American journal of preventive medicine
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The evidence hierarchy in public health emphasizes longitudinal studies, whereas social media monitoring relies on aggregate analyses. Authors propose integrating longitudinal analyses into social media monitoring by creating a digital cohort of individual account holders, as demonstrated by a case study analysis of people who vape. ⋯ By aligning with standard epidemiologic surveillance practices, this approach can greatly enhance the usefulness of social media monitoring in informing public health decision making, such as yielding insights into the timing of cessation behaviors among people who vape.
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Intrinsic capacity (IC), a composite of physical and mental capacities, is a marker of healthy aging. Social determinants of health (SDOH), namely the economic and social environments across a lifespan, are the most fundamental factors influencing health outcomes and health disparities. However, there is limited evidence on the influence of the individual and combined burden of the SDOH on IC. ⋯ Certain SDOH levels were significantly and negatively associated with IC. Targeted interventions may be needed to improve SDOH in individuals at high risk of poor IC.
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Sexual violence is a major public health problem in the U.S. that is associated with numerous health impacts, including pregnancy. U.S. population-based estimates (2010-2012) found that three million women experienced a rape-related pregnancy during their lifetimes. The current study presents more recent estimates of rape and sexual coercion-related pregnancy and examines prevalence by demographic characteristics. ⋯ Pregnancy as a consequence of rape or sexual coercion is experienced by an estimated six million U.S. women. Prevention efforts may include healthcare screenings to identify violence exposure and use of evidence-based prevention approaches to reduce sexual violence.
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Although digestive system disease affects gut microbiota and their metabolites associated with dementia risk, the association between digestive system diseases and incident dementia has not yet been established. ⋯ These findings suggest an increased need for dementia prevention among patients with digestive system diseases.
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Observational Study
Gaps in U.S. Public Health Monitoring and Surveillance Systems in Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico (PR) has an ambiguous status within Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) public health monitoring and surveillance systems. However, as a U.S. territory, PR relies on federal health resource allocation processes that are informed by these data sources. This study sought to quantify the coverage of PR within CDC-supported systems compared with the 50 states, describe coverage across critical system-types, and assess the availability of data collection instruments in Spanish. ⋯ There are significant gaps in the coverage of PR within CDC-supported systems. Future efforts must be made to identify the reasons for this exclusion and increase the territory's representation within these essential public health data systems.