Country-level correlates of e-cigarette use in the European Union

Objectives The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between the prevalence of e-cigarette use and country-level factors across 28 European countries. Methods The study objectives were addressed in an ecological design in which both exposures and outcomes were measured at the country level. Data from the Eurobarometer Report, the Eurostat database and the WHO observatory were analyzed. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed considering the rates of current and ever smokers of e-cigarettes as dependent variables, and socio-economic factors, health status and policies against tobacco as independent variables. Results Both the rate of current smokers and ever smokers of e-cigarette were positively associated to the offer of help to quit tobacco use (P\0.01; P = 0.04) and to the raise of taxes on tobacco (P = 0.01; P = 0.01). The warn on dangers of tobacco negatively correlated with the rate of e-cigarette current smokers. The rate of current e-cigarette smokers correlated with the rate of current smokers and with national Gross Domestic Product, while the rate of ever e-cigarette smokers did not correlate with any socio-economic factor. Conclusions Our analysis suggests that both policy and non-policy factors are associated with the geographical variability seen in the prevalence of e-cigarette use. Policies against the consumption of conventional tobacco products may lead to an increase of e-cigarette smokers

Diffusion of the Italian social media campaign against smoking on a social network and YouTube

Introduction Recently, the Italian Ministry of Health developed a health prevention campaign against tobacco smoking entitled "Ma che sei scemo? Il fumo fammale" (Are you stupid? Smoking is bad). The aim of this study was to evaluate the diffusion of the ministerial campaign by analyzing data from two web platforms, Facebook and YouTube. Method The study evaluated the dissemination of the campaign using the number of users reached, interactions and the interaction index (interactions/users reached) on the web platform Facebook and YouTube. A qualitative analysis of the text comments left by the users was also carried out. Result The average number of interactions on Facebook was 6.087 and 400 for YouTube while the total views were 356.967 for Facebook and 174.763 for YouTube. The interaction index was very low for both platforms, between 0 and 1%. A total number of 156 comments were obtained on Facebook and 37 on YouTube, most of which were negative, or comments not related to the campaign. Conclusion The Italian campaign had low diffusion on the web platforms investigated. Evidence-based public health interventions can play a central role in the prevention field but must be based on elements of scientific effectiveness. Further research should analyze the effects of social media campaigns on direct health related outcomes

Smoke and thriving: An ecological study

Studies suggest a possible inverse correlation between smoking attitude and happiness levels. The present paper investigates the relation between males and females smoking prevalence and happiness levels in 155 countries worldwide. Analyses, after adjusting for socio-economic factors, reveal a different relationship between happiness and prevalence of tobacco smoking in the two genders. Countries with highest prevalence of males smoking show the lowest wellbeing levels (Beta coefficient: -0.350; P Value <0.001) while countries with highest prevalence of females smoking show the highest levels of wellbeing (Beta coefficient: 0.144; P Value: 0.030). The countries with the highest prevalence of people thriving are those with the highest prevalence of women smoking and the lowest prevalence of males smoking

A set of key questions to assess the stress among bank employees and its reliability: Bank Employee Stress Test (BEST8)

The aims of the present study are: to realize a tool, clear and helpful, to assess the occupational distress level in bank employees in Italy; secondly to assess the reliability of the tool. Eight sentences were considered after a consensus meeting that involved different professional figures. 70 questionnaires were collected. The overall Cronbach’s alpha was 0.596, a sufficient reliability was found. The elimination of one sentences (“I haven’t time to dedicate myself to my hobbies/activities/stuff”) increases alpha’s value from 0.596 to 0.620, and thus reach fully sufficient score. The claim “The pace of change on work place exceeds my capacity for adaptation” maximises the change of the level of reliability (Inter item Correlation = 0.528)

Glaucoma and cigarette smoking: a review of narrative reviews

Background: Glaucoma is an optic neuropathy associated with visual field changes for which high intra-ocular pressure is a major risk factor. Emerging research indicates that modifiable factors, among which the cigarette smoke, besides IOP may be associated with the presence of glaucoma. Objective: The objective of the study was to perform a review of narrative reviews to examine on the relationship between cigarette smoking and glaucoma. Methods: The results of all narrative reviews in the scientific literature about glaucoma and tobacco smoking were analyzed. A quality assessment was performed according to an easy and convenient tool for the quality assessment of narrative reviews for systematic reviews (International Narrative Systematic assessment) the INSA tool. Literature searches were performed using PubMed. Results: 20 studies about relation between glaucoma and smoke were collected, no restriction language was applied. 15 of these studies have been excluded. We selected among them 5 reviews. With the INSA tool we measured the quality of the 5 selected narrative reviews. Studies that had a highest score with the INSA tool were two: A. Coleman et al. “Risk Factors for Glaucoma Needing More Attention” and R. Salowe et al. “Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma in Individuals of African Descent: A Review of Risk Factors”. Conclusion: The narrative reviews analyzed underline that there is no definitive association between cigarette smoking

Is there a link between physical activity and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis?

<p>The Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a chronic and progressive neuro-degenerative pathology that starts in adult age and usually leads patients to death for respiratory distress after 3 years from the onset of symptoms </p><p>In some studies, vigorous and continuous physical activity due to heavy working activity and sport is associated with ALS. On the other hand other studies are against this association. A study carried out in Europe found overall physical activity is associated with reduced odds of having ALS (OR=0.65, 95% CI=0.48-0.89), and the same protective factor is seen for work-related physical activity (OR=0.56, 95% CI=0.36-0.87) and organized sports (OR=0.49, 95% CI=0.32-0.75.</p><p>A recent literature review found that football/soccer may be considered as a possible risk factor for ALS (level C) and there is a strong need for further research that must take into account the numerous confounding factors that could be present in this field. However only well conducted observational studies, such as cohort and case-control studies, carried out with the same design in different countries could give a final answer to this suspected but still unconfirmed association</p