scholarly journals Insufficient Sun Exposure Has Become a Real Public Health Problem

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (14) ◽  
pp. 5014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Alfredsson ◽  
Bruce K. Armstrong ◽  
D. Allan Butterfield ◽  
Rajiv Chowdhury ◽  
Frank R. de Gruijl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Vitamin D ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Sun Exposure ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vitamin D Supplementation ◽  
Medical Community ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Eyes Closed

This article aims to alert the medical community and public health authorities to accumulating evidence on health benefits from sun exposure, which suggests that insufficient sun exposure is a significant public health problem. Studies in the past decade indicate that insufficient sun exposure may be responsible for 340,000 deaths in the United States and 480,000 deaths in Europe per year, and an increased incidence of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, asthma, type 1 diabetes and myopia. Vitamin D has long been considered the principal mediator of beneficial effects of sun exposure. However, oral vitamin D supplementation has not been convincingly shown to prevent the above conditions; thus, serum 25(OH)D as an indicator of vitamin D status may be a proxy for and not a mediator of beneficial effects of sun exposure. New candidate mechanisms include the release of nitric oxide from the skin and direct effects of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) on peripheral blood cells. Collectively, this evidence indicates it would be wise for people living outside the tropics to ensure they expose their skin sufficiently to the sun. To minimize the harms of excessive sun exposure, great care must be taken to avoid sunburn, and sun exposure during high ambient UVR seasons should be obtained incrementally at not more than 5–30 min a day (depending on skin type and UV index), in season-appropriate clothing and with eyes closed or protected by sunglasses that filter UVR.

Driving and Public Health

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Cell Phone ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Electronic Device ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Distracted Driving ◽  
The Past

Distracted driving is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “the practice of driving a motor vehicle while engaged in another activity, typically one that involves the use of a mobile phone or other electronic device.” However, other distractions not involving the use of a cell phone or texting are important as well, contributing to this burgeoning public health problem in the United States. Examples include talking to other passengers, adjusting the radio or other controls in the car, and daydreaming. Distracted driving has been linked to increased risk of motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) in the United States, representing one of the most preventable leading causes of death for youth ages 16 to 24 years. Undoubtedly, the proliferation of cell phone, global positioning system (GPS), and other in-vehicle and personal electronic device use while driving has led to this rise in distracted driving prevalence. This behavior has impacted society—including individual and commercial drivers, passengers, pedestrians—in countless numbers of ways, ranging from increased MVCs and deaths to the enactment of new driving laws. In 2016, for example, 20 percent of all US pediatric deaths (nearly 4,000 children and adolescents) were due to fatal MVCs. It has been estimated that at any given time, more than 650,000 drivers are using cell phones or manipulating electronic devices while driving. In the United States, efforts are underway to reduce this driving behavior. In the past two decades, state and federal laws have specifically targeted cell phone use and texting while driving as priority areas for legal intervention. Distracted driving laws have become “strategies of choice” for tackling this public health problem, though their enforcement has emerged as a major challenge and varies by jurisdiction and location. Multimodal interventions using models such as the “three Es” framework—Enactment of a law, Education of the public about the law and safety practices, and Enforcement of the law—have become accepted practice or viewed as necessary steps to successfully change this behavior caused by distractions while driving. This Oxford Bibliographies review introduces these and other aspects (including psychological influences and road conditions) of distracted driving through a presentation of annotated resources from peer- and non-peer-reviewed literature. This selective review aims to provide policymakers, program implementers, and researchers with a reliable source of information on the past and current state of American laws, policies, and priorities for distracted driving.

America’s Homelessness Crisis

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Charley E. Willison
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Chronic Homelessness ◽  
Municipal Governments ◽  
The Life Course

Homelessness is a public health problem. From rising housing costs to discriminatory lending and leasing, natural disasters, and mental illness, homelessness has many different causes and many similar effects: serious adverse consequences for physical and mental health across the life course. This chapter makes the case for homelessness as a public health problem, with chronic homelessness as scope of focus for this book. This chapter then introduces the main question of the book: If municipalities are the site of the U.S. homeless epidemic, what are municipal governments doing to address homelessness, and why? This chapter then outlines the role of governance structures in shaping municipal approaches to chronic homelessness, describes the governance system responsible for designing and delivering solutions to homelessness and chronic homelessness in the United States, and the history of homeless policy in America. Finally, this chapter lays the roadmap for the book and subsequent chapters.

Vitamin D as a Public Health Problem

BMJ ◽  
1964 ◽  
Vol 2 (5403) ◽  
pp. 246-246
Author(s):  
W. A. Ball
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Vitamin D ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Public Health Problem

scholarly journals Vitamin D levels in a pediatric population of a primary care centre: a public health problem?

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Fernández Bustillo ◽  
A. Fernández Pombo ◽  
R. Gómez Bahamonde ◽  
E. Sanmartín López ◽  
O. Gualillo
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Vitamin D ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Pediatric Population ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Primary Care Centre ◽  
Care Centre ◽  
Vitamin D Levels

Defining Commercial Speech in the Context of Food Marketing

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (S1) ◽  
pp. 40-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Pomeranz ◽  
Sabrina Adler
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
First Amendment ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Food Marketing ◽  
Policy Strategy ◽  
Commercial Speech ◽  
Poor Nutrition

Obesity is a public health problem in the United States. Experts have identified the regulation of food marketing as a policy strategy to address obesity and poor nutrition. However, the First Amendment can be a barrier to reducing exposure to problematic food marketing. In recent years, courts have become increasingly protective of speech, and particularly of “commercial speech,” or advertising, which can make it more difficult to regulate certain marketing practices.

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