Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Feb 2024
Assessing transnational spillover effects of Mexico's front-of-package nutritional labeling system among Mexican Americans in the US.
In 2020, Mexico implemented innovative front-of-package nutrition warning labels (FoPWLs) for packaged foods to increase the salience and understanding of nutrition information. This study evaluated Mexican Americans' self-reported exposure to Mexican FoPWLs and self-reported effects of FoPWLs on purchasing behavior. ⋯ Many Mexican Americans report both exposure to Mexican FOPWLs and reducing purchases of unhealthy foods because of them.
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Preventive medicine · Feb 2024
Disease incidence and not case fatality drives the rural disadvantage in myocardial-infarction-related mortality in Germany.
Demographic and infrastructural developments might compromise medical care provision in rural regions, particularly for acute health conditions. Studying the case of myocardial infarction (MI), we investigated how MI-related mortality at ages 65+ varies between rural and urban regions in Germany and to what extent differences are driven by varying case fatality and disease incidence. ⋯ MI incidence and not case fatality drives the rural disadvantage in MI-related mortality in Germany. Higher MI incidence points towards potential regional variation in the effectiveness of disease prevention. The findings highlight that improving disease prevention at the patient level carries larger opportunities for reducing regional MI-related mortality inequalities in Germany.
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Preventive medicine · Feb 2024
Association between air temperature and unintentional drowning risk in the United Kingdom 2012-2019: A nationwide case crossover study.
Drowning is a leading cause of death. The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations (UN) emphasise the need for population-level data-driven approaches to examine risk factors to improve water safety policies. Weather conditions, have the potential to influence drowning risk behaviours as people are more likely to spend time around water and/or undertake risky activities in aquatic spaces as a behavioural thermoregulatory response (e.g., seeking coolth). ⋯ Identifying such relationships highlights the value of considering weather conditions when evaluating environmental risk factors for drowning, and may inform water safety policy and allocating resources to prevention and rescue.
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Preventive medicine · Feb 2024
Increasing awareness for dementia risk reduction through a public awareness campaign in Denmark: A pre-post study.
It is estimated that about 40% of all dementia cases are potentially attributable to modifiable risk factors, but awareness of this is relatively lacking. ⋯ This mass-media campaign did not increase overall awareness that dementia risk is partly modifiable. However, exposure to the campaign was associated with more awareness and willingness to take action to improve brain health. Future campaigns should tailor messages to specific subgroups to broaden the reach (e.g., males), co-create materials with the target group, and give special attention to the contribution of metabolic/cardiovascular risk factors to dementia risk.
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Preventive medicine · Feb 2024
Comparison of factors associated with seasonal influenza and COVID-19 booster vaccination coverage among healthcare personnel working at acute care hospitals during 2021-2022 influenza season, National Healthcare Safety Network, United States.
The simultaneous circulation of seasonal influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 variants will likely pose unique challenges to public health during the future influenza seasons. Persons who are undergoing treatment in healthcare facilities may be particularly at risk. It is important for healthcare personnel to protect themselves and patients by receiving vaccines. ⋯ At the end of the 2021-2022 influenza season, the overall pooled mean seasonal influenza coverage was 80.3%, and the pooled mean COVID-19 booster coverage was 39.5%. Several demographic and facility-level factors, such as employee type, facility ownership, and geographic region, were significantly associated with vaccination against influenza and COVID-19 among healthcare personnel working in acute care hospitals. Our findings highlight the need to increase the uptake of vaccination among healthcare personnel, particularly non-employees, those working in for-profit and non-medical school-affiliated facilities, and those residing in the South.