Is there seasonality in hospitalizations for major depressive disorder in Canada?

Abstract Background Canada, a temperate country with four defined seasons incurs an annual productivity loss of over $30 billion on major depressive disorder (MDD); however it remains unknown whether inpatient hospitalization for MDD exhibits seasonal variations. Objective Our study objective was to determine if there are seasonal variations in hospitalization rates for MDD in Canada. Methods We used time series analysis to determine monthly rates of hospitalizations for MDD from 2006 - 2013, on data from population level health-administrative databases in Ontario, Canada. We also stratified analysis by gender and three age groups: 18 to 39, 40 to 65 and those over 65. We compared demographic and comorbidity profiles of patients admitted in April, August and December to elucidate if patient characteristics differed by season of admission. Results We identified a total of 130,336 admissions for MDD for 95,439 unique patients. Baseline characteristics of the patients were similar across seasons. We did not detect significant seasonality of hospitalizations for MDD across any of the gender or age subgroups. Discussion Our results question the popularly held belief that hospitalizations for MDD vary with seasons. These findings highlight the need for uniform hospital resource allocation for MDD throughout the year in Canada.

An ecological and theoretical deconstruction of a school-based obesity prevention program in Mexico.

BACKGROUND: Ecological intervention programs are recommended to prevent overweight and obesity in children. The National Institute of Public Health (INSP) in Mexico implemented a successful ecological intervention program to promote healthy lifestyle behaviors in school age children. This study assessed the integration of ecological principles and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) constructs in this effective school-based obesity prevention program implemented in 15 elementary schools in Mexico City. METHODS: Two coders applied the Intervention Analysis Procedure (IAP) to "map" the program's integration of ecological principles. A checklist gauged the use of SCT theory in program activities. RESULTS: Thirty-two distinct intervention strategies were implemented in one setting (i.e., school) to engage four different target-groups (students, parents, school representatives, government) across two domains (Nutrition and Physical Activity). Overall, 47.5% of the strategies targeted the school infrastructure and/or personnel; 37.5% of strategies targeted a key political actor, the Public Education Secretariat while fewer strategies targeted parents (12.5%) and children (3%). More strategies were implemented in the Nutrition domain (69%) than Physical Activity (31%). The most frequently used SCT construct within both intervention domains was Reciprocal Determinism (e.g., where changes to the environment influence changes in behavior and these behavioral changes influence further changes to the environment); no significant differences were observed in the use of SCT constructs across domains. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide insight into a promising combination of strategies and theoretical constructs that can be used to implement a school-based obesity prevention program. Strategies emphasized school-level infrastructure/personnel change and strong political engagement and were most commonly underpinned by Reciprocal Determinism for both Nutrition and Physical Activity.