Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2018
ReviewThe effect of community-based interventions for cardiovascular disease secondary prevention on behavioural risk factors.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide, and its prevalence is increasing; with limited healthcare resources, secondary prevention programmes outside traditional hospital settings are needed, but their effectiveness is unclear. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of secondary prevention cardiovascular risk reduction programmes delivered in venues situated within the community on modification of behavioural risk factors. We searched five databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Cochrane library) to identify trials of health behaviour interventions for adults with CVD in community-based venues. ⋯ Variation in outcome measurements reported for other behavioural risk factors limited our ability to perform meta-analyses. Effective interventions were based in homes, general practices or outpatient settings, individually tailored and often multicomponent with a theoretical framework. Our review identified evidence that interventions for secondary CVD prevention, delivered in various community-based venues, have positive effects on physical activity; such opportunities should be promoted by health professionals.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2018
Talking about tobacco on Twitter is associated with tobacco product use.
Tobacco-related content appears on social media in the form of advertising and messages by individuals. However, little is known about associations between posting social media messages and tobacco product use among adolescents and young adults. Self-reports of tobacco product use were obtained from the Children's Health Study of young adults in Southern California. ⋯ Respondents who posted any positive messages about tobacco had significantly higher odds of reporting past month use of cigarettes (OR = 3.15, 95% CI = 1.36, 7.30) and any tobacco product (OR = 2.41, 95% CI = 1.16, 5.01), relative to respondents who did not post about tobacco. This is the first study to establish an empirical link between adolescents' and young adults' tobacco-related Twitter activity and their tobacco product use. Health communications about the risks of tobacco use could target adolescents who post positive messages about tobacco products on Twitter.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2018
Randomized Controlled TrialStepwise strategy to improve cervical cancer screening adherence (SCAN-Cervical Cancer) - Automated text messages, phone calls and reminders: Population based randomized controlled trial.
The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of invitation to cervical cancer screening through a very low-cost strategy based on automated and customized text messages, phone calls and reminders. A randomized (1:1) controlled trial was conducted among 13 Portuguese primary care units, recruiting women aged 25 to 49 years, eligible for cervical cancer screening, with an available mobile phone number. In the intervention group, participants were invited for cervical cancer screening through automated/customized text messages and phone calls, followed by text message reminders. ⋯ The difference in adherence between an invitation strategy based only on text messages and reminders and the standard of care was -0.4%, 95% CI -5.3 to 4.5. In conclusion, an invitation to cervical cancer screening using automated text messages/phone calls and reminders increases the adherence to cervical cancer screening. Such a low-cost and operator-independent strategy of invitation may contribute to the sustainability of organized screening programs.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2018
ReviewA programmatic approach to address increasing HIV diagnoses among Hispanic/Latino MSM, 2010-2014.
From 2010 to 2015, young (13-24 years) Hispanic/Latino gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) experienced the largest increase (18%) in numbers of HIV diagnoses among all racial/ethnic groups. In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) assembled a team of scientists and public health analysts to develop a programmatic approach for addressing the increasing HIV diagnosis among Hispanic/Latino MSM. ⋯ This paper describes key findings from the review and discusses the approach. The approach includes the following activities: increase awareness and support testing by expanding existing campaigns targeting Hispanic/Latino MSM to jurisdictions where diagnoses are increasing; strengthen existing efforts that support treatment as prevention and increase engagement in care and viral suppression among Hispanic/Latino MSM living with HIV and promote prevention, e.g., PrEP uptake and condom use, among Hispanic/Latino MSM who are at high-risk for HIV infection.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2018
ReviewPreventing intimate partner violence through paid parental leave policies.
Paid parental leave policies have the potential to strengthen economic supports, reduce family discord, and provide opportunities to empower women (Basile et al., 2016; Niolon et al., 2017). In this article, we present a theory of change and evidence to suggest how paid parental leave may impact intimate partner violence (IPV). ⋯ Ultimately, our goal is to facilitate the identification and implementation of approaches that have the potential to reduce violence at the population level. Paid parental leave embodies the potential of policies to change societal-level factors and serve as an important prevention strategy for IPV.