Current Issue June 2012, Vol. 42, No. 6

In This Issue

Obesity and Severe Obesity Forecasts Through 2030  Free CME Prior studies generated from a linear trend predicted that 51 percent of the U.S. population would be obese by 2030. In their study, Trogdon and colleagues report a lower obesity prevalence at 42 percent. Despite this lower rate, if their forecasts prove accurate and obesity rates are not kept at 2010 levels, the increase would lead to an additional $549.5 billion in medical expenditures. MORE

Role of Video Games in Improving Health-Related Outcomes: A Systematic ReviewPhoto courtesy of Rebecca Pollard
 Free CME Video games are a multibillion-dollar industry in the U.S. While most research related to video games has concentrated on their potential for harm, Primack and colleagues investigate their use in improving health outcomes, concluding there are potentially positive uses, especially in the areas of psychological therapy and physical therapy.  MORE

Taking Up Cycling After Residential Relocation: Built Environment FactorsPhoto courtesy of Tejvan Pettinger
Beenackers and colleagues make the case that certain changes to neighborhood environments – such as greater residential density, increased access to parks and more recreation-related destinations – can help facilitate transport-related cycling as a means of physical activity among formerly non-cycling adults. For recreational cycling, the neighborhood's physical layout appears to be the most significant factor in stimulating cycling behavior.  MORE

Efficacy of Smoking-Cessation Interventions for Young Adults: A Meta-AnalysisPhoto courtesy of Meddygarnet
Although evidence-based smoking cessation treatments are as effective for young adults as they are for the general adult population, Suls and colleagues demonstrate that young adults tend to underutilize such treatments. They suggest more tailored marketing of these treatments and a greater push to encourage young adults to seek them out.  MORE

Latest Supplement

An Agenda for Public Health Systems and Services ResearchPhoto courtesy Secom Bahia

The articles in the May supplement to AJPM propose a research agenda for better understanding the nature of the public health workforce, as well as the best ways to structure public health departments, assure effective and high-quality public health services and structure new partnerships for research. MORE

Latest Theme

Geographic Information Systems and Childhood Obesity
The neighborhoods in which children and adolescents live and spend their time play a role in whether or not they eat a healthy diet, get enough exercise, or become obese, concludes a collection of articles in this theme issue of AJPM. Six studies use the latest concepts and methods in geographic information systems (GIS)-based research to determine how geographical location affects physical health. MORE

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AJPM Blog

Check out our new blog, "Prevention in Practice", and join the conversation on critical issues in prevention and population health.

Journal Ranking

AJPM now ranks in the top 8 percent of journals in the Public, Environmental and Occupational Health category of Thomson Reuters' Journal Citation Report and the top 12 percent of General and Internal Medicine journals. MORE

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Sponsoring Societies

The American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) is the national professional society for physicians committed to disease prevention and health promotion. Visit ACPM's website, now featuring the Preventive Medicine 2012 e-portal.

The Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR) is the professional organization for the academic medical and public health community dedicated to prevention research and interprofessional education.

AJPM Policy Statement

The editors and staff of AJPM adhere to the ethical standards established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE; www.publicationethics.org) and are committed to providing the authors with a transparent process in the handling of the manuscripts received in the editorial office. Any breach of scientific integrity will be adjudicated by COPE. In addition, AJPM follows the guidance on editorial independence produced by the World Association of Medical Editors (www.wame.org); subscribes to the tenets of reporting guidelines established by the EQUATOR network (www.equator-network.org); and supports the policies of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, available at www.icmje.org.

The American Journal of Preventive Medicine is published by Elsevier for the ACPM and APTR.

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Multimedia Center

Dr. Russell Glasgow describes the evidence integration triangle, a model that will guide translation, implementation, prevention efforts, comparative effectiveness research, funding, and policymaking. See the paper by Glasgow et al.

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News from AJPM

ACPM Preventive Medicine Board Review Course

The 25th Annual Board Review Course -- the only comprehensive framework for review and preparation for the American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM) certification examination -- will be held from Aug. 18-22, 2012 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C. The course is aligned, in both content and emphasis, with the ABPM Study Guide and Exam Content Outlines, including topics in Health Services Management (system-based practice), Epidemiology, Biostatistics and much more. For those not preparing for the exam, the course is an opportunity to earn continuing medical education (CME) and maintenance of certification (MOC) credits. For more information, please visit www.acpm.org.

May is National Asthma Awareness Month

Earlier this month, A Wall Street Journal article entitled The Simple Idea That is Transforming Health Care addressed the ways in which poor health–including diseases like asthma–affect one's quality of life. With National Asthma Awareness Month approaching in May, AJPM invites readers to explore its collection of articles on asthma, including its 2011 paper, Public Health Interventions for Asthma: An Umbrella Review, 1990-2010.

A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that measles cases in the United States hit a 15-year high in 2011, with 90 percent of the cases traced to importations from countries with low immunization rates. AJPM features a number of articles about childhood immunizations in its Immunization Collection, including Luman and colleagues' paper from the June 2008 issue, Compliance with Vaccination Recommendations for US Children.

What's hot: the latest media coverage of AJPM reports

Articles from AJPM's current theme issue on GIS-based research–which demonstrated a link between health and the places people live and work–were mentioned in numerous high-profile publications, including TIME magazine, ABC News, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Science News, Spatial News and Fierce Health IT.

A New York Times article mentions two studies, including one published in AJPM, which find that so-called poor urban 'food deserts' not only have more fast-food restaurants and convenience stores than more affluent neighborhoods, but also more grocery stores, supermarkets, and full-service restaurants. The research also concluded that there's no relationship between the type of food being sold and obesity.

AJPM's report on the efficacy of weight-loss programs among obese U.S. adults was cited in CBS News, the Huffington Post, the San Jose Mercury News, the Boston Globe, the New York Daily News, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Medical News Today, Science Daily, Nurse.com and RedOrbit.

An article in Family Practice News, which includes a "View on the News" commentary from Mount Sinai School of Medicine physician Zachary T. Bloomgarden, examines the results of a recent study in AJPM that demonstrated preventive interventions were less cost-effective when the glycosylated hemoglobin cutoff for prediabetes was lowered.

  • CME article Economic Costs of Excessive Alcohol Consumption in the U.S., 2006
    November 2011 (Vol. 41 | No. 5 | Pages 516-524)

    Ellen E. Bouchery, Henrick J. Harwood, Jeffrey J. Sacks, Carol J. Simon, Robert D. Brewer

  • Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study
    May 1998 (Vol. 14 | No. 4 | Pages 245-258)

    Vincent J Felitti, Robert F Anda, Dale Nordenberg, David F Williamson, Alison M Spitz, Valerie Edwards, Mary P Koss, James S Marks

  • cme article Dietary Weight Loss and Exercise Effects on Insulin Resistance in Postmenopausal Women
    October 2011 (Vol. 41 | No. 4 | Pages 366-375)

    Caitlin Mason, Karen E. Foster-Schubert, Ikuyo Imayama, Angela Kong, Liren Xiao, Carolyn Bain, Kristin L. Campbell, Ching-Yun Wang, Catherine R. Duggan, Cornelia M. Ulrich, Catherine M. Alfano, George L. Blackburn, Anne McTiernan

  • cme article Physical Activity Across Adulthood and Physical Performance in Midlife: Findings from a British Birth Cohort
    October 2011 (Vol. 41 | No. 4 | Pages 376-384)

    Rachel Cooper, Gita D. Mishra, Diana Kuh

  • CME article Healthy People 2010 Objectives for Unintentional Injury and Violence Among Adolescents: Trends from the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 1999–2009
    December 2011 (Vol. 41 | No. 6 | Pages 551-558)

    Emily O′Malley Olsen, Marci Feldman Hertz, Ruth A. Shults, Merle E. Hamburger, Richard Lowry

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