Recreational Cannabis Legislation: substance use and impaired driving among Canadian rural and urban postsecondary students.

BACKGROUND: Investigation of cannabis use trends among emerging adults (EA, aged between 18 and 24 years) following 2018 Canadian Recreational Cannabis Legislation (RCL) is critical. EAs report the heaviest cannabis use in Canada and are particularly vulnerable to the onset of problematic substance use. OBJECTIVES: To describe and compare post-RCL use of cannabis and other state-altering substances, as well as the prevalence of impaired driving, among EA postsecondary students in both rural and urban settings, studying on one of five campuses in either Manitoba, Ontario, or Quebec. METHODS: For this quantitative cross-sectional study, a self-report survey was administered to 1496 EA postsecondary students in the months following RCL (2018-2019). Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to explore the influence of provincial and urban/rural living contexts on recreational cannabis use, other state-altering substance use and impaired driving behaviours, adjusting for sociodemographic variables. RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were observed between cohorts in almost all measures. Quebec students were more likely to have consumed cannabis during their lifetime (AOR = 1.41, 95% CI [1.05, 1.90]) than all other cohorts. Rural cohorts all had greater odds of reporting consumption of cannabis during the previous year compared to urban cohorts (AOR = 1.32, 95% CI [1.04, 1.67]). However, the relation between cannabis use in the last month and operating a motor vehicle after using cannabis (lifetime and past month) and living context differed between subjects in Quebec and those in the two other provinces. Quebec's students having lived mostly in urban contexts had greater odds of using cannabis in the past month and operating a motor vehicle after using cannabis (lifetime and past month) than those in rural contexts; the opposite was observed in Manitoba and Ontario. Differing interprovincial prohibitive/permissive legislation and licit cannabis infrastructure appeared to have little impact on post-RCL substance use. CONCLUSIONS: In Manitoba and in Ontario, rural/urban living context seems to better predict substance use and related road-safety practices, suggesting these trends supersede permissive/prohibitive provincial legislation and licit cannabis-related infrastructures. Further investigation into sociodemographic factors influencing state-altering substance use and impaired driving, and maintaining tailored cannabis misuse prevention campaigns, is warranted on Canadian campuses.

Yearly transitions of disability profiles in older people living at home.

PURPOSE: Planning home services for older people requires extensive knowledge about the progression of disabilities. Disability-based case-mix classifications identify meaningful groups of older people; yet transitions between profiles are mostly unknown. METHODS: Disability was assessed annually over four years with the Functional Autonomy Measurement System (SMAF) in 1410 older people at risk of functional decline aged 75 and over and living at home. The SMAF generates a case-mix classification of 14 Iso-SMAF profiles with progressive mean disability levels. Transitions made by older people were analyzed using a continuous-time, multi-state Markov model to estimate the probabilities of annual transitions into and out of each profile as well as the mean sojourn time in each profile. RESULTS: The probability of staying in a profile tended to decrease as profile severity increased. For profiles 5 and above, recovery to mild profiles 1, 2 and 3 was low, while annual probabilities of death and institutionalization were high (>0.10). The lower disability profiles (1 and 2) evidenced a mean profile sojourn time of over two years, contrary to sojourn times of 18 months or less with the other profiles. CONCLUSIONS: The probabilities are identifiable, indicating that a disability-based classification can characterize progression in older people. Since the required resources and costs are known for each profile, these probabilities are very helpful in planning home services for elderly populations.

Survey disability questionnaire does not generate valid accurate data compared to clinical assessment on an older population.

PURPOSE: Policy-makers and health care managers need accurate information on disabilities in the population to plan appropriate services to the older population. Disability information from population surveys are often very crude as compared to information used on the clinical field. This study aimed to verify the concurrent validity of a survey questionnaire version of a disability instrument (SMAF) administered by lay interviewers, compared to the original SMAF rating scale completed by clinicians. METHODS: The survey questionnaire version was developed by a panel of experts and pretested with 15 patients attending a day hospital program using a think-aloud approach. A social worker administered the SMAF rating scale at home to a sample of Community-dwelling frail people over 81 years old who participated in the PRISMA longitudinal study in Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada. The same subjects were contacted one month later by a lay interviewer, who completed the survey questionnaire. The two versions were compared using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and weighted kappas (WK). RESULTS: 96 subjects participated in the study. The ICC was 0.82 for the total SMAF score and ranged from 0.46 (mental functions) to 0.82 (IADL) for the subscores. The questionnaire version systematically underestimated disability by 4.7 points on average (out of 87) (p<0.0001). For the case-mix classification generated from the disability assessment (Iso-SMAF profiles), the underestimation was even more striking. CONCLUSIONS: A survey questionnaire is not a valid method for accurately estimating disability in a population.

Meeting the home-care needs of disabled older persons living in the community: does integrated services delivery make a difference?

BACKGROUND: The PRISMA Model is an innovative coordination-type integrated-service-delivery (ISD) network designed to manage and better match resources to the complex and evolving needs of elders. The goal of this study was to examine the impact of this ISD network on unmet needs among disabled older persons living in the community. METHODS: Using data from the PRISMA study, we compared unmet needs of elders living in the community in areas with or without an ISD network. Disabilities and unmet needs were assessed with the Functional Autonomy Measurement System (SMAF). We used growth-curve analysis to examine changes in unmet needs over time and the variables associated with initial status and change. Sociodemographic characteristics, level of disability, self-perceived health status, cognitive functioning, level of empowerment, and the hours of care received were investigated as covariates. Lastly, we report the prevalence of needs and unmet needs for 29 activities in both areas at the end of the study. RESULTS: On average, participants were 83 years old; 62% were women. They had a moderate level of disability and mild cognitive problems. On average, they received 2.07 hours/day (SD = 1.08) of disability-related care, mostly provided by family. The findings from growth-curve analysis suggest that elders living in the area where ISD was implemented and those with higher levels of disability experience better fulfillment of their needs over time. Besides the area, being a woman, living alone, having a higher level of disability, more cognitive impairments, and a lower level of empowerment were linked to initial unmet needs (r2 = 0.25; p < 0.001). At the end of the study, 35% (95% CI: 31% to 40%) of elders with needs living in the ISD area had at least one unmet need, compared to 67% (95% CI: 62% to 71%) in the other area. In general, unmet needs were highest for bathing, grooming, urinary incontinence, walking outside, seeing, hearing, preparing meals, and taking medications. CONCLUSIONS: In spite of more than 30 years of home-care services in the province of Quebec, disabled older adults living in the community still have unmet needs. ISD networks such as the PRISMA Model, however, appear to offer an effective response to the long-term-care needs of the elderly.

Trajectories of physical function decline and psychological functioning: the Quebec longitudinal study on nutrition and successful aging (NuAge).

BACKGROUND: Decline of physical function with age is associated with substantial health consequences. Physical and psychological functioning is linked, but the temporal nature of this association remains unclear. METHODS: Three-year follow-up data from men and women (n = 1,741), aged 68-82 years, in the longitudinal study on nutrition and successful aging (NuAge; Québec, Canada) were used. Growth curve modeling was performed to examine trajectories of a global physical performance score across time as conditioned by cognition and depression. RESULTS: Significant decline in physical function was observed (p < .0001). Rate of decline in physical performance score was accelerated in the older participants (>77 years; age(2): p < .01) but not affected by slight decline in cognition or depression. Yet, people with lower cognition level and more depressive symptoms show lower physical capacity throughout the entire follow-up period (p < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Physical function significantly declined over 3 years, in particular in the oldest group. A subtle decline in psychological health paralleled decline in physical function but did not accelerate it.

Assisted self-report of health-services use showed excellent reliability in a longitudinal study of older adults.

OBJECTIVE: Seniors use a wide variety of health services delivered by numerous practitioners and organizations. Self-report is the most accessible and cost-effective method to collect information on their use. It is thus important to demonstrate the reliability of this approach. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: As part of a longitudinal study on the effect of an integrated service delivery system, participants (or their proxies) were instructed to use a calendar to record their use of health services. Every 2 months, an interviewer collected use since the last phone contact. A subsample was recontacted by the same or another interviewer to estimate test-retest and interinterviewer reliability, respectively. Data collections were compared using delta and weighted kappa as well as intraclass correlation coefficients. RESULTS: Almost perfect agreement was obtained for hospitalization, day surgery, visits to general practitioners and medical specialists, help for home maintenance, and use of voluntary services. Agreement was substantial for visits to the emergency room and home help for personal care. For visits to or by nurses and other health professionals, agreement can be qualified as moderate-to-substantial. CONCLUSION: Assisted self-report of health-services use by older adults or their proxies through bimonthly phone calls is reliable.