American journal of preventive medicine
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Adolescents who identify as a sexual or gender minority are vulnerable to multiple health disparities because of stigma-based peer harassment. Given that sexual and gender minority adolescents may be bullied for several stigmatized identities that may exacerbate health risk, it is important to examine factors that can simultaneously reduce multiple forms of targeted victimization among sexual and gender minority adolescents. This study examines whether variation in health risk across sexual and gender minority adolescents who attend schools with versus without a gay-straight alliance can be explained by lessened bias-based bullying across a broad scope of stigmatized identities and attributes. ⋯ Sexual and gender minority adolescents experience multiple forms of bias-based bullying, which independently heighten health risk, and this study extends previous work on gay-straight alliances to highlight a wider range of potential positive contributions to adolescent health.
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Lifestyle-related habits have a strong influence on morbidity and mortality worldwide. This study investigates the association between a multidimensional healthy lifestyle score and all-cause mortality risk, including in the score some less-studied lifestyle-related factors. ⋯ Adherence to a healthy lifestyle score, including some less-studied lifestyle-related factors, was longitudinally associated with a substantially lower mortality rate in a Mediterranean cohort. Comprehensive health promotion should be a public health priority.
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Perceptions of health risks inform decisions about protective behaviors, but COVID-19 was an unfamiliar risk as it began to spread across the U.S. In the initial stage of the epidemic, authors examined perceived risks for COVID-19 infection and infection fatality and whether these risk perceptions were associated with protective behaviors. They also examined whether findings differed between later versus earlier responders. ⋯ Despite disagreements about the risks, people perceiving greater risks were more likely to implement protective behaviors-especially later (versus earlier) in March 2020. These findings have implications for risk communication.
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The introduction and passing of restrictive and protective transgender-specific state policies have increased during the past decade. These policies are critical for the health of transgender and other gender diverse people; however, little is known about the relationship between these policies and healthcare use, and the role that race/ethnicity plays in this relationship. ⋯ Findings suggest the importance of advocating for more protective transgender-specific policies to improve healthcare access for transgender and other gender diverse people in the U.S., particularly for transgender and other gender diverse people of color.
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Despite the importance of cost-related discussions in cancer care, little is known about the prevalence or drivers of these discussions in clinical practice. This study estimates the prevalence and examines the correlates of cancer survivors' discussions about out-of-pocket costs of cancer care with providers. ⋯ Patient-reported discussions about out-of-pocket costs for cancer care are infrequent in the U.S. The findings highlight the needs to improve the understanding of the barriers and facilitators for effective discussions about out-of-pocket costs of cancer care.