Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2020
Childhood exercise as medicine: Extracurricular sport diminishes subsequent ADHD symptoms.
Extracurricular sport has been a valued educational investment to promote both physical and mental health in children and adolescents. Few longitudinal studies have tested whether extracurricular sport is associated with inattentive/hyperactive symptoms. Using a prospective-longitudinal birth cohort of 758 girls and 733 boys, we examined the prospective relationship between consistent middle childhood participation in extracurricular sport and subsequent ADHD symptoms. ⋯ For girls, consistent participation in organized sport significantly predicted lower subsequent ADHD symptoms, compared with girls with low-inconsistent participation (unstandardized B = 0.07, p ≤ .05, 95% CI, 0.01-0.14). Early sustained middle childhood involvement in organized sport seems beneficial for the subsequent behavioral development of girls but no associations were found for boys. Middle childhood participation in structured venues that demand physical skill and effort with a coach or instructor may thus represent a valuable policy strategy to promote this aspect of behavioral development for girls.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2020
Sitting at work & waist circumference-A cross-sectional study of Australian workers.
Studies examining associations of sitting time at work with obesity measures have produced inconsistent findings. Different sample characteristics across studies, e.g., the composition of different occupational groups, may be one explanation for the mixed findings. We examined cross-sectional associations of workplace sitting time with waist circumference in workers engaged in desk-based work and those engaged in other work settings using a population-based sample of Australian workers. ⋯ Our findings support interventions to decrease occupational sitting time for desk-based workers to reduce their cardio-metabolic risk. Differential associations observed between desk-based and non-desk-based workers and between genders may be attributable to the ways in which sitting time is accumulated. Future research is needed to examine the impact of behavior patterns at work (sitting breaks, occupational physical activity) on adiposity in working adults.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2020
Development and nationwide application of an antibiotic knowledge scale.
Misconceptions about antibiotics among the public can potentially lead to their inappropriate use. Currently, there is no antibiotic knowledge assessment tool to address this issue. This study aimed to develop and validate an antibiotic knowledge scale (AKS) and apply this scale to assess public knowledge about antibiotics in China. ⋯ The AKS demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity in identifying the population with poor antibiotic knowledge. Importantly, the majority of participants had inadequate knowledge about antibiotics. Thus, it is necessary to conduct interventions focusing on improving public knowledge about antibiotics.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2020
Ranking sociodemographic, health behavior, prevention, and environmental factors in predicting neighborhood cardiovascular health: A Bayesian machine learning approach.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. While abundant research has been conducted to identify risk factors for cardiovascular disease at the individual level, less is known about factors that may influence population cardiovascular health outcomes at the neighborhood level. ⋯ Results showed that neighborhood behavioral factors such as the proportions of people who are obese, do not have leisure-time physical activity, and have binge drinking emerged as top five predictors for most of the neighborhood cardiovascular health outcomes. Findings from this study would allow public health researchers and policymakers to prioritize community-based interventions and efficiently use limited resources to improve neighborhood cardiovascular health.
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2020
The impact of state policies for school-based BMI/fitness assessments on Children's BMI outcomes in rural versus urban schools: Evidence from a natural experiment.
Childhood obesity remains a public health crisis because of its alarming prevalence and potential for costly long-term health consequences, especially among rural children. Schools are considered natural loci for policies to combat obesity because children spend most of their active hours and consume a substantial share of their calories, at school. Recent state policy efforts have involved measuring children's BMI and/or fitness to notify parents or inform surveillance efforts, but the empirical evidence to date is far from definitive. ⋯ Results were robust to stratification based on urbanicity of the installation versus school, omission of family covariates, and other sensitivity analyses. Falsification checks on children's height, parental BMI outcomes, home food environments and neighborhood environments indicate findings are not driven by selection. BMI assessment policies were associated with children's BMI outcomes and health behaviors in rural, but not urban schools.