Little has been reported about hardening nor softening indicators in Africa where smoking prevalence is low. We aimed to examine the determinants of hardening in nine African countries. We conducted two separate analyses using data from the most recent Global Adult Tobacco Survey in Botswana, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda (total sample of 72,813 respondents): 1) multilevel logistic regression analysis to assess individual and country-level factors associated with hardcore, high dependence, and light smoking.; 2) a Spearman-rank correlation analysis to describe the association between daily smoking and hardcore, high dependence, and light smoking at an ecological level. Age-standardized daily smoking prevalence varied from 37.3% (95 %CI: 34.4, 40.3) (Egypt) to 6.1% (95 %CI: 3.5, 6.3) (Nigeria) among men; and 2.3% (95 %CI: 0.7, 3.9) (Botswana) to 0.3% (95 %CI: 0.2, 0.7) (Senegal) among women. The proportion of hardcore and high-dependence smokers was higher among men whereas for light smokers the proportion was higher among women. At the individual level, higher age and lower education groups had higher odds of being hardcore smokers and having high dependence. Smoke-free home policies showed decreased odds of both being hardcore and highly dependent smokers daily smoking correlated weakly and negatively with hardcore smoking (r = -0.243, 95 %CI: -0.781, 0.502) among men and negatively with high dependence (r = -0.546, 95 %CI: -0.888, 0.185) and positively with light smokers (r = 0.252, 95 %CI: -0.495, 0.785) among women. Hardening determinants varied between the countries in the African region. Wide sex differentials and social inequalities in heavy smoking do exist and should be tackled.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the existing challenges to achieving the WHO target of eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem by working towards the target of fewer than four cases per 100 000 women. We reviewed the literature to identify potential recovery strategies to support cervical cancer prevention programs in lower-and middle-income countries (LMICs) following COVID-19 disruptions and the extent to which strategies have been implemented. Utilising the WHO health systems framework, we mapped these recovery strategies against the six building blocks to examine their reach across the health system. Most recovery strategies were focused on service delivery, while leadership and governance played a pivotal role in the continuity of cervical cancer prevention programs during the pandemic. Leadership and governance were the drivers for outcomes in the building blocks of health information systems, financing and critical support in operationalising service delivery strategies. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic with strained health resources and economies, stakeholders would significantly influence the coverage and sustainability of cervical cancer prevention programs. The support from multisectoral stakeholders would accelerate the recovery of cervical cancer prevention programs. To achieve the WHO target by 2030, we call for future studies to understand the barriers and facilitators from the perspectives of stakeholders in order to support the decision-making processes and information required to implement recovery strategies in LMICs.
Dyslipidemia is a fundamental risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and can worsen the prognosis, if unaddressed. Lipid guidelines are still evolving as dyslipidemia is affecting newer patient subsets. However, these guidelines are governed by regional demographics and ethnic data. Primary care practitioners (PCPs) are the first to offer treatment, and hence placed early in the healthcare continuum. PCPs shoulder a huge responsibility in early detection of dyslipidemia for primary prevention of future cardiovascular (CV) events. Therefore, as members of Cardiovascular RISk Prevention (CRISP) in Asia network, the authors intend to align and shape-up the daily clinical practice workflow for PCPs and have a goal-directed strategy for managing dyslipidemia. This paper reviews the major international lipid guidelines, namely the American and European guidelines, and the regional guidelines from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam to identify their commonalities and heterogeneities. The authors, with a mutual consensus, have put forth, best in-clinic practices for screening, risk assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and management of dyslipidemia, particularly to reduce the overall risk of CV events, especially in the Asian context. The authors feel that PCPs should be encouraged to work in congruence with patients to decide on best possible therapy, which would be a holistic approach, rather than pursuing a "one-size-fits-all" approach. Since dyslipidemia is a dynamic field, accumulation of high-quality evidence and cross-validation studies in the future are warranted to develop best in-clinic practices at a global level.
Adolescence is a critical time for the preservation or loss of cardiovascular health. We aimed to describe trajectories of cardiovascular health in adolescent girls and identify early adolescent factors associated with cardiovascular health in young adulthood. We used data from the National Growth and Health Study, a longitudinal cohort of 2,379 girls followed annually from ages 9-19 years. We classified participants as having ideal, intermediate, or poor levels of the seven cardiovascular health metrics at four developmental stages: early (ages 9-11), middle (ages 12-14), and late (ages 15-17) adolescence, and early young adulthood (ages ≥ 18). We calculated total cardiovascular health scores (range 0-14) at each stage and empirically identified patterns of cardiovascular health trajectories. We examined associations between trajectory group membership and various demographic, behavioral, and physiological factors. Mean cardiovascular health scores declined with age from 10.8 to 9.4 in white girls and 10.3 to 8.9 in black girls; 17% of white girls and 23% of black girls had low cardiovascular health (score
Depression is a common mental disorder that affects many adolescents worldwide. Therefore, there is a need for reliable instruments to screen for depression symptoms among adolescents. This study aims to determine the reliability of the Malay version of the Centre of Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD) among adolescents in Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 65 adolescents ages between 12 and 14 years from two secondary schools in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur from May 2017 to July 2017. Cronbach's alpha (α), McDonald's omega (ω), Spearman Brown split half reliability (rSB), and Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) were examine to determine the internal consistency and two week test-retest reliability. The overall CESD scale was found to have good internal consistency with α = 0.882 (95% CI 0.837, 0.914), ω = 0.886 (95% CI 0.837, 0.916) and rSB = 0.909. The CESD subscales, Somatic symptoms (α = 0.824; 95% CI 0.739, 0.878; ω = 0.828; 95% CI 0.738, 0.885; rSB = 0.825), Depressive affect (α = 0.822; 95% CI 0.745, 0.880; ω = 0.834; 95% CI 0.750, 0.884; rSB = 0.847) and Positive affect (α = 0.610; 95% CI 0.326, 0.721; ω = 0.612; 95% CI 0.379, 0.723 and rSB = 0.608) indicated acceptable to good internal consistency. The 2-week test-retest reliability ICC was 0.926 (95% CI 0.851, 0.961) for the total score reliability. The reliability analysis of the Malay version of CESD shows satisfactory α, ω, rSB and ICC values, therefore making it a reliable instrument to screen for depression among adolescents in Malaysia.
Objectives: This study explored the relationship between physical activity (PA), body mass index (BMI), and physical fitness among junior high school students in Shanghai. Methods: A nationwide offline survey was conducted in Shanghai between August and December 2023, using a purposive sampling design. A total of 403 questionnaires were administered to 10 ninth-grade classes in 10 schools in Shanghai and 372 responses were included in the final analysis. Smart-PLS 4.0, structural equation modeling techniques were employed to analyze the collected data. Results: Light physical activity (LPA) had no influence on BMI, 800/1000 m (800/1000 M), sitting forward bend (FB), standing long jump (SLJ), 50 m (50 M), or vital capacity (VC). The results of part hypothesis supported the hypothetical model and explained that BMI had a negatively influence on 50 M, 800/1000 M and SLJ, BMI had a positively influence on VC. Moderate physical activity (MPA) had a negatively influence on BMI, but vigorous physical activity (VPA) had a positively influence on BMI, they both had influence on 50 M and FB, but had no influence on 800/1000 M, SLJ, and VC. Conclusions: BMI, MPA and VPA were found as pivotal factors influencing physical fitness, MPA and VPA were found to have divergent effects on BMI. This study highlighted the multifaceted nature of the relationship between PA, BMI, and physical fitness in junior high school students in Shanghai.