers' disrespectful and harmful behaviors.
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Understanding the role of alcohol in hypertension and heart problems requires a lifecourse perspective accounting for drinking patterns before onset of health problems that distinguishes between lifetime abstinence and former drinking, prior versus current drinking, and overall alcohol consumption in conjunction with heavy episodic drinking. Using prospective data among U.S. adults aged 21-55 years, this study accounts for these lifecourse factors to investigate the effect of alcohol on hypertension and heart problems. ⋯ This study confirms previous findings of increased hypertension risk from higher volume and heavier drinking patterns among women and men but did not find any support for increased heart problems risk, which may be due to the younger age profile of the sample. Further research that incorporates lifecourse drinking patterns is needed to better understand the alcohol-health relationship.