Recession, employment and self-rated health: a study on the gender gap.

OBJECTIVES: Employment status and economic recession have been associated with negative effects on self-rated health, and this effect differs by gender. We analysed the effects of the Spanish economic recession in terms of self-rated health, its differential effect among genders and its influence on gender gap. STUDY DESIGN: Repeated cross-sectional study using Spanish health surveys (2001-2014). METHODS: Logistic regression models were conducted to explore the association between self-rated health and employment status and its evolution over time and gender. To test the impact of the economic recession, pooled data regression models were conducted. RESULTS: In this study, we considered 104,577 subjects. During the last 15 years, women have entered the labour market, leading to wide changes in the Spanish traditional family roles. Instead of an increasing proportion of women workers, gender employment differences persist. Therefore, in 2014, the prevalence of workers was 55.77% in men, whereas in women, it was 44.01%. Self-rated health trends during the economic recession differ by gender, with women improving slightly their self-rated health from a low self-rated health prevalence of 38.76% in 2001 to 33.78% in 2014. On the contrary, men seem more vulnerable to employment circumstances, which have led to substantial reduction in the gender gap. CONCLUSIONS: Although a gender gap persists, the change in socio-economic roles seems to increase women's self-rated health, reducing this gap. It is important to promote women's labour market inclusion, even in economic recession periods.

Evaluation of a health promotion intervention for skin cancer prevention in Spain: the SolSano program

The incidence of skin cancer is increasing worldwide, and Spain is no exception. SolSano is the first Spanish health education program for sun safety directed at elementary school children. The objective was to evaluate SolSano's effects on students' knowledge, attitudes and practices about sun safety. A non-randomized, before/after, community intervention without control group, with schools as the unit of intervention, was used for the study. Five thousand eight hundred and forty-five children from 215 Aragonese Primary Schools (Grades 1-2) participated in the program in their classes during the 2004-2005 academic year. The educational package contained an activity guide for teachers, a workbook for each pupil, a poster and an informative pamphlet for families. The pre-test and post-test surveys were similar and were composed of two parts: the first part uses the 'Draw and Write research strategy' and the second part was a questionnaire. One thousand five hundred and twenty-two students completed both questionnaires, 49.2 per cent were boys, and the mean age was 6.6; 45.7 per cent self-reported pale skin and easy sunburn and 48 per cent dark skin and rarely sunburn; 72.3 per cent of the children reported having dark hair and eyes, and 51.6 per cent freckles or moles. The mean score for the complete survey significantly increased by 1.55 points (1.38-1.72) after the intervention (p < 0.001), and girls did better than boys. Sunscreens were the most-commonly employed sun protection strategy while strategies such as seeking shadow and wearing clothes exhibited the greatest increase after the SolSano program [percentage increase of 19.3 per cent (16.4-22.3) and 26.8 per cent (23.4-30.3), respectively]. At baseline, 35.8 per cent of children reported sunburns during the previous summer compared with 23.5 per cent after the program. SolSano also achieved a slight reduction in the percentage of students who desired to be tanned. Our study demonstrates that significant knowledge can be acquired, attitudes regarding the healthiness of a tan can be modified and intentions to change sun protection behaviour can be promoted by well-designed educational programs. (AU)

Effect of muscle mass and intensity of isometric contraction on heart rate.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of muscle mass and the level of force on the contraction-induced rise in heart rate. We conducted an experimental study in a sample of 28 healthy men between 20 and 30 yr of age (power: 95%, alpha: 5%). Smokers, obese subjects, and those who performed regular physical activity over a certain amount of energetic expenditure were excluded from the study. The participants exerted two types of isometric contractions: handgrip and turning a 40-cm-diameter wheel. Both were sustained to exhaustion at 20 and 50% of maximal force. Twenty-five subjects finished the experiment. Heart rate increased a mean of 15.1 beats/min [95% confidence interval (CI): 5.5-24.6] from 20 to 50% handgrip contractions, and 20.7 beats/min (95% CI: 11.9-29.5) from 20 to 50% wheel-turn contractions. Heart rate also increased a mean of 13.3 beats/min (95% CI: 10.4-16.1) from handgrip to wheel-turn contractions at 20% maximal force, and 18.9 beats/min (95% CI: 9. 8-28.0) from handgrip to wheel-turn contractions at 50% maximal force. We conclude that the magnitude of the heart rate increase during isometric exercise is related to the intensity of the contraction and the mass of the contracted muscle.