Socio-demographic and other factors contributing to excessive leisure screen time in preadolescent children.

OBJECTIVES: Excessive screen use in early school age is associated with worsened health habits and negative child development in later age. We aimed to assess the time spent on modern and traditional screen-based devices and examine its associations with socio-demographic characteristics. METHODS: This population-based cross-sectional observation study was conducted in Czechia, Slovakia and Finland between April and June 2021. Participants (N = 1,915) were parents/caregivers of children attending elementary school grades 1 to 3, selected by stratified random sampling. Children's daily leisure screen time (LST) based on parental reports was the main outcome. Descriptive statistics, mean comparison and linear regression analysis were used for the analysis. RESULTS: The average daily LST was found to be as high as 3.5 hours and significantly associated with most socio-demographic variables. Eighty percent of children exceeded the threshold of two hours of LST per day, which was formerly introduced by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The most important predictor of LST in children was having their screen-based device(s) for their exclusive personal use (EPU). Linear regression with all predictors assessed together confirmed the significant effect of the screen-based devices' EPU, the child's sex and grade, the child's birth order and the parent's education, even when controlled for media parenting practices. CONCLUSIONS: Given the widespread availability of smartphones for exclusive personal use among young children, the regulation of EPU and the reinforcement of effective media parenting practices, particularly in families with lower education and income, are critical public health strategies to mitigate the negative impact of excessive screen time on child development and overall well-being.

Influence of hospitalisation on the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers in elderly hypertensive patients.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The underutilization of beneficial cardiovascular medications such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) in the elderly patients continues to be a matter of concern. The aim of the presented study was to compare the prescription of ACEI and ARB in elderly hypertensive patients at the time of hospital admission and discharge and to identify patient-related factors which determine the prescription of ACEI/ARB. METHODS: The study sample (n = 1111) was selected from 2,157 patients hospitalised at long-term care departments of three municipal hospitals during the period between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009 and included hypertensive patients aged ≥65 years suffering from myocardial infarction, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, diabetes mellitus or nephropathy. RESULTS: In hypertensive patients with myocardial infarction, diabetes mellitus and nephropathy, a significant increase was found in the use of ACEI/ARB during hospitalisation. However, there was no similar change in the use of such medications during hospitalisation in patients with heart failure and atrial fibrillation. Age ≥85 years (OR = 0.59 and OR = 0.50 at hospital admission and discharge, respectively), depression (OR = 0.63 at hospital discharge) and the systolic blood pressure ≤115 mmHg (OR = 0.45 at hospital discharge) decreased the probability of ACEI/ARB prescription. On the other hand, increasing the number of evaluated co-morbid conditions increased the patient's likelihood of being an "ACEI/ARB user" (OR = 1.20 at hospital discharge). CONCLUSIONS: Our study has identified a subset of elderly hypertensive patients (with heart failure, atrial fibrillation) in whom the use of ACEI/ARB could be improved.

Measuring Parental Behavior towards Children's Use of Media and Screen-Devices: The Development and Psychometrical Properties of a Media Parenting Scale for Parents of School-Aged Children.

Children's excessive screen use is associated with health risks such as obesity, sleep problems, attention problems, and others. The effect of parental regulative efforts focused on screen/media use (media parenting) is currently unclear and difficult to examine given the heterogeneity of measuring tools used for its assessment. We aimed to develop an inventory that would enable reliable and valid measurement of media parenting practices (especially active and restrictive mediation) in parents of primary school children. The inventory builds on existing tools, it is comprehensive, yet easy to use in research setting. The original MEPA-36 (36 items) and revised MEPA-20 (20 items) inventories were examined using data from 341 Czech and Slovak parents of children aged between 6 and 10 years. Psychometrical properties were estimated using confirmatory factor and reliability analyses. Model fit was better for MEPA-20 and similar to other currently available tools. Both active and restrictive mediation subscales demonstrated high internal consistency. The internal consistency of newly constructed risky mediation subscales (risky active, risky restrictive, and over-protective mediation) was low. MEPA-20, especially active and restrictive mediation subscales, can be recommended for research on media parenting in context of screen/media use of school-aged children.