Association between Depressed Mood and Youth Condom/Contraceptive Nonuse: A Systematic Review of Literature.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this review article was to determine whether an association exists between depressed mood and contraceptive/condom nonuse among adolescents and young adults. METHODS: CINAHL, Google Scholar, the ProQuest Digital Dissertations and PubMed databases were searched from 1990 through 2016. Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies focusing on the associations between depressed mood and sexual risk behavior of youths or adolescents, aged 12-26 years, were eligible. Study quality was assessed by the criteria for methodology, measurements, description of attrition rates/follow up, sampling methods, and controlling for potential confounders. RESULTS: Twenty seven eligible studies were found, including 12 cross-sectional studies, 11 prospective observational studies, and 4 longitudinal randomized interventions. There were a number of potential methodological problems in many of the research studies. Methodological limitations include use of purely cross-sectional research designs and reliance on self-report measures and the long time interval between the baseline and the follow-up data. CONCLUSIONS: There is fair evidence of an association of depressed mood with contraceptive nonuse. Further specific analyses need to be conducted on this topic. Additional research using true prospective design and improved reporting on the measure of both exposure and outcome are also needed to provide more reliable findings and facilitate improved understanding of the association between depressed mood and sexual risk behavior.

Comparison of the effect of human milk and topical hydrocortisone 1% on diaper dermatitis.

Diaper dermatitis is one of the most common skin problems in infants and children, affecting between 7% and 35% of infants. This randomized clinical trial compared the efficacy of hydrocortisone 1% ointment with that of human breast milk in treating acute diaper dermatitis in infants ages 0 to 24 months. Infants with diaper rash were treated with either hydrocortisone 1% ointment (n = 70) or human breast milk (n = 71) for 7 days. Improvement in the rash from baseline was seen in both treatment groups on days 3 and 7; there was no significant difference in total rash scores on days 3 and 7. Treatment with human breast milk was as effective as hydrocortisone 1% ointment alone. Human breast milk is an effective and safe treatment for diaper dermatitis in infants.

Relationships Between Adolescent Stress, Depressive Symptoms, and Sexual Risk Behavior in Young Adulthood: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: This study examined longitudinal associations between stressful life events and depressive symptoms, assessed during two time points of adolescence, and sexual risk behavior, assessed during young adulthood. METHODS: Structural equation modeling was conducted with three waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. RESULTS: Analyses revealed bidirectional relationships between stressful life events and depressive symptoms during the two time points of adolescence. Adolescent depressive symptoms indirectly affected young adult sexual risk behavior through adolescent stressful life events. Adolescent stressful life events during late adolescence were directly associated with young adult sexual risk behavior. DISCUSSION: Findings highlight the need to screen for both depression and stressful life events during adolescence, to identify at-risk adolescents and deliver tailored interventions to prevent sexual risk behavior during young adulthood.

Positive Youth Development and Contraceptive Use Consistency.

INTRODUCTION: Understanding protective factors associated with adolescent contraceptive use can guide strategies to prevent unprotected sex and its consequences. The current study investigated associations between a set of protective factors, specifically indicators of positive youth development, and consistency of contraceptive use. METHOD: This cross-sectional study examined relationships between positive youth development indicators and consistency of contraceptive use among sexually active adolescent girls at elevated risk for pregnancy. Multivariate models assessed whether measures of individual attributes, social attachments, and social norms were associated with consistent condom and hormonal contraceptive use. RESULTS: Adolescents with higher self-esteem and greater family connectedness reported more consistent hormonal contraceptive use. Two factors, stress management skills and perceived peer prosocial norms, were protective for consistent condom use. In contrast, steady partnership status was associated with less consistent condom use. DISCUSSION: Findings suggest that interventions targeting protective factors may influence adolescents' contraceptive use, in addition to promoting their healthy development.

Prevalence of Blood Pressure, Blood Glucose and Serum Lipids Abnormalities Among Ethiopian Immigrants: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study.

The main objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of hypertension, glucose and blood lipid abnormalities among a community of Ethiopian immigrants in Minnesota. This cross-sectional study used data from the parish nursing program 2007-2012. A total of 673 encounters were included in this study. Various dependent variables including systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), blood glucose (BG), and serum lipids were examined. High blood pressure was defined as a mean SBP equal to or higher than 140 mm/Hg and/or DBP equal to or higher than 90 mmHg. Elevated fasting glucose defined as levels equal to or higher than 126 mg/dL. High level of total cholesterol (TC), total triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were defined as ≥240, ≥200, ≥160 and ≤40 mg/dL, respectively. General linear regression models were used to investigate the relationship of participants' age and gender, to the continuously distributed response variables, which included systolic and DBP, BG, TC, TG, LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol. This is a nonrandom sample of adult Ethiopian church members who were invited to participate in a parish nurse cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor screening program. Participants in this sample were 43 % male and 57 % female. The overall prevalence of hypertension was 30.1 % with a cut off mark of 140/90 mm/Hg. The prevalence of hypertension was 33 and 24 % among men than among women, respectively (p < 0.01). Of all participants, 12 % had BG level of equal to or higher than 126 mg/dL. Low levels of HDL were reported in 30 % of the participants (<40 mg/dL). A higher prevalence of high LDL level (20 %) was observed among women compared to those found in men (16 %). High TC levels (>240 mg/dL) were observed in 15 % of the women and 10 % of the men (p = 0.2). Higher SBP and DBP were significantly higher in male participants than their female counterparts (p < 0.05) and in contrast, women showed a significantly higher TC (p < 0.01) and LDL (0.05) and HDL (p < 0.001). Female participants also had higher BG than male participants but the difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). This opportunity sample suggests high prevalence of CVD risk factors in a community of Ethiopian-American adults, and a pressing need for more comprehensive and systematic assessment of chronic disease health needs in this growing community.

Effects of calci soya balance and vitagnus on menopausal symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Menopause is a period of women's lives with changes and symptoms that affect their work, sleep and quality of life. Therefore, it is important to overcome these symptoms. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to compare the effects of Calci soya balance and Vitagnus on menopausal symptoms. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This double-blinded controlled trial study was performed in public health centers of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (2011-2012). Seventy postmenopausal women with menopausal symptoms were randomly divided into two groups of treatments with Vitagnus and Calci soya balance. Data were collected using interviews, answering Cooperman's index questionnaires before four and eight weeks after the treatment. Descriptive and analytic statistics were used for analyzing the data. RESULTS: In both groups, Wilcoxon test showed a significant decrease in the mean of Cooperman's menopausal index as well as after four and eight weeks of treatment (P = 0.000). Mann-Whitney test did not show any significant differences between the two groups, before and after four and eight weeks of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that both Vitagnus and Calci soya balance were effective on reduction of menopausal symptoms to a similar extent and medical community can administer each of these two drugs based on patients' conditions and costs.