American journal of preventive medicine
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Obesity prevalence among children and adolescents has risen sharply, yet there is a limited understanding of the age-specific dynamics of obesity as there is no single nationally representative cohort following children into young adulthood. Investigators constructed a pooled data set of 5 nationally representative panels and modeled age-specific obesity incidence from childhood into young adulthood. ⋯ Although many children become obese before the age of 10, obesity incidence rises from about 15 years into early adulthood, suggesting that interventions are required at multiple developmental stages.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Health Literacy, Numeracy, and Health Promotion: A Secondary Analysis of the Choosewell 365 Workplace Trial.
Health literacy and numeracy are linked to obesity and dietary behaviors. This study investigates whether the effect of a workplace behavioral intervention to prevent weight gain and improve diet differed by employee health literacy and numeracy. ⋯ A behavioral intervention improved cafeteria food choices of hospital employees of varying health literacy and numeracy levels and improved diet quality among employees with lower health literacy, suggesting this group also improved food choices outside of work.
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This article reviews selected theoretical approaches explaining the social determinants of obesity. The significance of this topic for medicine, public health, and other areas of obesity-related research is the growing body of evidence showing that the social environment is often key to understanding the risk of obesity. ⋯ Because the social determinants of obesity often begin in childhood, life course theory and its concepts of cumulative advantage/disadvantage and cumulative inequality are initially reviewed, followed by a discussion of how fundamental cause theory, health lifestyle theory, and cultural capital theory can be applied to obesity research. The stress process model and the concepts of social networks and neighborhood disadvantage concerning obesity are also included.
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Cesarean section and induced deliveries have increased substantially in the U.S., coinciding with increases in autism spectrum disorder. Studies have documented associations between cesarean section deliveries and autism spectrum disorder but have not comprehensively accounted for medical risks. This study evaluates the extent to which cesarean section and induced deliveries are associated with autism spectrum disorder in low-risk births. ⋯ After accounting for medical risks, elective deliveries-particularly cesarean section deliveries-were associated with a substantially increased risk of autism spectrum disorder.
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U.S. residents had varying experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and social safety net policy in 2020. Past research has suggested that partisanship, ideology, racial attitudes, and personal experience may each influence policy attitudes. In this study, we explore whether variation in support for social safety net policy in 2020 is predicted by negative experiences of the pandemic when controlling for racial attitudes, partisanship, and ideology. ⋯ Despite the pandemic's consequences as well as the potential for social safety net policy to address these consequences, negative experiences of the pandemic failed to predict policy support, even as racial attitudes, partisanship, and ideology strongly predicted these preferences in 2020. Building public support for social safety net policy requires communication strategies that identify the shared benefits of these policies.