Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2024
Association between Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination and inflammatory bowel disease: A two-stage sampling design within the Quebec Birth Cohort on Immunity and Health (CO·MMUNITY).
Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination, primarily administered to prevent tuberculosis, exhibits nonspecific immune effects and could play a role in inflammatory bowel disease prevention. We investigated the associations of BCG with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and assessed sex-differences. ⋯ BCG vaccination does not play a preventive role in inflammatory bowel disease. Our results point to distinct associations between men and women.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2024
ReviewThe effectiveness of internet-based group behavioural interventions on lifestyle modifications: A systematic review.
To examine the effectiveness of internet-based group interventions incorporating social support elements in addressing behaviours related to smoking, nutrition, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and obesity. ⋯ Group-based interventions delivered on the internet are effective in changing various health behaviours. This approach can offer large scale and cost-effective means to deliver behavioural interventions. However, the long-term effects and strategies for maintaining the behaviour changes are lacking, underscoring the need for further research.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2024
ReviewAre the physical activity habits of healthcare professionals associated with their physical activity promotion and counselling?: A systematic review.
Healthcare professionals (HCPs) play an important role in conducting brief physical activity counselling during consultations, representing one of the population's most cost-effective interventions for its promotion. Despite this, their clinical practice often falls short in addressing physical activity with the necessary depth and frequency. This study aimed to synthesise the literature concerning the association between the physical activity habits of HCPs and their attitudes toward physical activity promotion and counselling. ⋯ High-quality studies mainly concluded that higher physical activity levels among HCPs were associated with more physical activity promotion and counselling practices. These findings are an important contribution to the relevance of the physical activity practice by HCPs and highlighting the importance of promoting its counselling in clinical practice.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2024
Tweeting environmental pollution: Analyzing twitter language to uncover its correlation with county-level obesity rates in the United States.
Environmental pollution has been linked to obesogenic tendencies. Using environmental-related posts from Twitter (now known as X) from U.S. counties, we aim to uncover the association between Twitter linguistic data and U.S. county-level obesity rates. ⋯ Although Twitter users are a subset of the general population, incorporating environmental-related tweets and county-level obesity rates and using a novel language analysis technique make this study unique. Our results indicated that Twitter users engaging in more active dialog about environmental concerns might exhibit healthier lifestyle practices, contributing to reduced obesity rates.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2024
The optimization of harm reduction services in Massachusetts through the use of GIS: Location-allocation analyses, 2019-2021.
Fatal opioid-related overdoses (OOD) continue to be a leading cause of preventable death across the US. Opioid Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution programs (OENDs) play a vital role in addressing morbidity and mortality associated with opioid use, but access to such services is often inequitable. We utilized a geographic information system (GIS) and spatial analytical methods to inform prioritized placement of OEND services in Massachusetts. ⋯ Our analyses identified key areas of Massachusetts with greatest need for OEND services. Further, these results demonstrate the utility of using spatial epidemiological methods to inform public health recommendations.