The relative roles of early life, physical activity, sedentarism and diet in social and economic inequalities in body mass index and obesity risk between 9 and 18.

Background: Studies in many middle and high-income countries describe an increasing prevalence of adiposity and obesity among children and adolescents. Prevalence is higher among families of low socioeconomic position (SEP) and systematic reviews have identified relevant factors, but have not quantified their relative importance to SEP differentials. This paper examines the relative importance of different factors to Body Mass Index (BMI) and obesity trajectories from age 9 to age 17/18. Methods: Multi-level models of child BMI/obesity risk trajectory by maternal education were conducted using a nationally representative cohort of children born in Ireland in 1998 and aged 9 at baseline (N = 8568), with follow-up at 13 and 17/18 years (88% and 73% response rate respectively). Models were stratified by sex and both time-varying (e.g. child physical activity, diet, sedentary activity) and time-invariant (e.g. early life) factors were tested. Results: Significant inverse gradients in BMI and obesity risk by level of maternal education were present across both sexes and at each age; unadjusted absolute differentials in obesity risk between highest/lowest education groups increased by 56% for males and 42% for females between age 9 and 17/18. Early life factors accounted for 22% of the differential in obesity risk between the lowest and highest education groups among males at age 9, falling to 13% at 17/18. Among females the proportion fell from 33 to 23%. Unadjusted absolute high/low maternal education group differentials in BMI were 7.5 times higher among males and 11 times higher among females at 17/18 than at age 9. Conclusions: Given the importance of early life exposures to subsequent differentials in BMI and obesity risk our findings suggest that policy makers should focus resources on primary prevention during the prenatal and early life period if they wish to reduce the prevalence of child and adolescent obesity.

Information and vaccine hesitancy: Evidence from the early stage of the vaccine roll-out in 28 European countries.

The success of mass vaccination programs against SARS-CoV-2 hinges on the public's acceptance of the vaccines. During a vaccine roll-out, individuals have limited information about the potential side-effects and benefits. Given the public health concern of the COVID pandemic, providing appropriate information fast matters for the success of the campaign. In this paper, time-trends in vaccine hesitancy were examined using a sample of 35,390 respondents from the Eurofound's Living, Working and COVID-19 (LWC) data collected between 12 February and 28 March 2021 across 28 European countries. The data cover the initial stage of the vaccine roll-out. We exploit the fact that during this period, news about rare cases of blood clots with low blood platelets were potentially linked to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine (or Vaxzeveria). Multivariate regression models were used to analyze i) vaccine hesitancy trends, and whether any trend-change was associated with the link between the AstraZeneca vaccine ii) and blood clots (AstraZeneca controversy), and iii) the suspension among several European countries. Our estimates show that vaccine hesitancy increased over the early stage of the vaccine roll-out (0·002, 95% CI: [0·002 to 0·003]), a positive shift took place in the likelihood of hesitancy following the controversy (0·230, 95% CI: [0·157 to 0·302]), with the trend subsequently turning negative (-0·007, 95% CI: [-0·010 to -0·005]). Countries deciding to suspend the AstraZeneca vaccine experienced an increase in vaccine hesitancy after the suspensions (0·068, 95% CI: [0·04 to 0·095]). Trust in institutions is negatively associated with vaccine hesitancy. The results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 vaccine hesitancy increased steadily since the beginning of the vaccine roll-out and the AstraZeneca controversy and its suspension, made modest (though significant) contributions to increased hesitancy.

Social media use and vaccine hesitancy in the European Union.

Vaccine hesitancy can hinder the successful roll-out of vaccines. This paper examines COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the European Union, drawing from a large-scale cross-national survey covering all 27 EU Member States, carried out between February and March 2021 (n = 29,755). We study the determinants of vaccine hesitancy, focusing on the role of social media use. In multivariate regression models, we find statistically significant (p < 0.05) impacts on vaccine hesitancy of heavy use of social media and using social media as a main source of news. However, the effect of social media and the drivers of vaccine hesitancy vary depending on the reason for hesitancy. Most notably, hesitancy due to health concerns is mainly driven by physical health status and less by social media use, while views that COVID-19 risks are exaggerated (or that COVID-19 does not exist) are more common among men, people in good health, and those using social media as their main source of news.

Gender Differences in the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Employment, Unpaid Work and Well-Being in the EU.

Unpaid work carried out inside the home has increased in the pandemic, and evidence points to women's share in care responsibilities and domestic tasks remaining higher than those of men in the pandemic, continuing the gender divides of past decades.