Do social support and community engagement act as mechanisms in the association between neighbourhood income inequality and the mental health of mothers in Calgary,Canada? A mediation analysis

PurposeAccording to the social determinants of health framework, income inequality is a potential risk factor for adverse mental health. However, few studies have explored the mechanisms suspected to mediate this relationship. The current study addresses this gap through a mediation analysis to determine if social support and community engagement act as mediators linking neighbourhood income inequality to maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms within a cohort of new mothers living in the City of Calgary, Canada.MethodsData collected at three years postpartum from mothers belonging to the All Our Families (AOF) cohort were used in the current study. Maternal data were collected between 2012 and 2015 and linked to neighbourhood socioeconomic data from the 2006 Canadian Census. Income inequality was measured using Gini coefficients derived from 2006 after-tax census data. Generalized structural equation models were used to quantify the associations between income inequality and mental health symptoms, and to assess the potential direct and indirect mediating effects of maternal social support and community engagement.ResultsIncome inequality was not significantly associated with higher depressive symptoms (β = 0.32, 95%CI = −0.067, 0.70), anxiety symptoms (β = 0.11, 95%CI = −0.39, 0.60), or lower social support. Income inequality was not associated with community engagement. For the depression models, higher social support was significantly associated with lower depressive symptoms (β = −0.13, 95%CI = −0.15, −0.097), while community engagement was not significantly associated with depressive symptoms (β = 0.059, 95%CI = −0.15, 0.27). Similarly, for the anxiety models, lower anxiety symptoms were significantly associated with higher levels of social support (β = −0.17, 95%CI = −0.20, −0.13) but not with higher levels of community engagement (β = 0.14, 95%CI = −0.14, 0.41).ConclusionThe current study did not find clear evidence for social support or community engagement mediating the relationship between neighbourhood income inequality and maternal mental health. Future investigations should employ a broader longitudinal approach to capture changes in income inequality, potential mediators, and mental health symptomatology over time.     

COVID-19 Gender Disparities and Mitigation Recommendations: A Narrative Review

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has rapidly created widespread impacts on global health and the economy. Data suggest that women are less susceptible to severe illness. However, sex-disaggregated data are incomplete, leaving room for misinterpretation, and focusing only on biologic sex underestimates the gendered impact of the pandemic on women. This narrative review summarizes what is known about gender disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic, domestic, and health burdens along with overlapping vulnerabilities related to the pandemic. In addition, this review outlines recommended strategies that advocacy groups, community leaders, and policymakers should implement to mitigate the widening gender disparities related to COVID-19.     

郑州地区孕妇铁营养状况及其影响因素调查

目的 探讨郑州地区孕妇铁营养状况及其影响因素。方法 以2021年4—8月在郑州市某三家医院建立健康档案并进行孕期体检的孕妇作为研究对象进行问卷调查及铁营养状况检测,采用描述流行病学方法对孕妇铁营养状态进行分析,并采用单、多因素分析方法对孕妇铁缺乏状况影响因素进行分析。结果 共有3 258例孕妇参与本次研究,其中妊娠早期989例,占30.36%,妊娠中期1 125例,占34.53%,妊娠晚期1 144例,占35.11%。在3 258名孕妇中,共有773例为铁缺乏,铁缺乏的检出率为23.73%。多因素分析结果显示,年龄≥35岁（OR=2.726）、处于妊娠的中期或晚期（OR=3.037,3.438）、月经初潮年龄<13岁（OR=2.432）、经产妇（OR=3.493）、流产次数≥3次（OR=2.648）、孕前月经量≥100 mL/次（OR=2.420）、文化程度为初中及以上（OR=0.517,0.459）、居住在农村（OR=3.684）、家庭月收入>3 000元及以上（OR=0.601,0.542）、居住房屋装修时间<1年（OR=6.449）、罹患消化系统疾病（OR=4.716）、有营养补齐剂摄入（OR=0.355）是孕妇铁缺乏的影响因素。结论 郑州市孕妇铁缺乏检出率较高,需要尽早给予针对性的干预。部分因素被确定为该地区孕妇人群发生铁元素缺乏的影响因素,可选择性的对其中危险因素给予干预。     

北京市养老机构老年人营养状况调查及其影响因素研究

背景　在人口老龄化日益加剧的社会背景之下，家庭养老功能不断减弱，机构养老成为今后发展的必然趋势。据报道，很多养老机构的老年人营养不合理，严重影响老年人的健康状况与生活质量。目的　通过调查北京市养老机构老年人营养现状及其影响因素，为全科医师营养教育及老年人生活质量提升提供理论依据。方法　2014年10月-2015年12月，采用方便整群抽样的方法，抽取了北京市7家养老机构，对符合纳入标准的老年人进行面对面问卷调查，问卷内容包括：一般情况、微型营养评定量表（MNA）、日常生活活动能力指数（BI）、老年人抑郁量表（GDS）。采用二元Logistic回归分析养老机构老年人营养状况的影响因素。结果　本研究共发放问卷258份，回收有效问卷258份，有效回收率为100%。被调查的258例老年人中，存在营养不良及存在营养不良发生风险的老年人共计75例（29.1%）。不同年龄、性别、婚姻状况、体质指数（BMI）、医疗费用支付方式、生活自理能力及精神状态的老年人营养状况比较，差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。二元Logistic回归分析结果显示：年龄〔OR（95%CI）=2.349（1.070，5.156）〕、BMI〔OR（95%CI）=0.092（0.036，0.239）〕、医疗费用支付方式〔OR（95%CI）=0.208（0.083，0.522）〕、日常活动能力〔OR（95%CI）=10.214（3.099，33.669）〕、患病种数〔OR（95%CI）=2.682（1.248，5.763）〕及精神状态〔OR（95%CI）=4.822（2.005，11.600）〕是老年人营养状况的影响因素（P<0.05）。结论　北京地区养老机构的老年人面临着营养不良及营养不良发生风险的健康威胁，高龄、低BMI、抑郁、合并多种疾病、日常活动能力低下及无医保是其独立危险因素，需要对老年人加强个性化营养教育和营养治疗。     

经鼻导管高流量吸氧与经鼻气道正压通气在重症毛细支气管炎呼吸支持中的应用价值比较

目的：比较经鼻导管高流量吸氧（HFNC）与经鼻气道正压通气（nCPAP）在重症毛细支气管炎呼吸支持中的应用价值，为临床治疗方案的选择提供参考。方法：选取2016年12月至2018年12月我院儿科收治的重症毛细支气管炎患儿90例，采用随机数字表法分为观察组和对照组各45例。两组患儿入院后均给予常规综合治疗以保证呼吸道通畅，在此基础上观察组采用HFNC治疗，对照组采用nCPAP治疗，比较两组患儿治疗前和治疗24 h后呼吸频率、经皮血氧饱和度（TcSO2）、呼吸窘迫评分体系（CSS）评分、动脉血氧分压（PaO2）等呼吸相关指标及治疗前后临床症状体征改善情况。结果：两组患儿治疗24 h后呼吸频率、CSS评分均降低，且观察组降低程度更大，TcSO2、PaO2于治疗24 h后升高，观察组升高幅度较对照组明显；治疗后两组患儿咳嗽及肺部湿啰音、肺部炎症情况均改善，观察组症状体征消失时间早于对照组，差异均有统计学意义（P<0.05）。结论：重症毛细支气管炎患儿采用HFNC治疗可明显改善通气功能和临床症状，治疗效果优于nCPAP治疗，可扩大样本量进一步观察。     

Stitching the fabric back together: child fostering attitudes in the transition to a chronic HIV epidemic

There are an estimated 56 million orphans and vulnerable children across sub-Saharan Africa. Communities typically care for orphan children through informal caring arrangements – either within or outside of kinship networks. Within Kenya, an estimated 250,000 children live on the streets. There is less research related to fostering attitudes of this special population than orphans and vulnerable children generally. Important research over the past decade has illuminated multiple ways in which children are made more vulnerable because of HIV, including parental death and street-migration from HIV-affected households. As HIV transitions from a terminal illness to a chronic, manageable one, research is also required to establish how parents living with HIV can be an asset to children. In this study, we assess whether mothers living with HIV were very willing to foster biologically-related children, and street-involved children, how these fostering attitudes differed from mothers not living with HIV, and whether differences in fostering attitudes by reported HIV status were mediated by social support, family functioning and general self-rated health. Approximately 40% of mothers living with HIV were very willing to provide long-term foster care to biologically-related or street-involved children. This was less than the percentage of mothers not living with HIV, who were very willing to foster biologically-related children (61%) or street-involved children (58%). Significant portions of these differences were explained by social support, family functioning and general self-rated health. Multi-sectoral approaches are suggested by these findings in order to improve the child-fostering capacity of mothers living with HIV. Improving social support, family functioning and general self-rated health among HIV-infected mothers may not only provide protective benefits for the mothers and their children, but also expand the community’s capacity to care for orphan and vulnerable children.