American journal of preventive medicine
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Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer and an important public health concern. Given the substantial health burden associated with melanoma, it is important to examine the economic costs associated with its treatment. The purpose of the current study was to systematically review the literature on the direct medical care costs of melanoma. ⋯ Melanoma leads to substantial direct medical care costs, with estimates varying widely because of the heterogeneity across studies in terms of the study setting, populations studied, costing approach, and study methods. Melanoma treatment costs varied by phase of care and stage at diagnoses; costs were highest among patients diagnosed with late-stage disease and in the initial and terminal phases of care. Aggregate treatment costs were generally highest in the outpatient/office-based setting; per-patient/per-case treatment costs were highest in the hospital inpatient setting. Given the substantial costs of treating melanoma, public health strategies should include efforts to enhance both primary prevention (reduction of ultraviolet light exposure) and secondary prevention (earlier detection) of melanoma.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Social media-delivered sexual health intervention: a cluster randomized controlled trial.
Youth are using social media regularly and represent a group facing substantial risk for sexually transmitted infection (STI). Although there is evidence that the Internet can be used effectively in supporting healthy sexual behavior, this has not yet extended to social networking sites. ⋯ Social networking sites may be venues for efficacious health education interventions. More work is needed to understand what elements of social media are compelling, how network membership influences effects, and whether linking social media to clinical and social services can be beneficial.
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Thirdhand smoke is residual tobacco smoke contamination that remains after a cigarette is extinguished. A national study indicates that adults' belief that thirdhand smoke (THS) harms children is associated with strict household no-smoking policies. The question of whether pediatricians can influence THS beliefs has not been assessed. ⋯ Fathers and heavier smokers were less likely to believe that THS is harmful. However, pediatricians' actions to encourage smoking parents to quit or adopt smokefree home or car policies were associated with parental beliefs that THS harms children.
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Non-exercise algorithms are cost-effective methods to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in healthcare settings. The limitation of current non-exercise models is that they were developed with cross-sectional data. ⋯ These results showed that the CRF of women and men can be estimated from easily obtained health indicators. The longitudinal non-exercise algorithms provide models to accurately estimate CRF changes associated with aging and provide cost-effective algorithms to track CRF over time with health indicators available in healthcare settings.