Social epidemiology

Population neuroscience recognises the role of the environment in shaping brain, behaviour, and mental health. An overview of current evidence from neuroscientific and epidemiological studies highlights the protective effects of nature on cognitive function and stress reduction, the detrimental effects of urban living on mental health, and emerging concerns relating to extreme weather events and eco-anxiety. Despite the growing body of evidence in this area, knowledge gaps remain due to inconsistent measures of exposure and a reliance on small samples...

The population of children requiring intensive care in Victoria has increased and changed markedly since the 1990s, the result of many epidemiological, demographic, and social changes, and this is more evident during and after the Covid pandemic. The model of ultra-centralised paediatric intensive care services in the 1990s is not sufficient for the current era, and services are under daily pressure. Solutions will take time and need to be wide-ranging, including increased critical care capacity in selected regional centres, decentralisation of some services for low-risk conditions, improvements and reforms in medical and nursing education, pre-service and post-graduate, including for other acute care disciplines and for general practitioners and a more structured state-wide paediatric system...

Intersectional multilevel analysis of individual heterogeneity and discriminatory accuracy (I-MAIHDA) is an innovative approach for investigating inequalities, including intersectional inequalities in health, disease, psychosocial, socioeconomic, and other outcomes. I-MAIHDA and related MAIHDA approaches have conceptual and methodological advantages over conventional single-level regression analysis. By enabling the study of inequalities produced by numerous interlocking systems of marginalization and oppression, and by addressing many of the limitations of studying interactions in conventional analyses, intersectional MAIHDA provides a valuable analytical tool in social epidemiology, health psychology, precision medicine and public health, environmental justice, and beyond...

BACKGROUND: The structure of age groups and social contacts of the total population influenced infection scales and hospital-bed requirements, especially influenced severe infections and deaths during the global prevalence of COVID-19. Before the end of the year 2022, Chinese government implemented the national vaccination and had built the herd immunity cross the country, and announced Twenty Measures (November 11) and Ten New Measures (December 7) for further modifications of dynamic zero-COVID polity on the Chinese mainland...

BACKGROUND: Measles continues to be a public health challenge in Ethiopia. Rumors of suspected measles were notified on April 8, 2023 from Tocha district. We conducted an assessment to describe measles outbreak and determine risk factors for measles infection in the Tocha district of the Dawuro zone, Southwest Ethiopia. METHODS: We conducted a 1:2 unmatched case-control studies from April to May 2023. We took all 147 cases registered on line list for descriptive analyses...

The Oncotype DX (ODX) assay predicts recurrence risk and demonstrates the benefits of adjuvant therapy in patients with early-stage, hormone receptor (HR)-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer. ODX uptake varies by patients' racial/ethnic backgrounds and socioeconomic status (SES). However, community-level variability remains unknown, and research regarding the association between testing status and receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy is limited. To fill these knowledge gaps, Van Alsten and colleagues found a 6% lower prevalence of ODX uptake among patients residing in high SES-deprived areas than among those residing in low SES-deprived areas...

STUDY QUESTION: What is the burden of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) at the global, regional, and national levels across 21 regions and 204 countries and territories? SUMMARY ANSWER: Over the past few decades, the global prevalent cases of PMS have grown significantly from 652.5 million in 1990 to 956.0 million in 2019, representing a 46.5% increase. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: PMS, which affects almost half of reproductive women worldwide, has substantial social, occupational, academic, and psychological effects on women's lives...

BACKGROUND: While gun injuries are more likely to occur in in urban settings and affect people of color, factors associated with gun violence revictimization-suffering multiple incidents of gun violence-are unknown. We examined victim demographics and environmental factors associated with gun violence revictimization in New York state (NYS). METHODS: The 2005-2020 NYS hospital discharge database was queried for patients aged 12-65 years with firearm-related hospital encounters...

BACKGROUND: Social restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have altered children's movement behaviours and impacted their mental health. However, the influence of social restrictions on subjective health complaints remains inadequately understood. This study compared adherence to 24-hour movement behaviour guidelines and the prevalence of subjective health complaints during school closure and one year after reopening. We also examined how combinations of adherence to movement behaviour recommendations relate to subjective health complaints...

BACKGROUND: Growing up with parental alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a risk factor for psychiatric disorders. This study investigated the risk of mood disorders and of anxiety disorders in the adult children of parents with AUD, adjusted for sociodemographic factors. METHODS: Individual-level register data on the total population were linked to follow children of parents with AUD from 1973 to 2018 to assess their risk of mood disorders and of anxiety disorders. AUD, mood disorders and anxiety disorders were defined with International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems codes from the National Patient Register...

BACKGROUND: Poverty is associated with poor outcomes, yet exposure to distinct poverty trajectories in early childhood is not well understood. OBJECTIVE: To understand the prevalence of different trajectories of household poverty and their association with mid-childhood and mother indicators of physical health and psychopathology in Ireland. METHODS: We used a nationally representative, prospective cohort (Growing Up in Ireland-Infant Cohort)...

PURPOSE: Previous research indicates that social support is protective for the mental health outcomes of exposure to childhood adversity. However, the impact of social support as a protective factor following exposure to cumulative childhood adversity is understudied with prospective longitudinal data. The aim of this present study was to examine how social support mediates the impact of cumulative exposure to childhood adversity on internalising disorder in adulthood. METHODS: The Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS) is a general population birth cohort, born in 1977 and representative of Christchurch, New Zealand at the time of the cohort members' birth...

Social determinants of health (SDOH) encompass the social environmental factors and lived experiences that collectively shape an individual's health. Recently, the polysocial score approach has been introduced as an innovative method for capturing the cumulative impact of a broad spectrum of social factors. This approach offers a promising opportunity to complement and enhance conventional methodologies in the advancement of SDOH research. In this issue of the Journal, Jawadekar et al. (Am J Epidemiol. XXXX;XXX(XX):XX-X-XXXX) evaluated the value of the polysocial score for predicting cognitive performance and mortality among middle-aged and older adults...

BACKGROUND: Cardiac arrest is 1 of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality, with an estimated 340 000 out-of-hospital and 292 000 in-hospital cardiac arrest events per year in the United States. Survival rates are lower in certain racial and socioeconomic groups. METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed a county-level cross-sectional longitudinal study using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research multiple causes of death data set between 2016 and 2020 among individuals of all ages whose death was attributed to cardiac arrest...

BACKGROUND: In England in 2021, an estimated 274 000 people were homeless on a given night. It has long been recognised that physical and mental health of people who are homeless is poorer than for people who are housed. There are few peer-reviewed studies to inform health and social care for depression or anxiety among homeless adults in this setting. AIMS: To measure the symptoms of depression and anxiety among adults who are homeless and who have difficulty accessing healthcare, and to describe distribution of symptoms across sociodemographic, social vulnerability and health-related characteristics...

In Ghana, malaria remains the number 1 reason for outpatient department visits, making it a major public health problem. Thus, there could be significant lost productivity days as a result of malaria morbidity and mortality, which could negatively affect economic output at the macrolevel. Nonetheless, there is a dearth of empirical evidence of the effect of malaria on macroeconomic output in Ghana. This study therefore aims to provide the foremost empirical evidence regarding the effect of malaria prevalence on macroeconomic output in Ghana using a time series design with data spanning the period 1990 to 2019...

BACKGROUND: Bronchiolitis due to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of hospitalization among American infants. The overall burden of RSV among infants has been historically under-estimated due to variable testing practices, particularly in the outpatient setting. Universal masking and social distancing implemented during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic altered RSV seasonality, however potential consequences on RSV testing practices across different healthcare settings and sociodemographic groups have not been described...

Geographic disparities in teen birth rates in the U.S. persist, despite overall reductions over the last two decades. Research suggests these disparities might be driven by spatial variations in social determinants of health (SDOH). An alternative view is that "place" or "geographical context" affects teen birth rates so that they would remain uneven across the U.S. even if all SDOH were constant. We use multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) to quantify the relative effects of geographical context, independent of SDOH, on county-level teen birth rates across the U...

BACKGROUND: TikTok is emerging as a vital platform for health information dissemination. Despite myopia being a global public health issue, the high-quality myopia information shared by health educators often fails to go viral. It is imperative to analyze the factors influencing video quality and popularity, especially from diverse perspectives of researchers, health educators, and audiences. METHODS: TikTok myopia-related videos were retrieved using TikTok's default comprehensive search (DCS) and most liked search (MLS) strategies...

BACKGROUND: Social and Therapeutic Horticulture (STH) is a process where trained practitioners work with plants and people to improve an individual's physical and psychological health, communication and thinking skills. Evidence suggests that STH can support individuals with mental ill-health, however, current commissioning of STH within mental health care is limited. This study aimed to understand the barriers to commissioning STH in mental health care and to identify potential solutions to barriers, to support more widespread availability of services...