American journal of preventive medicine
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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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Communities with locally generated special healthcare taxes have demonstrated a generally favorable association with selected population health status outcomes. ⋯ In communities with health-related taxing authorities, reductions in health disparities between whites and blacks can be demonstrated. These differences are not uniform and vary by the specific type of outcome, race, and age. These findings support the need for studies that prospectively determine whether implementing new taxing strategies may help reduce health disparities.
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Walking and cycling to school represent an opportunity for children to achieve regular physical activity. These behaviors may be influenced by characteristics of the environment around homes and schools, yet few studies have quantified the potential associations between these two sets of factors. ⋯ Objectively measured neighborhood and route factors are associated with walking and cycling to school. However, distance did not moderate the associations found here. Creating safe environments by improving urban design may influence children's commuting behavior. Intervention studies are needed to confirm the findings from this observational cross-sectional study.
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A systematic review of the literature to assess the effectiveness of alcohol tax policy interventions for reducing excessive alcohol consumption and related harms was conducted for the Guide to Community Preventive Services (Community Guide). Seventy-two papers or technical reports, which were published prior to July 2005, met specified quality criteria, and included evaluation outcomes relevant to public health (e.g., binge drinking, alcohol-related crash fatalities), were included in the final review. ⋯ According to Community Guide rules of evidence, these results constitute strong evidence that raising alcohol excise taxes is an effective strategy for reducing excessive alcohol consumption and related harms. The impact of a potential tax increase is expected to be proportional to its magnitude and to be modified by such factors as disposable income and the demand elasticity for alcohol among various population groups.
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The acculturation hypothesis proposes an overall disadvantage in health outcomes for Hispanic immigrants with more time spent living in the U.S., but little is known about how generational status and language may influence Hispanic children's relative weight and activity patterns. ⋯ The hypothesis that Hispanics lose their health protection with more time spent in the U.S. was not supported in this sample of Hispanic children.