American journal of preventive medicine
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The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated longstanding housing precarity. This study measures the public support for policies designed to increase housing stability and gauges whether support levels are associated with views about the role of evictions in COVID-19 transmission and the existence of racial inequities in the housing market. ⋯ Support for housing stability policies was strong among U.S. adults, particularly among those who agreed that preventing evictions slowed COVID-19 transmission and among those who acknowledged racial inequities in the housing market. Raising public awareness of the connections among unstable housing, infectious disease transmission, and racial inequity could broaden the support for policies to keep people in their homes through the pandemic.
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Paid sick leave laws have received more attention in recent years as a way to improve public health. This study estimates the impact of paid sick leave laws on the use of preventive services using a quasi-experimental design created by the implementation of Connecticut's paid sick leave law in 2012, the first statewide mandate in the U.S. ⋯ This study found that adult workers' use of preventive services increased in Connecticut after implementation of its paid sick leave law. State-paid sick leave laws can improve public health by supporting the use of preventive care services among workers.
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As cannabis use rises among adults in the U.S., driving under the influence of cannabis represents a public health concern. ⋯ Findings suggest that prevention efforts should focus on frequent and problem cannabis users and should include content related to other illicit drug use and other drug-impaired driving.
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Although evidence indicates that Black gay, bisexual, and other sexual minority men experience vast psychological and behavioral health inequities, most research has focused on individual rather than structural drivers of these inequities. This study examines the associations between structural racism and anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer policies and the psychological and behavioral health of Black and White sexual minority men. ⋯ Results highlight the intersectional nature of structural oppression and suggest that racist and anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer policies must be repealed to rectify health inequities facing Black sexual minority men.
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Dentists are a common source of opioid exposure. This study investigates the association between initial dental opioid prescription characteristics and subsequent persistent use and examines the rate of opioid overdose after initiation. ⋯ Among people who initiated a dentist-prescribed opioid, 1 in 23 experienced persistent use, and persistence was associated with the characteristics of the prescription. Prescribing lower doses, prescribing for shorter durations, and avoiding long-acting formulations may be an opportunity to lessen the risk of persistent opioid use.