AIMS Public Health最新文献

{"title":"Use of ketamine for depression and suicidality in cancer and terminal patients: Review of current data.","authors":"Aderonke Oyetunji, Christian Huelga, Kailee Bunte, Rachel Tao, Val Bellman","doi":"10.3934/publichealth.2023043","DOIUrl":"10.3934/publichealth.2023043","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Depression and suicidality are significant challenges faced by cancer patients, particularly those in advanced stages of the disease or nearing the end of life. Conventional antidepressant therapies often have limited effectiveness or delayed onset of action, making the exploration of alternative treatments crucial. The use of ketamine as a potential treatment for depression and suicidality in cancer and terminal patients has gained considerable attention in recent years. This review article aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the current data regarding the efficacy and safety of ketamine in this specific population. This review presents an overview of clinical trials and case studies investigating the use of ketamine in this population. It explores the effectiveness of ketamine as a standalone treatment or in combination with other interventions. Furthermore, the article addresses the limitations and future directions of research in this field. It highlights the need for larger, well-controlled studies with long-term follow-up to establish the efficacy, safety and optimal treatment parameters of ketamine for depression and suicidality in palliative care.</p>","PeriodicalId":45684,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Public Health","volume":"10 3","pages":"610-626"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10567968/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41239745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The safety, health, and well-being of healthcare workers during COVID-19: A scoping review.","authors":"Abdulqadir J Nashwan, Rejo G Mathew, Reni Anil, Nabeel F Allobaney, Sindhumole Krishnan Nair, Ahmed S Mohamed, Ahmad A Abujaber, Abbas Balouchi, Evangelos C Fradelos","doi":"10.3934/publichealth.2023042","DOIUrl":"10.3934/publichealth.2023042","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the safety and well-being of healthcare workers. A scoping review was conducted to highlight the impact of COVID-19 on the safety, health, and well-being of healthcare workers and to shed light on the concerns about their perceived safety and support systems. A literature search was conducted in three different databases from December 1, 2019, through July 20, 2022, to find publications that meet the aim of this review. Using search engines, 3087 articles were identified, and after a rigorous assessment by two reviewers, 30 articles were chosen for further analysis. Two themes emerged during the analysis: safety and health and well-being. The primary safety concern of the staff was mostly about contracting COVID-19, infecting family members, and caring for patients with COVID-19. During the pandemic, the health care workers appeared to have anxiety, stress, uncertainty, burnout, and a lack of sleep. Additionally, the review focused on the suggestions of health care providers to improve the safety and well-being of workers through fair organizational policies and practices and timely, individualized mental health care.</p>","PeriodicalId":45684,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Public Health","volume":"10 3","pages":"593-609"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10567975/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41239744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An application of ordinal regression to extract social dysfunction levels through behavioral problems.","authors":"Alka Sabharwal,&nbsp;Babita Goyal,&nbsp;Lalit Mohan Joshi","doi":"10.3934/publichealth.2023041","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3934/publichealth.2023041","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Psychological problems are complex in nature and accurate identification of these problems is important. For the identification of psychological problems, one of the preliminary tools is the use of interviews/questionnaires. Questionnaires are preferred over interviews if the group under study is large. A strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) is one of the most widely used and powerful questionnaires to identify behavioral problems and distresses being faced by the respondents, affecting their day-to-day lives (responsible for social dysfunction). This study was held on college/university students in India, with the objective of examining if the extent of social dysfunction as measured by an impact score can be extracted from behavioral problems which are the components of the difficulty score of SDQ. Two surveys were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic period, between the months of May-June 2020 and October 2020-February 2021 for the study. Only those responses were considered who felt distressed (\"yes\" to item 26 of SDQ). The numbers of such responses were 772/1020 and 584/743, respectively, in the two surveys. Distress levels were treated as ordered variables and three categories of distress level, viz., \"Normal\", \"Borderline\", and \"Abnormal\" were estimated through behavioral problems using ordinal regression (OR) methods with a negative log-log link function. The fitting of OR models was tested and accepted using Cox and Snell, Nagelkerke, and McFadden test. Hyperactivity-inattention and emotional symptoms were significant contributors to estimating levels of distress among respondents in survey 1 (<i>p</i> < 0.05). In addition to these components, in survey 2, peer problems were also significant. OR models were good at estimating the extreme categories; however, the \"Borderline\" category was not estimated well. One of the reasons was the use of qualitative and complex data with the least wide \"Borderline\" category, both for the \"Difficulty\" and the \"Impact\" scores.</p>","PeriodicalId":45684,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Public Health","volume":"10 3","pages":"577-592"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2023-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10567980/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41239731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mediterranean diet and health in the elderly.","authors":"Domenico Giuffrè, Angelo Maria Giuffrè","doi":"10.3934/publichealth.2023040","DOIUrl":"10.3934/publichealth.2023040","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Mediterranean diet has probably been the most studied diet since the early 1950s. American physiologist Ancel Keys coined the term since it was based on the dietary habits of those populations bordering the Mediterranean basin, particularly the island of Crete and southern Italy. The motivation for the early studies lay in understanding why these populations had greater longevity and lower occurrence of chronic-degenerative diseases and forms of cancer when compared with the peoples of Northern Europe and North America. Traditionally, this dietary regimen was based on the seasonality of foods and the consumption of unrefined grains, legumes, fish, vegetables, fruits, little meat and use of olive oil as a condiment. The purpose of this paper is to understand, based on current scientific knowledge, how the different nutrients present in such a diet can play a preventive role in the onset of today's most frequent diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":45684,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Public Health","volume":"10 3","pages":"568-576"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10567982/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41239739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dietary habits and physical activity patterns in relation to nutritional status among school-aged children in Pakistan: A cross-sectional study.","authors":"Saleem Qureshi, Musarrat Iqbal, Azra Rafiq, Hamna Ahmed, Tooba Malik, Muhammad Nasir Kalam, Muhammad Abdullah, Qirtas Tauheed, Muhammad Daoud Butt","doi":"10.3934/publichealth.2023039","DOIUrl":"10.3934/publichealth.2023039","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Childhood malnutrition remains a significant public health problem impacting the physical and mental growth if school aged children, particularly in limited-resource countries.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>The study objective was to assess levels of physical activity, patterns of screen time (S.T.), the relationship between physical activity and screen time patterns, and how these factors affect growth status (adjusting for socioeconomic status).</p><p><strong>Methodology: </strong>A cross-sectional study included 3,834 children between 6-14 years attending pre-selected schools. Teachers, students, and parents were invited to fill out a standardized questionnaire, and Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated using Center for disease control (CDC) centile charts. A Chi-square was performed to see the possible association between any height and weight abnormalities and all possible risk factors. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to see the effect of variables significantly associated with univariate analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Approximately 2,447 (63.8%) children were between 11-14 years old and 1,387 (36.2%) were between 4-10 years old. The mean height was 143.71 ± 16.51 centimetres, the mean weight was 36.5 ± 12.9 kilogram, and the mean BMI was 17.16 ± 3.52. Multivariate logistic regression status and junk food combined affected stunting socioeconomic status was significantly associated with being underweight <i>p</i> = 0.001.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Childhood obesity and stunting remain significant problems in Pakistani school-going children. These are significantly associated with poverty, a lack of physical activity opportunities, and available food quality.</p>","PeriodicalId":45684,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Public Health","volume":"10 3","pages":"553-567"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10567976/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41239734","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Smoking and prevalence of COVID-19: Evidence from studies from January 2020 - May 2020.","authors":"Rafia Butt, Rehan Ahmad Khan Sherwani, Muhammad Aslam, Mohammed Albassam","doi":"10.3934/publichealth.2023038","DOIUrl":"10.3934/publichealth.2023038","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>It is well-known that smoking tobacco harms the respiratory system and can lead to various health problems. Regarding COVID-19, a respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, smoking may have implications for both the risk of infection and the severity of the disease. Several studies have explored the association between smoking and COVID-19. However, findings have been somewhat inconsistent and vary from region to region for sample size. This article aims to study the prevalence of COVID-19 among those affected with their ongoing smoking history by computing pooled estimates of the published research. Fixed effect meta-analysis by following the guidelines of PRISMA has been carried out on 34 studies. The patients with confirmed RT-PCR and CT-scan were included, a total of 13,368; The studies' quality assessment was performed according to the Appraisal Checklist recommended by the Joanna Briggs Institute. The effect sizes of the published research are presented in the form of pooled estimates with their respective confidence intervals. Forest plots are used to represent the effect size graphically. Current smokers' effect sizes are 0.12 (CI = 0.11-0.12); for non-smokers, it is estimated to be 0.88 (CI = 0.88-0.89). The heterogeneity statistic <i>I</i>² describes 0% of the total variation, meaning no heterogeneity among studies exists. A higher prevalence of COVID-19 among non-smokers is observed than the smokers.</p>","PeriodicalId":45684,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Public Health","volume":"10 3","pages":"538-552"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10567969/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41239743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Family support, anger and aggression in health workers during the first wave of the pandemic.","authors":"Argyro Pachi, Maria Anagnostopoulou, Athanasios Antoniou, Styliani Maria Papageorgiou, Effrosyni Tsomaka, Christos Sikaras, Ioannis Ilias, Athanasios Tselebis","doi":"10.3934/publichealth.2023037","DOIUrl":"10.3934/publichealth.2023037","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Anger is considered as one of the basic human emotions, constituting the affective component of aggression. In the first year of the pandemic, the intense pressure on healthcare workers resulted in the deterioration of their psychosocial problems.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between family support, anger, and aggression.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The present study included physicians and nurses who completed an online survey of Dimensions of Anger Reactions-5 (DAR-5), a Brief Aggression Questionnaire (BAQ) and a Family Support Scale (FSS). Before completing the questionnaires, participants were asked to state their gender, years of work, age, and profession.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Fifty-three men and 190 women participated in the study. Almost one-third of the participants had a positive score on the DAR-5 scale. Male participants displayed lower DAR-5 scores compared to women. Female participants displayed lower FSS scores compared to men, but higher scores when compared with earlier measures. Regression showed that 15.2% of the variance in BAQ scores can be explained by DAR-5 scores, with an additional 3.8% explained by FSS scores, while an additional 2.3% is explained by years of working experience. Mediation analysis highlighted the role of family support as a negative mediator in the DAR-5 and BAQ relationship.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>During the first year of the pandemic, there was an increase in the sense of family support among female health workers. One-third of the participants displayed increased anger scores. Family support acts as a mediator by preventing anger derailing into aggression. In healthcare worker support programs, it seems necessary to entail a specific section on anger management.</p>","PeriodicalId":45684,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Public Health","volume":"10 3","pages":"524-537"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10567974/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41239737","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"COVID-19 pandemic: Evaluating its psychological impact and individuals' depression, anxiety, and stress levels.","authors":"Bahar Kefeli Çol, Ayşe Gümüşler Başaran, Hilal Pekmezci","doi":"10.3934/publichealth.2023036","DOIUrl":"10.3934/publichealth.2023036","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The COVID-19 pandemic is a global public health problem affecting mental health, and basic data are required for evidence-based mental health interventions. This study aimed to identify the prevalence of psychological impacts, anxiety, depression, stress, and any associated risk factors in individuals living in Turkey during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>The population of this descriptive study consisted of individuals over the age of 18 living in Turkey. The data were collected between July-September 2020 using the snowball sampling method. The study was completed with 1733 participants. The data were collected using the Impact of Events Scale-Revised and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. Statistical analyses included percentage, mean, standard deviation, a Chi-square test, a Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis and Tamhane's T2 post hoc, and Spearman's correlation. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>45.1% had moderate or severe psychological effects; 42.7% had a moderate or severe depression, 31.7% had moderate or severe anxiety, and 28.5% had moderate or severe stress levels. Being a woman, being single, unemployment, smoking, the presence of chronic diseases, being young (<35), being a university graduate, having a household size of 5 or more, a low income, having poor health, and being underweight were significantly correlated with some psychological impact, depression, anxiety, and stress levels of people.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>During the pandemic period, almost half of the respondents were found to experience some psychological impact of the pandemic and have negative moderate to severe mental health levels. Risk groups for mental health were identified.</p>","PeriodicalId":45684,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Public Health","volume":"10 3","pages":"507-523"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10567971/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41239733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Long-term incompatibility of nutritional status and early childhood caries-A call to revamp perinatal and early childhood dietary care and follow-up.","authors":"Kavita Sudersanadas, Maha Al Turki, Bahija Basheer, Winnie Philip, Ihssan Hassan Abdelrahman, Alghaliyah Alghofaili, Amani Almoubayed, Abeer Raad Almudaihim","doi":"10.3934/publichealth.2023035","DOIUrl":"10.3934/publichealth.2023035","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aim: </strong>Dietary pattern and diet quality can influence the incidence of dental caries and can be indicated by decay missing filled (Dmf) scores in the primary dentition. This study aims to find the relationship of nutritional status and oral hygiene practices on Dmf scores of preschool children.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>Semi-structured and self-administered questionnaires, distributed among 60 preschoolers' parents, were used to assess the demographic and diet related data. Anthropometric measurements of the preschoolers were taken following universally accepted protocols. The relationship between dietary supplement consumption and the presence of dental caries was evaluated by chi-square test employing SPSS 22.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The anthropometric measurements among 4-year-old children were on par with the standard values and that of 5-year-olds were below the reference range. All the measurements except head to chest circumference were higher than normal range among 3-year-old subjects. Regular and periodic dental check-ups significantly influenced dental caries prevention (p = 0.030). Statistically, there was no significant association between Dmf scores and thumb-sucking habits (p = 0.568), brushing teeth and usage of tooth floss (p = 0.96), consumption of nutrient supplements (p = 0.744), and BMI (p = 0.564) of the subjects. Furthermore, the correlation between z scores and Dmf scores was found insignificant.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Long-term as well as short-term malnutrition initiated 2 years after the start of the pre-schooling. With severity of undernutrition there was a trend to have high Dmf scores.</p>","PeriodicalId":45684,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Public Health","volume":"10 3","pages":"496-506"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10567972/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41239738","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Physical fitness in Austrian elementary school children prior to and post-COVID-19.","authors":"Clemens Drenowatz, Gerson Ferrari, Klaus Greier, Sitong Chen, Franz Hinterkörner","doi":"10.3934/publichealth.2023034","DOIUrl":"10.3934/publichealth.2023034","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries implemented policies that included movement restrictions, social distancing and school closures in order to control the spread of the virus. Even though these actions may have been necessary to save lives, there have been some unintended consequences that could affect future public health.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The present study uses data from more than 24,500 Austrian elementary school children (51.2% male) that participated in a state-wide fitness evaluation program, which was initiated in the 2016/17 school year. In addition to body weight and height, data on cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular power, speed, agility, flexibility and object control were collected from three cohorts prior to the implementation of movement restrictions (school years: 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19) and one cohort in 2022, after the majority of COVID-19 policies had been lifted.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Body mass index percentiles were significantly higher in children post-COVID-19 (p < 0.01). Further, cardiorespiratory endurance, agility and flexibility were significantly lower post-COVID-19 compared to the years preceding movement restrictions (p ≤ 0.01), while absolute muscular strength was higher in the year 2022 (p < 0.01).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Given the detrimental effects of COVID-19 policies on physical fitness in children, additional efforts are necessary that include versatile opportunities for physical activity and the promotion of physical fitness in order to modify the observed negative health trajectories and ensure future public health.</p>","PeriodicalId":45684,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Public Health","volume":"10 2","pages":"480-495"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10251054/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9674187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}