Study: Weight-loss programs for truckers work
Weight-loss and health programs for truck drivers can have a positive impact on their health, according to new research.
Researchers in the September issue of APHA’s American Journal of Public Health evaluated the effectiveness of the Safety and Health Involvement for Truckers intervention, a program to improve drivers’ health through evidence-based tactics, including weight-loss competitions, behavior and body weight self-monitoring and motivational interviewing for isolated workers. When compared with a control group, truckers in the intervention lost more weight and improved their fruit and vegetable intake, as well as their physical activity.
Researchers were encouraged by the results, as truck drivers are at greater health risks due to long work hours, prolonged sitting, poor sleep conditions and limited access to healthy foods and safe places to walk. New truck drivers with high levels of obesity are 50 percent more likely to be involved in a crash during their first two years on the road, according to World Health Organization criteria.
Public transit safer than commuting by car
Hopping on public transit to get to work instead of driving a personal vehicle can dramatically reduce a person’s risk of a crash, finds a new report from the American Public Transportation Association.
Released in September, the report, “The Hidden Traffic Safety Solution: Public Transportation,” found that commuting by public transit instead of car can reduce a person’s chance of being involved in a crash by more than 90 percent. This means public transportation is 10 times safer per mile than traveling by car, according to the report. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, fatalities related to vehicles crashes were up more than 7 percent in 2015.
“We must address expanding public transit with urgency and ensure the reliability and safety of these systems,” said Richard White, MPA, acting CEO and president of the association, in a news release.
For more information, visit www.apta.com.
APHA: House proposals weaken tobacco oversight
APHA is opposing House proposals that would weaken U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversight of e-cigarettes and cigars and make it harder to protect children.
In Sept. 7 letters to Congress, APHA joined other public health organizations in calling for House and Senate leaders to reject any effort to include riders that would hamper FDA’s ability to regulate tobacco products, putting kids’ health at risk. Though FDA issued a final rule on oversight of all tobacco products that went into effect Aug. 8, the House Appropriations Committee offered two riders in its spending bill. One would block FDA from using funds to “implement, administer or enforce” the rule unless it excluded “large and premium cigars” from FDA oversight, and the other would change a grandfather date to exempt e-cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products currently on the market from undergoing scientific FDA reviews.
APHA and other advocates urged Congress to allow FDA’s final rule on e-cigarettes and cigars to continue to be implemented and reject any effort to include the House tobacco policy riders in continuing resolutions to fund the government.
Child abuse, death risk correlated in women
Women who were abused as children may face an increased risk of death in adulthood, finds a new study released in August.
Published in JAMA Psychiatry, the study is based on data from more than 6,200 adults participating in the Midlife Development in the United States survey. Researchers found that women who self-reported severe or moderate physical abuse or emotional abuse as children were at increased risk of death during a 20-year follow-up, when compared to women who did not report such abuse.
Such associations were found even after controlling for other factors that contribute to death risk, such as socio-economic status and depression.
However, the study did not find a similar association among men who self-reported abuse in childhood. While the researchers noted that it was unclear why women were more vulnerable to impacts of childhood abuse, they speculated that abuse can heighten susceptibility to psychiatric conditions that contribute to mortality risk.
“These findings suggest that women who report child abuse continue to be vulnerable to premature mortality and perhaps should receive greater attention in interventions aimed at promoting health,” the study stated.
Big increase of opioid withdrawal among newborns
Between 2000 and 2012, the incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome — a withdrawal condition usually associated with opioid exposure — experienced a dramatic increase in the U.S., according to a recent study.
Published in the Aug. 12 edition of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, researchers found that among 28 states with publically available data compiled via the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, overall neonatal abstinence syndrome incidence increased 300 percent, from 1.5 per 1,000 hospital births in 1999 to 6 per 1,000 hospital births in 2013. Neonatal abstinence syndrome can comprise a variety of symptoms, including gastrointestinal dysfunction, temperature instability and central nervous system irritability, such as tremors or seizures.
During the time period studied, incidence of the syndrome among newborns significantly increased among 25 of 27 states with at least three years of data. In 2013, incidence ranged from 0.7 cases per 1,000 hospital births in Hawaii to more than 33 cases per 1,000 hospital births in West Virginia.
Lindsey Wahowiak contributed to this article.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
