Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2022
Excess deaths in the United States during the first year of COVID-19.
Accurately determining the number of excess deaths caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is hard. The most important challenge is determining the counterfactual count of baseline deaths that would have occurred in its absence. Flexible estimation methods were used here to provide this baseline number and plausibility of the resulting estimates was evaluated by examining how changes between baseline and actual prior year deaths compared to historical year-over-year changes during the previous decade. ⋯ S. from 3/20-2/21, a 23% (95% CI: 21%-25%) increase over baseline, with 82.9% (95% CI: 77.0% - 89.7%) of these attributed directly to COVID-19. There were substantial differences across population groups and causes in the ratio of actual-to-baseline deaths, and in the contribution of COVID-19 to excess mortality. Prior research has probably often underestimated baseline mortality and so overstated both excess deaths and the percentage of them attributed to non-COVID-19 causes.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2022
Adverse childhood experiences and disordered eating among middle-aged adults: Findings from the coronary artery risk development in young adults study.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include childhood abuse, neglect, and household substance abuse. Childhood abuse is a risk factor for disordered eating (DEB). Less well established are associations of childhood neglect and household substance abuse with DEB, and little research has examined ACE associations with DEB in middle adulthood. ⋯ A cumulative ACE score was associated with all DEBs in a stepwise manner (p for trend ≤0.05) except concerns about weight and shape and overeating. Among men, emotional abuse was most consistently related to the majority of DEBs (RRs = 1.23-1.92); household substance abuse was modestly associated with overeating (RR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.04-1.53). ACEs were cumulatively associated with unhealthy weight control behaviors, overeating, and binge eating (p for trend <0.01).
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2022
Effects of a lifestyle intervention on depression and anxiety among adults at risk for diabetes in India: A secondary analysis of the Kerala Diabetes Prevention Program.
The impact of lifestyle interventions on diabetes and mental health conditions have been documented among people with diabetes. However, the mental health benefits of lifestyle interventions designed for diabetes prevention have not been systematically investigated among people at high risk of diabetes, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. We examined the effects of a 12-month peer support lifestyle intervention designed for diabetes prevention on depression and anxiety symptomology in the sample population of the Kerala Diabetes Prevention Program. ⋯ Among those with mild-severe symptoms at baseline, the intervention group had a significantly higher reduction of depressive symptoms (mean diff score = -1.55; 95% CI -2.50, -0.6; P = 0.001) and anxiety symptoms (mean diff score = -1.64; 95% CI -2.76, -0.52; P = 0.004) at 12 months. The effect was sustained at 24 months for depression, but not anxiety. Lifestyle interventions designed for prevention of diabetes might improve depressive and anxiety symptoms in the short-term, particularly among those with mild-severe symptoms.