International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Volume 20, Issue 15

Background: Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is now an official diagnosis and significant public health challenges have been already identified regarding the provision of appropriate care to patients of all ages and the preparedness of mental health pr...

Research on alcohol warnings has increased in the last decade, providing key evidence to governments on warning format and contents. The bulk of this research, however, has been conducted in Anglosphere countries, whereas fewer studies have focused o...

Schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) are severe psychiatric disorders that share clinical features and several risk genes. Important information about their genetic underpinnings arises from intermediate phenotypes (IPs), quantifiable biolog...

Federated learning (FL) provides a distributed machine learning system that enables participants to train using local data to create a shared model by eliminating the requirement of data sharing. In healthcare systems, FL allows Medical Internet of T...

The current study analysed whether the osteogenic stimuli of exercises and sports have an independent effect on bone mineral density (BMD). Studies with a design having two different cohorts were searched and selected to distinguish the effect due to...

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of parental mental health on adolescent offspring. Data regarding 6512 families from the 2010–2021 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were analyzed; among them, 428 were placed in the...

Grocery store environments are recognized as one of the most crucial community settings for developing and maintaining healthy nutritional behaviors in children. This is especially true for disadvantaged ethnic minority families, such as immigrants,...

For women giving birth, every moment of delay in receiving skilled care significantly increases the risks of stillbirth, neonatal and maternal death. More than half of all births in developing countries, including South Africa, take place outside a h...

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine condition that impacts nutritional status, metabolic, and hormonal function in females of reproductive age. This condition is associated with increased androgen production (hyperandrogenism) and decr...

The COVID-19 pandemic has exerted a significant impact on mental health globally. The uncertainty, fear, and stress associated with this crisis have contributed to a heightened prevalence of anxiety, depression, and various other mental health disord...

Demographic ageing has emphasized the need to adapt current healthcare systems to the comorbidity profile of older adults. In 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the Age-Friendly Principles, but the approach to their implementation in...

While shade and air flow are recognised factors that reduce outdoor heat exposure, the level of reduction in terms of labour capacity at varying air temperature and humidity levels is poorly understood. This study investigated cooling effects on the...

Background: Feeling out of control during a traumatic event may evoke behavioral self-blame (BSB) to avoid feeling helpless following trauma by restoring one’s sense of control. BSB is a common, persistent, and treatment-resistant post-traumati...

The physical environment is one of the factors that affect mother’s experience of childbirth and psychological health. A woman’s childbirth experience has been found to influence not only the mother’s own health and future births bu...

Ensuring access to adequate and equitable sanitation and ending open defecation by 2030 is the focus of Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 (SDG6.2). We evaluated Malawi’s progress towards SDG 6.2 (specifically the goal to end open defecation), pr...

The delay of gratification (DoG) is defined as the willingness to forego immediate satisfaction to achieve greater long-term gratification. This ability is essential in adolescence, as its development is crucial against desirable versus undesirable b...

Background: The outbreak of the Coronavirus disease led the World Health Organization to publish recommendations regarding preventive health behaviors (PHB). Pregnant women are at a higher risk of severe COVID-19 infection and adherence to these reco...

The field of mountain sports has its own characteristics, different from other sports modalities. Emotional intelligence and resilience not only refer to the adaptive capacity that can be developed after an adverse experience, but can also be factors...

Landfills pose an important public health risk, especially in historically disenfranchised communities that are disproportionately sited for landfills and in rural areas where private wells may be impacted. Landfills are major sources of perfluoroalk...

In Canada, the health research funding landscape limits the self-determination of Indigenous peoples in multiple ways, including institutional eligibility, priority setting, and institutional structures that deprioritize Indigenous knowledges. Howeve...

Drinking water quality assessment is a major issue today, as it is crucial to supply safe drinking water to ensure the well-being of society. Predicting drinking water quality helps strengthen water management and fight water pollution; technologies...

Background: There is evidence that non-Italians presented higher incidence of infection and worse health outcomes if compared to native populations in the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the study was to compare Italian- and non-Italian-born health out...

Hearing loss is a significant global health concern, affecting billions of people and leading to various physical, mental, and social consequences. This paper focuses on the risk of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) among specific healthcare professi...

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on every aspect of life, especially for healthcare professionals. Dentists are the most at risk of infection due to close contact with patients. This study aimed to assess the level of awareness, per...

Many strides have been made in the field of nutrition that are making it an attractive field not only to nutrition professionals but also to healthcare practitioners. Thanks to the emergence of molecular nutrition, there is a better appreciation of h...

Background: In the development of effective telerehabilitation (TR) interventions, understanding the various characteristics affecting its practice is essential. Remote connection creates a new technically shaped environment for therapy and, therefor...

Long-term alterations of pulmonary function (mainly decreased airway conductance and capacity of the lungs to diffuse carbon monoxide (DLCO)) have been described after hyperbaric exposures. However, whether these alterations convey a higher risk for...

Assessing motor competence is essential for evaluating the effectiveness of physical activity interventions that aim to maintain or improve older adults’ function. However, assessing motor competence in older adults who have difficulties walkin...

In Germany, only about 10% of patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) are treated by the professional help system. “The First 30 Days without Alcohol”, an interactive e-health intervention, was developed to support people with “alc...

Exercise in long COVID is poorly studied. Nevertheless, exerciserehabilitation could improve cardiorespiratory, muscular and autonomic functions. We aimed to investigate improvement in physical and autonomic performances of long COVID patients (n = 3...

Research in the field shows the crucial role of trust in the functioning of many aspects of social life, especially when dealing with emergencies. We report the results of a study (N = 883) carried out in Italy during the first phase of the COVID-19...

Young carers are a largely invisible and unsupported population of Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) children and youth aged 25 years and under who physically, emotionally, socially, and/or spiritually support loved ones experiencing ill health, disability,...

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected mental health worldwide and college students were particularly vulnerable to its adverse effects. This longitudinal study was designed to highlight and compare the COVID experiences of college students in Arg...

This work aimed to validate the use of the Smartphone Distraction Scale (SDS) in Italy. The SDS was devised to assess distraction related to smartphone use in adult populations. A cross-sectional study was conducted among n = 609 adults (females = 76...

The World Health Organisation defines health in terms of wellbeing, and wellbeing has become both a construct and a measure of impact in early intervention and prevention programs in schools. In Australia, schools report on their wellbeing initiative...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive respiratory condition characterized by persistent inflammation in the airways, resulting in narrowing and obstruction of the air passages. The development of COPD is primarily attributed t...

This paper examines factors correlated with online self-help—an informal form of social control vis-à-vis intervention—upon witnessing a cyberhate attack. Using online surveys from 18- to 26-year-old respondents in the United State...

Breast cancer was identified as the cancer with the highest mortality rate among women in Brazil. This study analyzed the effects of age, period and birth cohort on the breast cancer mortality rate for Brazilian women, comparing state capitals and no...

Early marriage and childbearing put young women and their babies at risk of poor health and well-being. This study uses two rounds of longitudinal data from young women ages 15–19 in 2015–2016 and followed in 2018–2019 to determine...

There is increasing interest in physical activity as a response to the harm caused by dementia. The focus has been upon interventions to prevent or delay symptoms or to support people living with the condition to reminisce. Whilst this is welcome, th...

Grape consumption acts on the immune system to produce antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Since immune activity demonstrates circadian rhythmicity, with peak activity occurring during waking hours, the timing of grape intake may influence the...

Introduction: Abdominal obesity is a pattern of obesity that has been considered a public health problem. Physical activity is considered an important factor for the prevention of abdominal obesity. Increased time in sedentary behavior has been assoc...

Increased time spent in nature can enhance physical health and mental wellbeing. The UK Government’s ‘25 Year Environment Plan’ recommends extending the health benefits of contact with nature to a wider group of people, including th...

Given the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and the conditions of vulnerability of large sectors of the population, the question emerges: what are the ethical limits of technologies in patient care? This paper examines this question in the...

Studies investigating the effectiveness of school-related gender-based violence prevention programs seldom report on the extent to which students themselves value and recommend such programs. Yet, along with evidence about effectiveness in relation t...

Malaria is a prevalent disease in several tropical and subtropical regions, including Brazil, where it remains a significant public health concern. Even though there have been substantial efforts to decrease the number of cases, the reoccurrence of e...

There is evidence of the efficacy of collaborative health interventions with pharmacies and primary care providers but little of its real-world effectiveness. We aimed to assess the effectiveness and discuss the design and challenges of hypertension...

A systematic review was conducted to assess and synthesize recent research on mental health professionals’ attitudes towards trans people. The main objectives of our research were (a) to identify, synthesize, and analyze the scientific evidence...

Lifestyle and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are good markers of surgical obesity treatment. This study aimed to investigate the lifestyle and HRQoL of patients at least five years after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass in public (SUS) and private (P...

Background: In Canada, a state of health emergency was declared in May 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess trends in the use of prescription medication for pain management by people living with chronic pain before an...