Commentary on: Shan Z, Wang F, Li Y, Baden MY, Bhupathiraju SN, Wang DD, Sun Q, Rexrode KM, Rimm EB, Qi L, Tabung FK, Giovannucci EL, Willett WC, Manson JE, Qi Q, Hu FB. Healthy Eating Patterns and Risk of Total and Cause-Specific Mortality. JAMA Intern Med. 2023 Feb 1;183(2):142-153. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.6117. Erratum in: JAMA Intern Med. 2023 Jun 1;183(6):627.
Wholesome eating diets can be customised to align with person’s culinary traditions and tastes in accordance with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to decrease the mortality risk. Provide updated scientific evidences on the benefits of maintaining a healthy diet throughout the life course to take appropriate strategies and policies.
Healthy eating patterns play a prominent role in preserving public health. The association between dietary patterns with the mortality risk has been investigated in numerous countries.
Commentary on: Wang X, Ma H, Li X, et al. Association of Cardiovascular Health With Life Expectancy Free of Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Cancer, and Dementia in UK Adults. JAMA Intern Med. 2023 Apr 1;183(4):340-9. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.0015. Erratum in: JAMA Intern Med. 2023 Apr 1;183(4):394. Erratum in: JAMA Intern Med. 2023 May 15.
Improving cardiovascular health may contribute to a higher and healthier life expectancy. Healthcare professionals may prioritise cardiovascular health promotion and support patients in adopting healthy behaviours.
The problem addressed in this study is the contribution of cardiovascular risk factors to a healthier life expectancy.
Commentary on: del Pozo Cruz B, Ahmadi MN, Lee IM, Stamatakis E. Prospective Associations of Daily Step Counts and Intensity With Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Incidence and Mortality and All-Cause Mortality. JAMA Intern Med. 2022 Nov 1;182(11):1139-1148. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.4000.
Encouraging daily steps and increasing the daily time with high cadence steps may be important means to prevent morbidity and prolong lifespan. Assessment of daily steps over a longer period may further elucidate the shape of the dose–response relationship and better quantify the benefits of increasing daily step counts.
Physical activity is widely recommended due to the extensive evidence supporting its numerous health benefits, including lower risks of morbidity and mortality. While current physical activity guidelines quantify their recommendations in terms of minutes of physical activity, step count has emerged as another popular metric for quantifying physical activity. However,...
Commentary on: Alahmad B, Khraishah H, Royé D, Vicedo-Cabrera AM, Guo Y, Papatheodorou SI, Achilleos S, Acquaotta F, Armstrong B, Bell ML, Pan SC, de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coelho M, Colistro V, Dang TN, Van Dung D, De' Donato FK, Entezari A, Guo YL, Hashizume M, Honda Y, Indermitte E, Íñiguez C, Jaakkola JJK, Kim H, Lavigne E, Lee W, Li S, Madureira J, Mayvaneh F, Orru H, Overcenco A, Ragettli MS, Ryti NRI, Saldiva PHN, Scovronick N, Seposo X, Sera F, Silva SP, Stafoggia M, Tobias A, Garshick E, Bernstein AS, Zanobetti A, Schwartz J, Gasparrini A, Koutrakis P. Associations Between Extreme Temperatures and Cardiovascular Cause-Specific Mortality: Results From 27 Countries. Circulation. 2023 Jan 3;147(1):35-46. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.061832. Epub 2022 Dec 12.
Nurses need to be aware that extreme temperatures—whether hot or cold—increase the likelihood of death from cardiovascular causes. More...
Commentary on: Nagata JM, Lee CM, Lin F, et al. Screen time from adolescence to adulthood and cardiometabolic disease: a prospective cohort study. J Gen Intern Med. 2023 Jan 10. doi: 10.1007/s11606-022-07984-6. Epub ahead of print.
Reducing screen time and promoting physical activity among children and adolescents could be a key strategy in preventing cardiometabolic diseases in adulthood. Further research using objective measures of screen time is needed to advance knowledge of dose–response relationship between screen time and cardiometabolic disease risk and to inform future recommendations.
In an increasingly digital world, high prevalence of sedentary behaviour has become a significant concern for public health. It is ubiquitous in various environments, and WHO guidelines
Commentary on: Wyper GMA, Mackay DF, Fraser C, Lewsey J, Robinson M, Beeston C, Giles L. Evaluating the impact of alcohol minimum unit pricing on deaths and hospitalisations in Scotland: a controlled interrupted time series study. Lancet. 2023 Apr 22;401(10385):1361-1370. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00497-X. Epub 2023 Mar 20.
Data will inform the decision of the Scottish Parliament whether to keep the minimum unit pricing (MUP) policy, which expires on 30 April 2024. Further study is needed exploring the enduring effects of MUP on chronic alcohol conditions, including alcohol-related cancer deaths.
In 2021, the rate of alcohol-related deaths in the UK increased by 7.4% from 2020 (14.8/100 000), with the highest rate (22.4/100 000) in Scotland.
MUP is...
Commentary on: Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators. Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis. Lancet. 2022 Feb 12;399 (10325):629–655. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02724-0. Epub 2022 Jan 19. Erratum in: Lancet. 2022 Oct 1;400 (10358):1102.
The study highlights the urgent need for improved surveillance, prevention and control of bacterial antimicrobial resistance worldwide. Research should be conducted to develop rapid and accurate diagnostic tests to detect resistant infections.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global health threat, and the misuse and overuse of antibiotics are contributing factors. AMR is estimated to have caused 4.95 million deaths worldwide in 2019, according to the study that looked at data from 204 studies. The findings of the 2019 study highlight the urgent need for global action to address the problem of bacterial AMR. Governments, healthcare providers and the public all have a role to...
Commentary on: Clair A, Baker E. Cold homes and mental health harm: Evidence from the UK Household Longitudinal Study. Soc Sci Med. 2022 Dec;314:115461. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115461. Epub 2022 Oct 22 .
Supporting people to live in warm housing during a period of increasing living and energy costs in many countries will avoid social, economic and mental health harm. Further research to understand the pathways between cold housing and increased mental health distress is needed.
Cold housing, driven by poor housing quality and energy poverty, is a significant public health issue in many countries.
The long-awaited NHS England workforce plan
The first comprehensive workforce plan for the NHS, putting staffing on a sustainable footing and improving patient care. It focuses on retaining existing talent and making the best use of new technology alongside the biggest recruitment drive in health service history.
This is a laudable aim, but can this ambitious plan really deliver the actions needed to transform the long-term future of this critical workforce?
Workforce planning is crucial to the success of the National Health Service (NHS) and has been notable by its absence in recent decades. The publication of this plan could be seen as a step in the right direction. Workforce planning requires
Data analysis of the current workforce and...
Commentary on: Monforte J, Davis C, Saleem S, Smith B. Moving on From the Delphi Study: The Development of a Physical Activity Training Programme Prototype Through Co-produced Qualitative Research. Qual Health Res. 2022 Nov;32(13):1952–1964. doi: 10.1177/10497323221126535. Epub 2022 Sep 14.
Dialogical inquiry, which aims to facilitate people hearing themselves and others in collaborative and non-hierarchical settings, is compatible with the practice of coproduction. A Delphi study alone may be insufficient for informing the design of educational programmes, curriculum or policy agenda. Additional follow-up qualitative interviews should be conducted to rectify, improve and expand on consensus-based knowledge.
Regular physical activity is critical to the health and well-being of people living with disabilities (PLWD).
Commentary on: Veli N, Martin CA, Woolf K, Nazareth J, Pan D, Al-Oraibi A, Baggaley RF, Bryant L, Nellums LB, Gray LJ, Khunti K, Pareek M; UK-REACH Study Collaborative Group. Hesitancy for receiving regular SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in UK healthcare workers: a cross-sectional analysis from the UK-REACH study. BMC Med. 2022 Oct 10;20(1):386. doi: 10.1186/s12916-022-02588-7.
Understanding the sources of information as drivers of acceptance toward a regular COVID-19 vaccine could allow for targeted messaging to improve uptake. Further research is needed to assess if the trends in intended hesitancy toward potential regular vaccines translates to vaccination behaviour.
Mass vaccination against COVID-19 has been one of the key measures to combat the spread of COVID-19. Initial vaccines have been highly efficacious in reducing infection prevalence and mortality. However, the emergence of variant strains and waning of immunity from initial vaccination...
Commentary on: Neely SR, Eldredge C, Ersing R, Remington C. Vaccine Hesitancy and Exposure to Misinformation: a Survey Analysis. J Gen Intern Med. 2022 Jan;371,:179-187. doi: 10.1007/s11606-021-07171-z. Epub 2021 Oct 20.
Implementing strategic trustworthy communication that targets misinformation themes counters negative information about vaccines and helps achieve community support for vaccination programmes. Amplifying the presence of health professionals on social media and collaborating with political thought leaders may help to anticipate, identify and offset health-related misinformation.
Since the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 in late 2019, there has been an unprecedented global change. Each country took actions to respond to the outbreak including guidance development, surveillance and epidemiology, testing, providing emergency supplies and rapid vaccine development. During this time, governments struggled to keep up with misinformation, conspiracy theories, social media rumours and uncertainty.