AJPH November Issue: Australian gun control effects, crowding harms child development, tractor rollover protections worth millions, web-based CBT improves addiction treatment

To request copies of articles or for information on scheduling interviews with an expert, please contact Megan Lowry.

EMBARGOED UNTIL September 25, 2018, 4 p.m. ET

American Journal of Public Health November Issue research highlights:

Australian National Firearms Agreement didn’t impact firearm suicide or assault mortality

Newswise — Researchers found that contrary to prior assertions, the Australian National Firearms Agreement had no statistically observable additional impact on suicide or assault mortality attributable to firearms in Australia.

Specifically, this analysis found the NFA had no additional statistically observable impact on firearm-related suicides in women and was associated with a statistically significant increase in the trend in men. Trends in non-firearm-related suicide deaths declined by 4.4 percent per year in men after the introduction of the NFA and increased in women by 0.3 percent. Trends in non–firearm-related homicides declined by 2.2 percent per year in women and 2.9 percent per year in men after the introduction of the NFA, with a statistically significant improvement in trends for women but not for men.

Authors note that previous studies have identified a statistically significant impact of the NFA on firearm suicide and homicide, but this study used a DiD method to separate out other national efforts to reduce suicide and homicide more broadly.

[Author Contact: Stuart Gilmour, Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Graduate School of Public Health, St. Luke’s International University, Tokyo, Japan. “The Effect of the Australian National Firearms Agreement on Suicide and Homicide Mortality, 1978–2015”].

Neighborhood crowding and longer commutes harm child development

This study found in neighborhoods with increased crowding or commute time, early child development suffers. This study suggests a potential relationship between the changing urban landscape and child health.

This analysis found that in neighborhoods with higher levels of residential crowding, children have increased vulnerability and decreased language and cognitive development and communication skills. These relationships were apparent regardless of neighborhood poverty level. In high-poverty neighborhoods with higher commute times, children have more vulnerability and decreased social competence and emotional maturity. The authors suggest children would benefit from a multisector collaboration between urban planning and public health.

[Author Contact: Eryn Piper Block, Department of Health Policy and Management, University of California, Los Angeles, California. “Early Child Development, Residential Crowding, and Commute Time in 8 US States, 2010–2017”].

Tractor rollover protective structures can save $19 million over 25 years

Tractor overturns are the leading cause of farm fatalities. Researchers assessed the cost-effectiveness of a New York state intervention to increase use of rollover protective structures on tractors to prevent overturns. They found that adding rollover protective structures will save nearly $19 million in injury and fatality costs over the next 25 years.

Researchers found the total cost of the injuries averted from 2007 to 2017 was $6,018,742 versus a total program cost of $1,776,608. The one-time retrofit costs will continue to prevent injuries as long as the tractors are used, generating additional (projected) future savings of $12,136,512, $15,781,027, and $18,924,818 if retrofitted tractors remain in operation 15, 20 or 25 years after their retrofit.

[Author Contact: Julie Sorensen, Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety: Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing, Bassett Healthcare Network, One Atwell Rd, Cooperstown, New York. “Rollover Protective Structures, Worker Safety, and Cost-Effectiveness: New York, 2011–2017”].

Telenovela-style web-based cognitive behavioral training improved addiction treatment outcome

This study found adding a culturally adapted version of web-based cognitive behavioral therapy to standard addiction treatment improved substance use outcomes.

The study found a significantly greater reduction in days of primary substance use over time for those that participated in web CBT than did those who received standard treatment only. Researchers conducted a randomized clinical trial in New Haven, Connecticut, between 2014 and 2017 comparing 8 weeks of standard outpatient treatment to the same treatment with access to a culturally adapted version of Web-based CBT with a 6-month follow-up. The CBT program used a telenovela format as a platform for teaching skills to facilitate engagement with the program.

[Author Contact: Allison L. Pitt, Department of Management Science and Engineering, Huang Engineering Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California. “Modeling Health Benefits and Harms of Public Policy Responses to the US Opioid Epidemic”].

Find a full list of AJPH research papers published online below:

• Determinants of tenancy sustainment following homelessness: A systematic review
• The influence of industry sponsorship on the research agenda: A scoping review
• Sex, social, and genetic network overlap: A socio-molecular approach towards public health intervention of HIV
• Randomized clinical trial of a culturally adapted web-based version of cognitive behavioral therapy for Spanish-speaking individuals with substance use disorders
• The effect of the Australian National Firearms Agreement on suicide and homicide mortality, 1978-2015
• Roller protective structures, worker safety and cost-effectiveness: United States, 2011-2017
• Trends in pelvic inflammatory disease among American Indian and Alaska Native Women, Indian Health Service, 2001-2015
• Identifying barriers to school garden integration and sustainability using a nationwide survey
• Neighborhood-level commute time and residential crowding predict vulnerability in early child development in the US
• Cleveland vs. the clinic: The 1960s riots and community health reform
• Promoting condom use through a youth-focused community-wide free condom distribution initiative
• The physician's duty to treat during pandemics
• The Spanish Flu, epidemics, and the turn to biomedical responses
• The Mother of All Pandemics is 100 years old (And going strong)!
• Fearing the "other": Spanish flu and the stigmatization of infectious disease
• Evaluating the evidence on sitting, smoking, and health: Is sitting really the new smoking?
• Pay for success projects: Financing interventions that address social determinants of health in 20 countries
• Better late than never: Prioritizing public health preparedness 100 years after the Spanish Flu epidemic
• Three metaphors to aid interdisciplinary dialogue in public health
• Parent-based intervention to improve child restraint use among kindergarteners in China
• America's declining well-being, health, and life expectancy: Not just a white problem
• 100 years since 1918: Medical countermeasures and pandemic influenza preparedness

The articles above will be published online September 25, 2018, at 4 p.m. ET by AJPH under “First Look.” “First Look” articles have undergone peer review, copyediting and approval by authors but have not yet been printed to paper or posted online by issue. AJPH is published by the American Public Health Association, and is available at www.ajph.org.

Complimentary online access to the Journal is available to credentialed members of the media. Address inquiries to Megan Lowry at APHA, 202-777-3913, or email her. A single print issue of the Journal is available for $35 from the Journal’s Subscriptions Department. If you are not a member of the press, a member of APHA or a subscriber, online single-issue access is $30, and online single-article access is $22 at www.ajph.org. For direct customer service, call 202-777-2516, or email us.

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The American Journal of Public Health is the monthly journal of the American Public Health Association. APHA champions the health of all people and all communities. We strengthen the public health profession. We speak out for public health issues and policies backed by science. We are the only organization that influences federal policy, has a nearly 150-year perspective and brings together members from all fields of public health. Visit www.apha.org.