An interactive video increasing French students' mental health literacy: a mixed-methods randomized controlled pilot study.

Mental health literacy (MHL) is a determinant of psychological well-being in young people. A randomized controlled design was used to evaluate the appreciation and effectiveness of an interactive video on French University students' MHL (knowledge about depression and suicidal behavior, mental health help-seeking behaviors, stigma and misconceptions about mental health). At the baseline, all participants (n = 101) completed a questionnaire including several scales on MHL. One month after, participants were randomly assigned to two homogeneous groups (intervention, n = 50 or control, n = 51) and again completed the questionnaire on MHL. Through a mixed-methods approach, semi-structured interviews were also conducted with the intervention group to collect information on the appreciation of the interactive video. Quantitative data indicated that MHL scores increased or remained stable in the intervention group. Comparison with the control group and multivariate logistic regression models did not show statistically significant differences, due to the small sample of the study. According to qualitative data, users appreciated the content and the format of the intervention. It was suggested that the video could be disseminated in other University campuses in France and internationally to promote MHL among students.

Measuring Digital Vaccine Literacy: Development and Psychometric Assessment of the Digital Vaccine Literacy Scale.

BACKGROUND: The use of the internet to look for information about vaccines has skyrocketed in the last years, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital vaccine literacy (DVL) refers to understanding, trust, appraisal, and application of vaccine-related information online. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to develop a tool measuring DVL and assess its psychometric properties. METHODS: A 7-item online questionnaire was administered to 848 French adults. Different psychometric analyses were performed, including descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and convergent and discriminant validity. RESULTS: We developed the 7-item DVL scale composed of 3 factors (understanding and trust official information; understanding and trust information in social media; and appraisal of vaccine information online in terms of evaluation of the information and its application for decision making). The mean DVL score of the baseline sample of 848 participants was 19.5 (SD 2.8) with a range of 7-28. The median score was 20. Scores were significantly different by gender (P=.24), age (P=.03), studying or working in the field of health (P=.01), and receiving regular seasonal flu shots (P=.01). CONCLUSIONS: The DVL tool showed good psychometric proprieties, resulting in a promising measure of DVL.

Who is hesitant about Covid-19 vaccines? The profiling of participants in a French online cohort.

OBJECTIVES: To report the characteristics of vaccine-hesitant individuals in a French-speaking adult population in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic; and to identify predictors of hesitancy about Covid-19-related vaccines. METHODS: Between April and May 2020, 1640 French-speaking adults participating in an online cohort were classified according to their attitudes towards vaccination as: "hesitant", "anti-vaccination", and "pro-vaccination". Descriptive statistics, univariate multinomial regression models and multivariate analyses were compiled and carried out. RESULTS: At the time of inclusion, compared to pro-vaccination participants, hesitant participants were more frequently females (p=0.044), not annually vaccinated against flu (p=0.026), less optimistic about the discovery of a treatment against Covid-19 in a few months (p<0.001), less ready to undergo this treatment (p<0.001), presenting less trust in the ability of public health authorities to control the pandemic (p=0.036) and reporting lower scores on knowledge-related scales (p values from <0.001 to 0.002). Univariate analyses confirmed these results with odds ratios ranging from 1.51 [1.05-2.17] to 2.19 [1.56-3.07]. In the multivariate models, the remaining variables associated with hesitant compared to pro-vaccination attitudes were discovery of a treatment against Covid-19 in a few months (OR=2.57 [1.73-3.81]), being ready to undergo this treatment (OR=7.07 [4.89-10.22]), digital vaccine literacy (OR=1.70 [1.14-2.54]) and general health literacy (OR=1.49 [1.03-2.15]). DISCUSSION: In a continuum of relative acceptance of Covid-19-related vaccines, hesitant individuals were situated in between the behaviours and characteristics of pro-vaccination and anti-vaccination groups. While their characteristics were in line with the literature, this study was the first to report data on health literacy, digital vaccine literacy and capacity to detect fake news associated with vaccine hesitancy. CONCLUSIONS: While failing to identify straightforward predictors, findings suggest that continued education and communication campaigns focused on improving vaccine literacy, particularly among women younger than 35 years, could heighten the proportion of persons accepting vaccination.

Older age at retirement is associated with decreased risk of dementia.

To test the hypothesis that age at retirement is associated with dementia risk among self-employed workers in France, we linked health and pension databases of self-employed workers and we extracted data of those who were still alive and retired as of December 31st 2010. Dementia cases were detected in the database either through the declaration of a long-term chronic disease coded as Alzheimer's disease and other dementia (International Classification of Disease codes G30, F00, F01, F03) or through the claim for reimbursement of one of the anti-dementia drugs. Data were analyzed using Cox proportional hazard model adjusting for potential confounders. Among the 429,803 retired self-employed workers alive on December 31st 2010, prevalence of dementia was 2.65 %. Multivariable analyses showed that the hazard ratio of dementia was 0.968 [95 % confidence interval = (0.962-0.973)] per each extra year of age at retirement. After excluding workers who had dementia diagnosed within the 5 years following retirement, the results remained unchanged and highly significant (p < 0.0001). We show strong evidence of a significant decrease in the risk of developing dementia associated with older age at retirement, in line with the "use it or lose it" hypothesis. Further evidence is necessary to evaluate whether this association is causal, but our results indicate the potential importance of maintaining high levels of cognitive and social stimulation throughout work and retiree life.

Psychoactive substance use among students: A cross-sectional analysis.

Little is known about psychoactive substance use in students, apart from tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis. This study investigated the prevalence of substance use and overlap between various psychoactive substances in students. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 10 066 students included in the i-Share cohort between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2017. The baseline questionnaire was the key source of information. Psychoactive substances of interest (PSI) were cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines, nitrous oxide, poppers, and MDMA. Their patterns of use were categorized as lifetime, past year, and current use. The use of other psychoactive substances including alcohol and tobacco was described in PSI users and non-users. Most participants were female (75%), and their average age was 21 years. Lifetime use of at least one PSI was reported by 65.5% of participants. Cannabis was the most frequently used substance both over lifetime (57% of students) and past year (35%), followed by poppers and nitrous oxide (28% and 26% of students over lifetime, respectively). Among polydrug users (n = 1242), 65% used only nitrous oxide and poppers, showing a strong link between these two substances. Regular alcohol use, binge drinking, and current tobacco use were higher in PSI users than in non-users. Substance use was higher than previously found in both French and European studies in young people. Nitrous oxide use was particularly high. Regular alcohol use, binge drinking, and tobacco use could be used as markers to identify students at risk of PSI use to be targeted by prevention programs.

Prevalence, Severity, and Clinical Management of Brain Incidental Findings in Healthy Young Adults: MRi-Share Cross-Sectional Study.

Background and Objectives: Young adults represent an increasingly large proportion of healthy volunteers in brain imaging research, but descriptions of incidental findings (IFs) in this age group are scarce. We aimed to assess the prevalence and severity of IFs on brain MRIs of healthy young research participants aged 18-35 years, and to describe the protocol implemented to handle them. Methods: The study population comprised 1,867 participants aged 22.1 ± 2.3 years (72% women) from MRi-Share, the cross-sectional brain MRI substudy of the i-Share student cohort. IFs were flagged during the MRI quality control. We estimated the proportion of participants with IFs [any, requiring medical referral, potentially serious (PSIFs) as defined in the UK biobank]: overall, by type and severity of the final diagnosis, as well as the number of IFs. Results: 78/1,867 participants had at least one IF [4.2%, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 3.4-5.2%]. IFs requiring medical referral (n = 38) were observed in 36/1,867 participants (1.9%, 1.4-2.7%), and represented 47.5% of the 80 IFs initially flagged. Referred IFs were retrospectively classified as PSIFs in 25/1,867 participants (1.3%, 0.9-2.0%), accounting for 68.4% of anomalies referred (26/38). The most common final diagnosis was cysts or ventricular abnormalities in all participants (9/1,867; 0.5%, 0.2-0.9%) and in those with referred IFs (9/36; 25.0%, 13.6-41.3%), while it was multiple sclerosis or radiologically isolated syndrome in participants with PSIFs (5/19; 26.3%, 11.5-49.1%) who represented 0.1% (0.0-0.4%) and 0.2% (0.03-0.5%) of all participants, respectively. Final diagnoses were considered serious in 11/1,867 participants (0.6%, 0.3-1.1%). Among participants with referred IFs, 13.9% (5/36) required active intervention, while 50.0% (18/36) were put on clinical surveillance. Conclusions: In a large brain imaging study of young healthy adults participating in research we observed a non-negligible frequency of IFs. The etiological pattern differed from what has been described in older adults.

Sex-specific associations between sleep and mental health in university students: a large cross-sectional study.

Objective: To examine the associations between sleep problems and mental health dimensions in university students, and the effect of sex on these associations. Participants: Self-reported survey data from 3,483 students aged 18-30 years was drawn from a larger web-based study (i-Share) conducted in France in the years 2013-2017. Methods: We performed logistic regression analyses stratified by sex using insufficient sleep duration, poor sleep quality, difficulty initiating sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness, in relation with stress, self-esteem, depression and anxiety. Results: All sleep problems were strongly associated with all mental health dimensions, particularly anxiety, in female students. Sleep and mental health problems were also associated in male students, with the exception of low self-esteem, but odds ratios were lower than for female students. Conclusions: Present findings warrant attention to propose early interventions targeting sleep and mental health in the university setting taking sex into account.

Electronic Cigarette Use in Students and Its Relation with Tobacco-Smoking: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the i-Share Study.

While young adults often try e-cigarettes, little is known about its use and the reasons for experimentation, particularly in relation with tobacco-smoking. In 2016, data were collected from 2720 French-speaking students participating in a web-based study on students' health: the internet-based Students Health Research Enterprise (i-Share) project. Univariate analyses and multivariable logistic regressions were performed to study the relationship between e-cigarette use and smoking status. Two out of five students declared having tried e-cigarettes and 3.6% were current users. Former smokers were more likely than current smokers to use e-cigarettes currently. Among those who had never smoked, 13.5% had tried e-cigarettes. Very few (0.3%) were current users, alternating e-liquids with and without nicotine. The three main reasons for trying e-cigarettes were curiosity, offer to try by someone, and attractiveness of e-liquid flavors. Among current smokers, previous attempts to quit smoking and a strong desire to stop tobacco were reported more in e-cigarette current users than in former users. In this large sample of French students, findings were consistent with the possibility that e-cigarettes might be used as smoking cessation or reduction aids by some young adults whereas other young never-smokers could be exposed to nicotine.

Development and validation of a priori risk model for extensive white matter lesions in people age 65 years or older: the Dijon MRI study.

OBJECTIVES: The objective was to develop and validate a risk model for the likelihood of extensive white matter lesions (extWML) to inform clinicians on whether to proceed with or forgo diagnostic MRI. DESIGN: Population-based cohort study and multivariable prediction model. SETTING: Two representative samples from France. PARTICIPANTS: Persons aged 60-80 years without dementia or stroke. Derivation sample n=1714; validation sample n=789. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Volume of extWML (log cm3) was obtained from T2-weighted images in a 1.5 T scanner. 20 candidate risk factors for extWML were evaluated with the C-statistic. Secondary outcomes in validation included incident stroke over 12 years follow-up. RESULTS: The multivariable prediction model included six clinical risk factors (C-statistic=0.61). A cut-off of 7 points on the multivariable prediction model yielded the optimum balance in sensitivity 63.7% and specificity 54.0% and the negative predictive value was high (81.8%), but the positive predictive value was low (31.5%). In further validation, incident stroke risk was associated with continuous scores on the multivariable prediction model (HR 1.02; 95% CI 1.01 to 1.04, P=0.02) and dichotomised scores from the multivariable prediction model (HR 1.28; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.60, P=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: A simple clinical risk equation for WML constituted by six variables can inform decisions whether to proceed with or forgo brain MRI. The high-negative predictive value demonstrates potential to reduce unnecessary MRI in the population aged 60-80 years.

Intermittent viremia during first-line, protease inhibitors-containing therapy: significance and relationship with drug resistance.

BACKGROUND: In HIV-infected patients on first-line antiretroviral therapy, the significance of intermittent viremia and their relationship with drug resistance remain unclear. OBJECTIVE: To study the virological characteristics of intermittent viremia (IV) and the association between IV and later virological failure (VF) in patients on a first-line, PI-containing therapy. STUDY DESIGN: Antiretroviral-naive patients were enrolled in the APROVIR substudy of the prospective, multicenter APROCO cohort at the time they initiated a PI-containing therapy and were followed-up at month 1 and every 2 months. IV was defined as plasma HIV-1 RNA > 500 copies/ml on a single specimen. VF were defined as: (1) viral rebound on two consecutive plasma specimens with HIV-1 RNA > 500 copies/ml after an initial response below 500 copies/ml, or (2) persistence of plasma HIV-1 RNA> or =500 copies/ml during the first year of follow-up. Genotypic resistance analysis was performed at baseline and at the time of IV. PI plasma concentrations were determined at the time of IV. RESULTS: IV was found in 20/219 patients in a 2 years follow-up. The occurrence of IV in the first year of therapy was associated with a higher risk of virological failure during the second year (p = 0.03). Genotypic resistance at the time of IV was found in only 4/16 patients and was not predictive of a subsequent virological failure. PI plasma levels suggested lack of adherence in 50% of patients with IV. CONCLUSION: The occurrence of IV > 500 copies/ml among patients on first-line, PI-containing ART is suggestive of a lack of adherence rather than the selection of resistant variants and should lead to an intensification of adherence monitoring in order to reduce the risk of subsequent VF.

The detection of non-adherence by self-administered questionnaires can be optimized by protease inhibitor plasma concentration determination.

Self-reported adherence and plasma protease inhibitor concentration (PPIC) were assessed in 642 HIV-infected patients at month 4 of a single protease inhibitor-containing regimen. PPIC was below the limit of quantification (LOQ) in 32% of non-adherent patients and in 8% of adherent patients. The relationship between non-adherence and a detectable HIV viral load was enhanced when adherent patients with PPIC below LOQ were considered to be non-adherent. PPIC combined with self-report may more reliably detect non-adherence.