Cancer Prevention Among Firefighters: Examining Lifestyle, Screening Behavior, and Beliefs.

BACKGROUND: Firefighters are at increased risk of developing cancer due to occupational exposures, but they may also face increased risk due to their lifestyle, such as the quality of their diet and physical activity. Cancer beliefs and screening behavior could also influence their cancer risk. The current study aimed to identify individual differences associated with lifestyle behaviors, cancer screening, and cancer beliefs among firefighters; to describe the strategies firefighters use to adapt to their work schedule; and to describe topics firefighters believe are the most important to address in their workplace. METHODS: Career firefighters (N = 171) in a medium-sized U.S. city completed an online survey. FINDINGS: Logistic regression analyses identified age, education, racial identity, years of fire service, perceived stress, and rank as predictors of responses to items addressing cancer screening, lifestyle behaviors, and cancer beliefs. Although results varied, age, education, and racial identity were associated with most of the outcomes. Strategies related to sleep such as getting the right amount and napping, exercise, and getting family/roommate support were selected as the top adaptive strategies for work. Sleep, mental health/well-being, and work-life balance were selected most often as the most important topics to address in the fire service, with topics related to reducing occupational exposures receiving less attention. CONCLUSIONS/APPLICATION TO PRACTICE: The findings suggest individual differences, such as age, education, and racial identity, should be considered when developing occupational health interventions for firefighters. Interventions related to mental health, work-life balance, and sleep may be desired most by those in the fire service.

Tobacco exposures are associated with health care utilization (HCU) and health care costs in pregnant persons and their newborn babies.

INTRODUCTION: Identifying health care utilization and costs associated with active and passive smoking during pregnancy could help improve health management strategies. METHODS: Data are from the Newborn Epigenetics STudy (NEST), a birth cohort enrolled from 2005-2011 in Durham and adjacent counties in North Carolina, United States. Participants included those for whom prenatal serum samples were assayed and for whom administrative data were obtainable (N=1,045). Zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) regression models were used to assess associations between cotinine, adjusted for covariates (e.g., race and ethnicity, age at delivery, cohabitation status, education), and health care utilization outcomes. Generalized linear regression models were used to estimate average total charges. Simulation models were conducted to determine the economic benefits of reducing SHS and smoking during pregnancy. RESULTS: Increasing levels of cotinine were positively associated with parent's number of ED visits (coefficient(b)=0.0012, standard error (SE)=0.0002; P<.001), the number of ICU hours (b=0.0079, SE=0.0025; P=.002)), time spent in the ICU (b=0.0238, SE=0.0020, P<.001), and the number of OP visits (b=0.0003, SE=0.0001; P<.001). For infants, higher cotinine levels were associated with higher number of ED (b=0.0012, SE=0.0004; P=.005), ICU (b=0.0050, SE=0.001; P<.001), and OP (b=0.0006, SE=0.0002; P<.001) visits and longer time spent in the ED (b=0.0025, SE=0.0003; P<.001), ICU (b=0.0005, SE=0.0001; P<.001), and IP (b=0.0020, SE=0.0002; P<.001). Simulation results showed that a 5% reduction in smoking would correspond to a potential median cost savings of $150,533 from ED visits of parents and infants. CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight the importance of smoke exposure cessation during pregnancy to reduce health care utilization and costs for both parents and infants. IMPLICATIONS: This study reinforces the importance of reducing smoking and secondhand smoke exposure during pregnancy. Focusing on expanding cessation services to this group could help reduce morbidities observed within this population. Furthermore, there is the potential for health care costs savings to health care systems, especially to those with high delivery numbers. These cost savings are represented by potential reductions in ED, OP, and ICU hours and visits.

Rural-specific identity and associations with lifestyle behaviors and well-being among rural cancer survivors.

BACKGROUND: Disparities in rural cancer survivors' health outcomes are well-documented, yet the role of sociocultural aspects of rurality, such as rural identity, attitudes toward rurality, and social standing on health beliefs and behaviors remain unclear. This study aimed to address these gaps. METHODS: Rural cancer survivors (N = 188) completed a mailed/online survey. Regression analyses identified relationships among rural identity, negative attitudes toward rurality, and social standing with health outcomes, quality of life, cancer fatalism, and cancer information overload. RESULTS: Higher rural identity was associated with believing everything causes cancer (OR = 1.58, p = 0.048), believing "there's not much you can do to lower your chances of getting cancer" (OR = 2.22, p = 0.002), and higher odds of being overloaded with cancer information (OR = 2.05, p  = 0.008). Negative attitudes toward rurality was linked with higher levels of perceived stress (B = 0.83, p = 0.001), and chronic pain (OR = 1.47, p = 0.039). Higher subjective social status was associated with perceived social support (B = 0.09, p = 0.016), better overall health (B = 0.13, p < 0.001), lower levels of perceived stress (B = -0.38, p = 0.007), and chronic pain (OR = 0.80, p = 0.027). CONCLUSION: Sociocultural factors of rurality were associated with indicators of quality of life, cancer fatalism, and information overload. Further exploration of the underlying mechanisms that drive these associations can help improve intervention targets for rural cancer survivors.

The utility of university fitness facilities: Environmental vs. psychological determinants of their use.

OBJECTIVE: It is important for college students to engage regularly in physical activity. While psychological factors, such as motivation, are likely to increase attendance at fitness facilities, positive perceptions of the fitness facility (e.g., the type of classes offered) might also influence use of a fitness facility. PARTICIPANTS: Data were collected from 462 college students. METHODS: Participants completed a survey that included an assessment of commitment and motivation to exercise, life satisfaction, and perceptions of the environment of the fitness facility they use. They also answered questions about fitness facility preferences. RESULTS: Commitment and motivation to exercise were associated with use of a fitness facility. Perceptions of the environmental context of the fitness facility did not influence attendance. CONCLUSIONS: Even though college students shared some preferences (e.g., workout space and lighting), psychological factors were more influential than the environment of a fitness facility with regard to attendance.

Prenatal and Childhood Smoke Exposure Associations with Cognition, Language, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationships of prenatal and childhood smoke exposure with specific neurodevelopmental and behavioral problems during early childhood. STUDY DESIGN: A subsample (n = 386) of mother-child dyads from the Newborn Epigenetic Study (NEST) prebirth cohort participated in the study. Cotinine concentrations were used to objectively measure prenatal and childhood smoke exposure when youth were aged 3-13 years. Multivariable regression models were used to estimate associations of prenatal and childhood cotinine concentrations with performance on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Toolbox and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and behavioral symptoms, measured using the Behavior Assessment System for Children, 2nd edition (BASC-2). RESULTS: After adjusting for confounders, childhood cotinine concentrations were associated with poorer cognitive performance on tasks measuring cognitive flexibility (B = -1.29; P = .03), episodic memory (B = -0.97; P = .02), receptive language development (B = -0.58; P = .01), and inhibitory control and attention (B = -1.59; P = .006). Although childhood cotinine concentration was associated with higher levels of attention problems (B = 0.83; P = .004) on the BASC-2, after adjustment for confounders, the association is nonsignificant. Although associations for maternal cotinine concentrations were null, an interaction was detected between prenatal and childhood cotinine concentrations on the NIH Toolbox Picture Vocabulary Task (P = .02). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that childhood tobacco smoke exposure may lead to poorer attention regulation and language acquisition, complex visual processing ability, and attention problems.

Support for cancer prevention public health policies: results from a nationally representative sample of residents in the United States.

Assessing public support of health policies designed to reduce cancer risk is important for policy implementation. This study aimed to identify support for cancer prevention policies and factors associated with support. Data were obtained from the Health Information National Trends Survey. Support for three types of cancer prevention policies were evaluated: tobacco, alcohol, and junk food regulations. Linear and logistic regression analyses were employed to assess the relationship between support for the different types of policies and sociodemographic, lifestyle behaviors, and cancer beliefs. Certain policies, such as providing warning labels on cigarettes (69.9% support) and requiring specific health warnings on alcohol containers (65.1% support), were popular. Banning outdoor advertising of alcohol was not popular (34.4% support). There were individual differences associated with policy support. For example, respondents who were 75 years or older (B = 0.61, p < .001) or female (B = 0.14, p < .008) were more likely to support tobacco polices compared to their counterparts (i.e., younger or male). Respondents who identified as politically conservative (B = -0.20, p < .004) or those who endorsed high cancer fatalistic beliefs (e.g., there's not much you can do to lower your chances of getting cancer, B = -0.07, p < .012) were less likely to support alcohol policies compared to those who were liberal or had lower cancer fatalistic beliefs. Generally, support was high for most policy questions. However, support varied by different individual factors. The findings also highlight that there may be opportunities to increase understanding and awareness about cancer prevention policies, especially among some segments of the population.

It is important to assess public support of cancer preventive health policies and to know which factors, such as individual characteristics (e.g., gender and political orientation) health behaviors, and cancer beliefs, are associated with support. In this study, we assessed support of cancer prevention policies and examined different factors possibly associated with support. We analyzed data from the Health Information National Trends Survey, a nationally representative dataset. Since there were multiple questions related to support of tobacco and alcohol policies, we combined each set of questions to create two combined scores, with higher scores indicating more support. We examined the policy related to junk food individually. We found certain policies, such as including warning labels on cigarettes, were popular, with over 60% support. However, there were group differences. For example, women and those aged 55 years or older were more supportive of policies, while politically conservative respondents were less supportive of policies. Beliefs about cancer were also associated with policy support. For example, those who believed "there's not much you can do to lower your chances of getting cancer" were less supportive compared to those without that belief. These findings may help inform future policy research and public health campaigns.

Eat, sleep, play: health behaviors and their association with psychological health among cancer survivors in a nationally representative sample.

BACKGROUND: Cancer survivors are able to live much longer today than in the past due to advances in treatment. The promotion of health behaviors is important to address among cancer survivors. Not only can health behaviors reduce the risk of comorbidities, but they may also be key to improving psychological health among cancer survivors, such as psychological distress, perceptions of one's general health, and distress of cancer mortality (i.e., cancer fatalism). Our overall goal is to 1) determine which individual health behaviors (e.g., fruit consumption, physical activity, and sleep) are associated with psychological health among cancer survivors and 2) determine if the number of health behaviors engaged in is associated with better psychological health among cancer survivors. METHODS: Using data from the HINTS 5 Cycle III survey (N = 856 cancer survivors), we compared whether participants who met guidelines for seven health behaviors (e.g., fruit and vegetable consumption, moderate physical activity, sleep duration) had improved psychological health. Multiple ordinal regression models controlling for sociodemographic variables were used to determine if meeting more recommendations was related to psychological health and then specifically which behaviors were of greatest importance to psychological health. RESULTS: Meeting guidelines for sleep quality and moderate physical activity was associated with higher general health and meeting guidelines for vegetable intake and better sleep quality was associated with less psychological distress. Although the associations were not significant, cancer survivors who met more of the health behavior guidelines reported higher general health, lower psychological distress, and less distress about what could be done to lower one's chances to get cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Meeting the guidelines for individual and multiple health behaviors is associated with favorable psychological health among cancer survivors. The findings can contribute to the development of health behavior interventions that focus on multiple health behaviors to improve psychological health and quality of life among cancer survivors.

Sleep onset, duration, or regularity: which matters most for child adiposity outcomes?

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Sleep measures, such as duration and onset timing, are associated with adiposity outcomes among children. Recent research among adults has considered variability in sleep and wake onset times, with the Sleep Regularity Index (SRI) as a comprehensive metric to measure shifts in sleep and wake onset times between days. However, little research has examined regularity and adiposity outcomes among children. This study examined the associations of three sleep measures (i.e., sleep duration, sleep onset time, and SRI) with three measures of adiposity (i.e., body mass index [BMI], waist circumference, and waist-to-height ratio [WHtR]) in a pediatric sample. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Children (ages 4-13 years) who were part of the U.S. Newborn Epigenetic STudy (NEST) participated. Children (N = 144) wore an ActiGraph for 1 week. Sleep measures were estimated from actigraphy data. Weight, height, and waist circumference were measured by trained researchers. BMI and WHtR was calculated with the objectively measured waist and height values. Multiple linear regression models examined associations between child sleep and adiposity outcomes, controlling for race/ethnicity, child sex, age, mothers' BMI and sleep duration. RESULTS: When considering sleep onset timing and duration, along with demographic covariates, sleep onset timing was not significantly associated with any of the three adiposity measures, but a longer duration was significantly associated with a lower BMI Z-score (ß = -0.29, p < 0.001), waist circumference (ß = -0.31, p < 0.001), and WHtR (ß = -0.38, p < 0.001). When considering SRI and duration, duration remained significantly associated with the adiposity measures. The SRI and adiposity associations were in the expected direction, but were non-significant, except the SRI and WHtR association (ß = -0.16, p = 0.077) was marginally non-significant. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep duration was consistently associated with adiposity measures in children 4-13 years of age. Pediatric sleep interventions should focus first on elongating nighttime sleep duration, and examine if this improves child adiposity outcomes.

Spatially Varying Associations of Neighborhood Disadvantage with Alcohol and Tobacco Retail Outlet Rates.

More than 30% of cancer related deaths are related to tobacco or alcohol use. Controlling and restricting access to these cancer-causing products, especially in communities where there is a high prevalence of other cancer risk factors, has the potential to improve population health and reduce the risk of specific cancers associated with these substances in more vulnerable population subgroups. One policy-driven method of reducing access to these cancer-causing substances is to regulate where these products are sold through the placement and density of businesses selling tobacco and alcohol. Previous work has found significant positive associations between tobacco, alcohol, and tobacco and alcohol retail outlets (TRO, ARO, TARO) and a neighborhood disadvantage index (NDI) using Bayesian shared component index modeling, where NDI associations differed across outlet types and relative risks varied by population density (e.g., rural, suburban, urban). In this paper, we used a novel Bayesian index model with spatially varying effects to explore spatial nonstationarity in NDI effects for TROs, AROs, and TAROs across census tracts in North Carolina. The results revealed substantial variation in NDI effects that varied by outlet type. However, all outlet types had strong positive effects in one coastal area. The most important variables in the NDI were percent renters, Black racial segregation, and the percentage of homes built before 1940. Overall, more disadvantaged areas experienced a greater neighborhood burden of outlets selling one or both of alcohol and tobacco.

Associations of Alcohol and Tobacco Retail Outlet Rates with Neighborhood Disadvantage.

Tobacco causes 29% of cancer-related deaths while alcohol causes 5.5% of cancer-related deaths. Reducing the consumption of these cancer-causing products is a special priority area for the National Cancer Institute. While many factors are linked to tobacco and alcohol use, the placement and density of retail outlets within neighborhoods may be one community-level risk factor contributing to greater use of these products. To elucidate associations between tobacco, alcohol, and tobacco and alcohol retail outlets (TRO, ARO, and TARO) and neighborhood disadvantage over a large geographic area, we employed a novel Bayesian index modeling approach to estimate a neighborhood disadvantage index (NDI) and its associations with rates of the three types of retailers across block groups in the state of North Carolina. We used a novel extension of the Bayesian index model to include a shared component for the spatial pattern common to all three types of outlets and NDI effects that varied by outlet type. The shared component identifies areas that are elevated in risk for all outlets. The results showed significant positive associations between neighborhood disadvantage and TROs (relative risk (RR) = 1.12, 95% credible interval (CI = 1.09, 1.14)) and AROs (RR = 1.15, 95% CI = 1.11, 1.17), but the association was greatest for TAROs (RR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.18, 1.24). The most important variables in the NDI were percent renters (i.e., low home ownership), percent of homes built before 1940 (i.e., old housing stock), and percent without a high school diploma (i.e., low education).

Assessing how a tobacco-free campus leads to attitude change and support among students, faculty, and staff.

INTRODUCTION: Universities are increasingly considering tobacco-free campus policies to help promote a healthy learning and working environment. We assessed attitudes of students, faculty, and staff, before and after the implementation of a tobacco-free campus policy at a large, urban university. We also examined individual factors associated with these attitudes. METHODS: An independent panel design method was used to assess students, faculty and staff about their tobacco product use, attitudes towards tobacco policies, and support for cigarette and e-cigarette bans 3 months before and 7 months after a university-wide policy change to ban tobacco and e-cigarettes on campus. Survey participants before the policy change included 636 students and 1356 faculty/ staff. Survey participants after the policy change included 1000 students and 574 faculty/staff. We conducted separate multiple linear and logistic regression models for students and faculty/staff. RESULTS: Attitudes towards tobacco-free campus policies did not improve for students, but did for faculty/staff. Support for bans of cigarettes and e-cigarettes on campus increased following the policy change among both students and faculty/staff. Students were more willing to ask their friends to stop vaping post-policy, but did not differ in their willingness to ask friends to stop smoking. Among the individual factors considered, gender and use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes were predictive of attitudes among both students and faculty/staff. Women were more likely to support and have more positive attitudes towards bans, while current tobacco product users were less likely to support tobacco product bans and have less positive attitudes towards tobacco policies. CONCLUSIONS: Attitudes towards tobacco-free campus policies changed pre- to postpolicy among faculty/staff, but not among students. However, both students and faculty/staff were more supportive of tobacco product bans following the policy change. Individual factors associated with support and attitudes were identified.

Active Today, Replenished Tomorrow? How Daily Physical Activity Diminishes Next-Morning Depletion.

BACKGROUND: Physical activity is a salient input to psychological health and well-being. Recent applied psychology research suggests that physical activity of a greater intensity is particularly important for recovery from work-related effort expenditure. However, whether and how moderate-to-vigorous levels of physical activity influence recovery outside of working populations remains unclear. Further, the process through which this relationship unfolds on a day-to-day basis has yet to be mapped. METHOD: We conducted a 10-day daily diary study in a sample of 66 college students that incorporated objective measurements of physical activity and sleep to address these research gaps. RESULTS: We found that higher levels of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were associated with leisure-time psychological detachment from daily school demands, which in turn related to longer duration sleep that diminished next-morning depletion. DISCUSSION: We discuss how our findings advance a dynamic perspective of the intersection of physical activity and recovery from day-to-day that can be applied outside of working populations.

Suggestions for Advancing Pragmatic Solutions for Dissemination: Potential Updates to Evidence-Based Repositories.

Evidence-based program repositories (EBPR) report intervention characteristics and how to implement the intervention. These EBPR are a dissemination strategy to address questions such as, "I have cancer, what programs can I join?" or "What evidence-based programs for weight loss are a good fit for my community?" However, these EBPR fall short of realizing their potential and are not seen as particularly interactive, robust, or relevant to stakeholders who may benefit from their content. We propose 2 solutions for existing EBPR to enhance dissemination of evidence-based information. Addressing this critical dissemination need is one strategy for health promotion.