Bmc Public Health
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The general aim of the present study was to examine how physical activity, participation in sports, and beliefs about personal physical activity and physical fitness are associated with adolescents' psychosomatic health complaints (PHC) in relation to their lifestyles.
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Data on electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use among health professional students, who can play a central role in promoting healthy habits and smoking cessation, are sparse. Moreover, the association between e-cigarettes and smoking habits is still debated. The present study aimed to investigate the diffusion of e-cigarette use among nursing students in north-eastern Italy and explore its association with tobacco smoking. ⋯ Use of e-cigarettes seemed to be rather rare among Italian nursing students and was mainly restricted to current smokers. E-cigarette use was not associated with smoking cessation in nursing students.
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Growing evidence links household air pollution exposure from biomass-burning cookstoves to cardiometabolic disease risk. Few randomized controlled interventions of cookstoves (biomass or otherwise) have quantitatively characterized changes in exposure and indicators of cardiometabolic health, a growing and understudied burden in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Ideally, the solution is to transition households to clean cooking, such as with electric or liquefied petroleum gas stoves; however, those unable to afford or to access these options will continue to burn biomass for the foreseeable future. Wood-burning cookstove designs such as the Justa (incorporating an engineered combustion zone and chimney) have the potential to substantially reduce air pollution exposures. Previous cookstove intervention studies have been limited by stove types that did not substantially reduce exposures and/or by low cookstove adoption and sustained use, and few studies have incorporated community-engaged approaches to enhance the intervention. ⋯ This trial, utilizing an economically feasible, community-vetted cookstove and evaluating endpoints relevant for the major causes of morbidity and mortality in LMICs, will provide critical information for household air pollution stakeholders globally.
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Novel interactive and pictorial health education tool named Diabetes Conversation Map (DCM) might be effective for the improvement of diabetes management self-efficacy (DMSE) and diabetes distress (DD) among diabetic patients in lower middle-income setting. This study protocol will assess the effectiveness of DCM as compared to routine care (RC) to improve DMSE, decrease DD and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). ⋯ In a study in UK, 70% of the patients with diabetes reported DCM had helped them in controlling their diabetes and recommended this method to teach other patients with diabetes also. In China, a study found that patients with diabetes who received DCM based education had significantly lower DD and significantly higher diabetes empowerment score after six months of the intervention as compared to the traditional counselling. A cross sectional study conducted in Pakistan also demonstrated that teaching based on DCM was useful in improving the knowledge, attitude and practices of patients with T2DM. Besides, no other study has evaluated the effectiveness of these novel tools for DMSE and diabetes distress DD in well-designed, sufficiently powered clinical trials.
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Pregnant women are at increased risk of influenza-related complications. The World Health Organisation recommends influenza vaccination to this high-risk population as highest priority. However, achieving high influenza vaccine coverage among pregnant women remains challenging. We conducted a cross-sectional survey to estimate the coverage and determinants of influenza vaccination among pregnant women in Singapore. ⋯ Influenza vaccination uptake among pregnant women in Singapore is low. There is considerable scope for improving vaccination coverage in this high-risk population through vaccination recommendations from healthcare professionals, and public communication targeting common misconceptions about influenza and influenza vaccines.