Process evaluation of an mHealth-based school education program to reduce salt intake scaling up in China (EduSaltS): a mixed methods study using the RE-AIM framework.

BACKGROUND: An mHealth-based school health education platform (EduSaltS) was promoted in real-world China to reduce salt intake among children and their families. This progress evaluation explores its implementation process and influencing factors using mixed methods. METHODS: The mixed-methods process evaluation employed the RE-AIM framework. Quantitative data were collected from a management website monitoring 54,435 third-grade students across two cities. Questionnaire surveys (n = 27,542) assessed pre- and post-education effectiveness. Mixed-effects models were used to control cluster effects. Qualitative interviews (23 individuals and 8 focus groups) identified program performance, facilitators, and barriers. Findings were triangulated using the RE-AIM framework. RESULTS: The program achieved 100% participation among all the third-grade classes of the 208 invited primary schools, with a 97.7% registration rate among all the 54,435 families, indicating high "Reach." Qualitative interviews revealed positive engagement from children and parents through the "small hands leading big hands" strategy. The high completion rate of 84.9% for each health cloud lesson and the significant improvement in salt reduction knowledge and behaviors scores from 75.0 (95%CI: 74.7-75.3) to 80.9 (95%CI: 80.6-81.2) out of 100 demonstrated the "Effect" of EduSaltS. The program's "Adoption" and "Implementation" were supported by attractive materials, reduced workload via auto-delivered lessons/activities and performance evaluation, and high fidelity to recommended activities, with medians 3.0 (IQR: 2.0-8.0)/class and 9.0 (IQR: 5.0-14.0)/school. Stable course completion rates (79.4%-93.4%) over one year indicated promising "Maintenance." Apart from the facilitating features praised by the interviewees, government support was the basis for the scaling up of EduSaltS. Barriers included the lack of smartphone skills among some parents and competing priorities for schools. Unhealthy off-campus environments, such as excessive use of salt in pre-packaged and restaurant foods, also hindered salt reduction efforts. The program's scalability was evident through its integration into existing health education, engagement of local governments and adaptation across various mobile devices. CONCLUSIONS: The mHealth-based school health education program is scalable and effective for public salt reduction in China. Identified barriers and facilitators can inform future health program scale-ups. The program's successful implementation demonstrates its potential for broader application in public health initiatives aimed at reducing dietary salt intake.

Global burden of pertussis in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2019: results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine the impact of pertussis on the global, regional, and national levels between 1990 and 2019. METHODS: Data on pertussis on a global scale from 1990 to 2019 were collected from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study. We performed a secondary analysis to report the global epidemiology and disease burden of pertussis. RESULTS: During the period spanning from 1990 to 2019, pertussis exhibited a steady global decline in the age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR), age-standardized disability-adjusted life years rate (ASYR), and age-standardized death rate (ASDR). Nevertheless, upon delving into an in-depth analysis of various regions, it was apparent that ASIR in southern sub-Saharan Africa, ASYR and ASDR in high-income North America, and ASDR in Western Europe and Australasia, were witnessing an upward trajectory. Moreover, a negative correlation was observed between the Socio­demographic Index (SDI) and burden inflicted by pertussis. Notably, the incidence of pertussis was comparatively lower in men than in women, with 0-4-year-olds emerging as the most profoundly affected demographic. CONCLUSION: The global pertussis burden decreased from 1990 to 2019. However, certain regions and countries faced an increasing disease burden. Therefore, urgent measures are required to alleviate the pertussis burden in these areas.

Influence of health literacy of rural junior middle school students on knowledge, attitudes and practices of COVID-19 protection in Jiangxi Province / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To understand the influence of junior middle school students health literacy on knowledge, belief and behavior of COVID-19 in rural areas of Jiangxi Province, and to enhance junior middle school students ability to deal with public health emergencies.@*Methods@#Stratified cluster random sampling was used to investigate the health literacy, knowledge level and behavior of COVID-19 protection of 4 311 grade 7 to grade 8 students in rural areas of Jiangxi Province; Chi square test and Logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the correlation between junior high school students health literacy and COVID-19 protection knowledge, belief and behavior.@*Results@#The rate of health literacy of junior middle school students in rural areas was 18.21 %( n =785), the reported rate of intermediate level was high ( n =2 454, 56.92%), and the reported rate of junior high school students at a low level of health literacy was 24.87%( n =1 072). The rate of junior middle school students in rural areas with good COVID-19 protection knowledge was 63.49%, the rate of positive protection attitude was 74.25%, and the rate of good protection behavior was 85.36%; Rate of COVID-19 protection knowledge ( OR=4.85, 95%CI =3.80-6.18) and positive rate of protection attitude of high level health literacy ( OR=44.07, 95%CI =24.57-79.05), protective behavior possession rate ( OR=25.99, 95%CI = 19.67-34.35) were higher than those with low level of health literacy( P <0.01).@*Conclusion@#Health literacy is associated with COVID-19 protection knowledge, belief and behavior in rural junior high school students of Jiangxi Province, the findings provide direction for junior middle school students to improve their ability to deal with public health emergencies.

Relationship between health literacy and unhealthy eating behavior of junior middle school students in rural areas of Jiangxi Province / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To understand the relationship between health literacy and unhealthy eating behavior of junior middle school students in rural areas of Jiangxi Province, and to provide a reference for specific strategies for healthy eating behavior.@*Methods@#Stratified cluster random sampling was used to investigate the health literacy and unhealthy eating behavior of 4 311 students in grades 7 to 8 from 50 middle schools in rural areas of Jiangxi Province, the relationship between health literacy and unhealthy eating behavior was analyzed by Chi square test and Logistic regression.@*Results@#Health literacy of junior middle school students in rural areas (≥58 points) was 18.21%. Prevalence of unhealthy eating behavior was relatively high, among which irregular three meal time was the highest (62.33%), followed by high consumption of sugar sweetened beverage, insufficient dairy products consumption, breakfast skipping ever day and insufficient consumption of fruits and vegetables, accounting for 54.60%, 50.38 %, 36.23% and 19.53%, respectively. The risk of irregular meal time ( OR =1.35, 95% CI =1.11-1.65), breakfast skipping every day ( OR = 1.23 , 95% CI =1.01-1.49), insufficient dairy products consumption ( OR =1.29, 95% CI =1.07-1.55), insufficient consumption of fruits and vegetables ( OR =1.45, 95% CI =1.10-1.92) and high consumption of sugar sweetened beverage ( OR =1.39, 95% CI = 1.15 -1.68) was higher than students with high health literacy ( P <0.05).@*Conclusion@#There is a correlation between health literacy and unhealthy eating behavior of junior middle school students in rural areas of Jiangxi Province, schools, families, governments and relevant departments can improve the health literacy level of junior high school students to improve their unhealthy eating behavior, so as to improve the health status of junior high school students.

Application of artificial neural network model in diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease has become a public health crisis globally due to its increasing incidence. The purpose of this study was to establish an early warning model using artificial neural network (ANN) for early diagnosis of AD and to explore early sensitive markers for AD. METHODS: A population based nested case-control study design was used. 89 new AD cases with good compliance who were willing to provide urine and blood specimen were selected from the cohort of 2482 community-dwelling elderly aged 60 years and over from 2013 to 2016. For each case, two controls living nearby were identified. Biomarkers for AD in urine and blood, neuropsychological functions and epidemiological parameters were included to analyze potential risk factors of AD. Compared with logistic regression, k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN) and support vector machine (SVM) model, back-propagation neural network of three-layer topology structures was applied to develop the early warning model. The performance of all models were measured by sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive prognostic value (PPV), negative prognostic value (NPV), the area under curve (AUC), and were validated using bootstrap resampling. RESULTS: The average age of AD group was about 5 years older than the non-AD controls (P < 0.001). Patients with AD included a significantly larger proportion of subjects with family history of dementia, compared with non-AD group. After adjusting for age and gender, the concentrations of urinary AD7c-NTP and aluminum in blood were significantly higher in AD group than non-AD group (2.01 ± 1.06 vs 1.03 ± 0.43, 1.74 ± 0.62 vs 1.24 ± 0.41 respectively), but the concentration of Selenium in AD group (2.26 ± 0.59) was significantly lower than that in non-AD group (2.61 ± 1.07). All the models were established using 18 variables that were significantly different between AD patients and controls as independent variables. The ANN model outperformed the other classifiers. The AUC for this ANN was 0.897 and the model obtained the accuracy of 92.13%, the sensitivity of 87.28% and the specificity of 94.74% on the average. CONCLUSIONS: Increased risk of AD may be associated with higher age among senior citizens in urban communities. Urinary AD7c-NTP is clinically valuable for the early diagnosis. The established ANN model obtained a high accuracy and diagnostic efficiency, which could be a low-cost practicable tool for the screening and diagnosis of AD for citizens.