scholarly journals Potential impact of a COVID-19 and smoking paper on Twitter users’ attitudes toward smoking: Observational Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunliang Tao ◽  
Destiny Diaz ◽  
Zidian Xie ◽  
Long Chen ◽  
Dongmei Li ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND A cross-sectional study conducted by French researchers showed that the rate of current daily smoking was significantly lower in COVID-19 patients than in the French general population. OBJECTIVE We aim to examine the dissemination of this French study among Twitter users and whether a shift in their attitudes towards smoking occurred after its publication on April 21st, 2020. METHODS Twitter posts were crawled between April 14th and May 4th, 2020 by the Tweepy stream API, using a COVID-19 related keyword query. After filtering, the final 1,929 tweets were classified into three groups: 1) tweets not related to French study before it was published; 2) tweets not related to French study after it was published; 3) tweets related to French study after it was published. The tweets’ attitudes towards smoking were compared among the above three groups using multinomial logistic regression models in statistical analysis software R. RESULTS The temporal analysis showed a peak in the number of tweets discussing the results from the French study right after its publication. Multinomial logistic regression models on sentiment scores showed the proportion of negative attitudes toward smoking in tweets related to French study after it was published (17.07%) was significantly lower than tweets not related to the French study either before (34.92%, P < 0.001) or after the French study was published (34.34%, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS The public’s attitude toward smoking shifted in a positive direction after the French study found a lower incidence of COVID-19 cases in daily smokers.

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 422-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Namkee G. Choi ◽  
Martha L. Bruce ◽  
Diana M. DiNitto ◽  
C. Nathan Marti ◽  
Mark E. Kunik

Objective: To examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between (a) activity-limiting fall worry (ALW) and (b) self-reported health-related restrictions and social engagement among older adults. Method: The National Health and Aging Trends Study Waves 5 (T1) and 6 (T2) provided data ( n = 6,279). Binary and multinomial logistic regression models were used to examine association of T2 social engagement restrictions with T2 fall worry and association of T1–T2 changes in social engagement restrictions with T1–T2 changes in fall worry. Results: ALW was significantly associated with both informal and formal social engagement restriction at T2. Onset of ALW and continued ALW between T1 and T2 were also significantly associated with newly reported restrictions in both informal and formal social engagement at T2 even controlling for falls incidents and changes in health status and other covariates. Discussion: The findings underscore the importance of reducing fall worry and preventing social disengagement in late life.


Author(s):  
Danielle LoRe ◽  
Christopher Mattson ◽  
Dalia M. Feltman ◽  
Jessica T. Fry ◽  
Kathleen G. Brennan ◽  
...  

Objective The study aimed to explore physician views on whether extremely early newborns will have an acceptable quality of life (QOL), and if these views are associated with physician resuscitation preferences. Study Design We performed a cross-sectional survey of neonatologists and maternal fetal medicine (MFM) attendings, fellows, and residents at four U.S. medical centers exploring physician views on future QOL of extremely early newborns and physician resuscitation preferences. Mixed-effects logistic regression models examined association of perceived QOL and resuscitation preferences when adjusting for specialty, level of training, gender, and experience with ex-premature infants. Results A total of 254 of 544 (47%) physicians were responded. A minority of physicians had interacted with surviving extremely early newborns when they were ≥3 years old (23% of physicians in pediatrics/neonatology and 6% in obstetrics/MFM). The majority of physicians did not believe an extremely early newborn would have an acceptable QOL at the earliest gestational ages (11% at 22 and 23% at 23 weeks). The majority of physicians (73%) believed that having an extremely preterm infant would have negative effects on the family's QOL. Mixed-effects logistic regression models (odds ratio [OR], 95% confidence interval [CI]) revealed that physicians who believed infants would have an acceptable QOL were less likely to offer comfort care only at 22 (OR: 0.19, 95% CI: 0.05–0.65, p < 0.01) and 23 weeks (OR: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.07–0.78, p < 0.02). They were also more likely to offer active treatment only at 24 weeks (OR: 9.66, 95% CI: 2.56–38.87, p < 0.01) and 25 weeks (OR: 19.51, 95% CI: 3.33–126.72, p < 0.01). Conclusion Physician views of extremely early newborns' future QOL correlated with self-reported resuscitation preferences. Residents and obstetric physicians reported more pessimistic views on QOL. Key Points


2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 402-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rémi Boivin ◽  
Chloé Leclerc

This article analyzes reported incidents of domestic violence according to the source of the complaint and whether the victim initially supported judicial action against the offender. Almost three quarters of incidents studied were reported by the victim (72%), and a little more than half of victims initially wanted to press charges (55%). Using multinomial logistic regression models, situational and individual factors are used to distinguish 4 incident profiles. Incidents in which the victim made the initial report to the police and wished to press charges are the most distinct and involve partners who were already separated at the time of the incident or had a history of domestic violence. The other profiles also show important differences.


Author(s):  
Karen Zwanch ◽  
Jesse L. M. Wilkins

Abstract Constructing multiplicative reasoning is critical for students’ learning of mathematics, particularly throughout the middle grades and beyond. Tzur, Xin, Si, Kenney, and Guebert [American Educational Research Association, ERIC No. ED510991, (2010)] conclude that an assimilatory composite unit is a conceptual spring to multiplicative reasoning. This study examines patterns in the percentages of students who construct multiplicative reasoning across the middle grades based on their fluency in operating with composite units. Multinomial logistic regression models indicate that students’ rate of constructing an assimilatory composite unit but not multiplicative reasoning in sixth and seventh grades is significantly greater than that in eighth and ninth grades. Furthermore, the proportion of students who have constructed multiplicative reasoning in sixth and seventh grades is significantly less than the proportion of those who have constructed multiplicative reasoning in eighth and ninth grades. One implication of this is the quantitative verification of Tzur, Xin, Si, Kenney, and Guebert’s (2010) conceptual spring. That is, students who construct assimilatory composite units early in the middle grades are likely to construct multiplicative reasoning; students who do not construct assimilatory composite units early in the middle grades likely do not construct multiplicative reasoning in the middle grades.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Salguero ◽  
Juliana Ferri-Guerra ◽  
Nadeem Y. Mohammed ◽  
Dhanya Baskaran ◽  
Raquel Aparicio-Ugarriza ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Frailty is defined as a state of vulnerability to stressors that is associated with higher morbidity, mortality and healthcare utilization in older adults. Ageism is “a process of systematic stereotyping and discrimination against people because they are old.” Explicit biases involve deliberate or conscious controls, while implicit bias involve unconscious processes. Multiple studies show that self-directed ageism is a risk factor for increased morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to determine whether explicit ageist attitudes are associated with frailty in Veterans. Methods This is a cross-sectional study of Veterans 50 years and older who completed the Kogan’s Attitudes towards Older People Scale (KAOP) scale to assess explicit ageist attitudes and the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to evaluate implicit ageist attitudes from July 2014 through April 2015. We constructed a frailty index (FI) of 44 variables (demographics, comorbidities, number of medications, laboratory tests, and activities of daily living) that was retrospectively applied to the time of completion of the KAOP and IAT. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by multinomial logistic regression models with frailty status (robust, prefrail and frail) as the outcome variable, and with KAOP and IAT scores as the independent variables. Age, race, ethnicity, median household income and comorbidities were considered as covariates. Results Patients were 89.76% male, 48.03% White, 87.93% non-Hispanic and the mean age was 60.51 (SD = 7.16) years. The proportion of robust, pre-frail and frail patients was 11.02% (n = 42), 59.58% (n = 227) and 29.40% (n = 112) respectively. The KAOP was completed by 381 and the IAT by 339 participants. In multinomial logistic regression, neither explicit ageist attitudes (KAOP scale score) nor implicit ageist attitudes (IAT) were associated with frailty in community dwelling Veterans after adjusting for covariates: OR = .98 (95% CI = .95–1.01), p = .221, and OR:=.97 (95% CI = .37–2.53), p = .950 respectively. Conclusions This study shows that neither explicit nor implicit ageist attitudes were associated with frailty in community dwelling Veterans. Further longitudinal and larger studies with more diverse samples and measured with other ageism scales should evaluate the independent contribution of ageist attitudes to frailty in older adults.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 662-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myriam Forster ◽  
Amy L. Gower ◽  
Barbara J. McMorris ◽  
Iris W. Borowsky

Retrospective studies using adult self-report data have demonstrated that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increase risk of violence perpetration and victimization. However, research examining the associations between adolescent reports of ACE and school violence involvement is sparse. The present study examines the relationship between adolescent reported ACE and multiple types of on-campus violence (bringing a weapon to campus, being threatened with a weapon, bullying, fighting, vandalism) for boys and girls as well as the risk of membership in victim, perpetrator, and victim–perpetrator groups. The analytic sample was comprised of ninth graders who participated in the 2013 Minnesota Student Survey ( n ~ 37,000). Multinomial logistic regression models calculated the risk of membership for victim only, perpetrator only, and victim–perpetrator subgroups, relative to no violence involvement, for students with ACE as compared with those with no ACE. Separate logistic regression models assessed the association between cumulative ACE and school-based violence, adjusting for age, ethnicity, family structure, poverty status, internalizing symptoms, and school district size. Nearly 30% of students were exposed to at least one ACE. Students with ACE represent 19% of no violence, 38% of victim only, 40% of perpetrator only, and 63% of victim–perpetrator groups. There was a strong, graded relationship between ACE and the probability of school-based victimization: physical bullying for boys but not girls, being threatened with a weapon, and theft or property destruction ( ps < .001) and perpetration: bullying and bringing a weapon to campus ( ps < .001), with boys especially vulnerable to the negative effects of cumulative ACE. We recommend that schools systematically screen for ACE, particularly among younger adolescents involved in victimization and perpetration, and develop the infrastructure to increase access to trauma-informed intervention services. Future research priorities and implications are discussed.


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