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A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Preventive Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 38538

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Dr. Teruhide Koyama

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Guest Editor

Department of Epidemiology for Community Health and Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, 465 Kajii-cho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto 602-8566, Japan
Interests: epidemiology; cardiovascular disease; vascular biology; human behavior; endocrinology; metabolism; cancer; metastasis
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Globally, the increase in healthy life expectancy has not kept pace with the increase in life expectancy. It is no exaggeration to say that health care is changing rapidly with cultural evolution and social change. Therefore, the promotion of public health requires that we shape the conditions of daily life for each era in which people are born, grow up, work, live, and ageing, especially for chronic diseases.

Against this backdrop, this Special Issue has been launched to bring together research and review articles from various Preventive Care in Health care for NCDs (non-communicable diseases).

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviewers are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

lifestyle, including nutrients, sleep, physical activity and physical inactivity
education
income and social protection
working life conditions
anti-aging
methodology for maintaining a healthy lifestyle

Dr. Teruhide Koyama
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

preventive care
NCDs (non-communicable diseases)
healthy lifestyle
nutrients
sleep
physical activity
physical inactivity
education
Income and social protection
working life conditions

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Related Special Issue

Preventive Care in Healthcare—2nd Edition in Healthcare (2 articles)

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 1295 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Observational Prospective Study to Determine the Efficacy of ‘Non-Slip Socks’ vs. ‘Adequate Footwear’ Regarding the Number of Falls Observed among Admitted Patients

by Rosa M. Moreno Rodríguez, Beatriz Solas Gómez, Laura Gallego Marcuello, Maria del Carmen Diaz Martinez, Encarnacion Fernández del Palacio and Andrés Santiago-Sáez

Healthcare 2023, 11(19), 2605; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11192605 - 22 Sep 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3403

Abstract

Background: Fall prevention is an important indicator of the quality of patient care. Prevention includes the use of adequate footwear. Our objective is to determine the differences in the number of falls between patients with “adequate footwear” and “non slip socks”, and their associated consequences, to support their use in the prevention of falls among hospitalized patients. Methods: This is an observational prospective study on inpatient falls. Patient characteristics, fall circumstances, and injuries were collected through Clinical Report Forms, a review of fall reports, and medical records. Admitted patients over 18 years old were recruited from Geriatric and Internal Medicine Units over a brief period of 3 months. Results: A total of 158 hospitalized patients were recruited. In total, 77 patients (48.73%) were assigned to the non-slip socks group, and 81 (51.27%) were assigned to the adequate footwear group. There were 21 falls during the study period, all of which were experienced by the adequate footwear group (p < 0.0001). The mean age of the patients who fell was 83.14 (range 60–100) years old. The most frequent reasons for admission among the patients who fell were COVID-19 infection (19%) and oncological complications (19%). Overall, 61.9% of patients had a high risk of falling. Most falls (76.1%) occurred in patient rooms, and most of these occurred while wandering around. The most frequent reason for falls was slipping (14/21). For 16 of 21 patients, falls did not have immediate consequences, while 5 had contusions and 1 suffered a wound. Nobody needed to be admitted to the ER or suffered external hemorrhages or loss of consciousness. Conclusions: Non-slip socks represent an adequate alternative to well-fitting rubber-soled footwear. It seems that non-slip socks could prevent falls among hospitalized patients; nevertheless, further studies are necessary to clarify their role in preventing hospital falls and reducing injury rates. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Preventive Care in Healthcare)

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12 pages, 676 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Colorectal Cancer Secondary Preventive Healthcare Measures

by Linda-Nicoleta Bărbulescu, Virginia-Maria Rădulescu, Lucian-Florentin Bărbulescu and Stelian-Ștefăniță Mogoantă

Healthcare 2023, 11(17), 2457; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11172457 - 3 Sep 2023

Viewed by 1259

Abstract

This study aims to assess the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on a population enrolled in a pilot colorectal screening program started by a family doctor in Romania. This observational retrospective study was spread over 43 months, respectively, from October 2019 to April 2023, and included 169 patients. The primary objective was to compare the pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic periods to observe significant changes. The secondary objective was to study the correlation between vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 and participation in the study, especially in the age range class of interest—50–74 years. These data are important because Romanian Healthcare policymakers can use them to estimate the participation rate in a future national colorectal cancer screening and how to adjust and facilitate their communications with the targeted population. The rise of COVID-19 significantly negatively impacted the number of patients adhering to the pilot colorectal cancer screening and the number of test results during the pandemic period. However, in the post-pandemic period, the number of patients who joined the study, and the number of fecal occult blood tests was greater than expected (128.74%). We observed that screening participation was associated with vaccination (78.11% of patients had a complete COVID-19 vaccine scheme). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Preventive Care in Healthcare)

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17 pages, 579 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Telemedicine for Optimizing Secondary Prevention in Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Patients during COVID-19 Pandemic

by Luminița Iliuță, Andreea Gabriella Andronesi, Marius Rac-Albu, Mădălina-Elena Rac-Albu, Alexandru Scafa-Udriște, Horațiu Moldovan, Florentina Ligia Furtunescu, Bogdan Constantin Rădulescu and Eugenia Panaitescu

Healthcare 2023, 11(11), 1590; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11111590 - 29 May 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1887

Abstract

(1) Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a major disruption to the delivery of secondary prevention measures in patients with established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). It required a rapid and widespread adoption of new medical services, including the use of telemedicine. This study aimed to examine the impact of COVID-19 on secondary prevention in patients with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and to evaluate the effectiveness of the telemedicine application for the implementation of lifestyle change measures, remote monitoring, and treatment regimen adjustment; (2) Methods: This prospective study on 194 CABG patients evaluated three consecutive years between 2019 and 2022 in the pre-pandemic period by face-to-face visits and during the pandemic by teleconsultations or hybrid follow-up. Variables of interest were compared between four periods: pre-pandemic—pre-P (1 March 2019–29 February 2020), lockdown—Lock (1 March–31 August 2020), restrictive-pandemic—Restr-P (1 September 2020–28 February 2021), and relaxed–pandemic—Rel-P (1 March 2021–1 March 2022). (3) Results: The average values of the lipidogram, blood sugar, and uric acid increased during Lock and Restr-P, but, through the use of teleprevention, they returned to the pre-pandemic level or even below this level. The exception was blood sugar, which remained high in Rel-P. The number of newly diagnosed patients with diabetes also increased, with most of them having moderate forms of COVID. During Lock and Res-P, the percentage of obese, smoking, or hypertensive patients increased, but, through the use of teleprevention, we managed to reduce it, although it remained slightly higher than the pre-pandemic level. Physical activity decreased in the first year of the pandemic, but, in Rel-P, CABG patients became more active than before the pandemic (4) Conclusions: The use of telemedicine for cardiovascular secondary prevention allowed us to not only continue seeing CABG patients but, also, to adjust their medication and to expand cardiovascular preventive counseling and testing with favorable results, especially during the second year of the pandemic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Preventive Care in Healthcare)

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11 pages, 806 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Underuse of Gastric Cancer Screening Services among Koreans with Type 2 Diabetes

by Kumban Walter Chuck, Seri Hong and Yunhwan Lee

Healthcare 2023, 11(7), 927; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11070927 - 23 Mar 2023

Viewed by 1832

Abstract

We aimed to compare the gastric cancer screening rates between participants with diabetes and those without diabetes in the Korean population. The data of 4284 participants from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2019 were used. Cancer-free people aged ≥40 years were included, and cancer screening rates in diabetes and non-diabetes participants were analyzed. Baseline characteristics and screening rates were calculated using weighted frequencies and multivariable regression at a 95% confidence interval in both groups. Screening for gastric cancer was significantly lower (odd ratio [OR]: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.64–0.95) in patients with diabetes than in those without diabetes. The odds of performing the recommended gastric cancer screening were also lower (OR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.58–0.90) in participants with diabetes than in those without diabetes. After adjusting for socio-demographic factors, the multivariable logistics regression analysis also showed lower odds for gastric cancer screening participation in diabetic patients than in non-diabetes participants. Conclusively, people with diabetes were less likely to have ever had or been recommended screening compared with those without diabetes. Greater efforts need to be made by health specialists to increase the awareness and the need of long-term preventive care including gastric cancer screening in high-risk groups. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Preventive Care in Healthcare)

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13 pages, 1345 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Refeeding Syndrome Awareness among Physicians of King Abdullah Medical City in Makkah, Saudi Arabia

by Sara M. Bahashwan, Amjad A. Sindy, Firas Azzeh, Sarah O. Alkholy, Wafaa F. Abusudah, Hassan M. Bukhari, Elsayed H. Bakr, Walaa E. Alhassani, Bayan Tashkandi, Nouf Abdullah Alharbi, Wedad Azhar, Alaa Qadhi and Khloud Ghafouri

Healthcare 2023, 11(6), 794; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11060794 - 8 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2689

Abstract

Background: Refeeding syndrome (RFS) is a lethal condition of metabolic disturbances that arise from the sudden switch of metabolism from a state of starvation to one of nourishment. Quick recognition would reduce health complications. Physicians who are unaware of the syndrome will not identify and treat it. As nutritional risk is associated with the risk of RFS, physicians should be aware of it. Aim: To determine whether the physicians of King Abdullah Medical City (KAMC) in Makkah know of RFS and, if so, have skills in diagnosis and managing the syndrome. Methods: One hundred and fifty-nine physicians of KAMC were recruited in a cross-sectional study. They were asked to complete a questionnaire by face-to-face interview. The questionnaire was designed to capture physicians’ knowledge and ability to manage RFS based on the awarding of certain scoring points. Results: The level of knowledge among physicians had a significant association between knowledge and age (p = 0.021) and medical specialty (p = 0.010). Additionally, the most knowledgeable physicians were those who work in critical care (21.4%). Around 18% of physicians were not able to manage RFS. Conclusions: Lacking knowledge of RFS and how to manage it leads to critical life-threatening complications. Physicians need nutritional education to help them diagnose RFS and consult dietitians to avoid its complications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Preventive Care in Healthcare)

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11 pages, 1104 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Relationship between Locomotive Syndrome and Musculoskeletal Pain and Generalized Joint Laxity in Young Chinese Adults

by Yixuan Ma, Xinze Wu, Shaoshuai Shen, Weihao Hong, Ying Qin, Mingyue Sun, Yisheng Luan, Xiao Zhou and Bing Zhang

Healthcare 2023, 11(4), 532; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11040532 - 10 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2016

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the prevalence of locomotive syndrome (LS) and to examine the relationship of LS with musculoskeletal symptoms (pain, generalized joint laxity (GJL)) in young Chinese adults. Our study population (n = 157; mean age of 19.8 ± 1.2 years) comprises college student residents at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. Three screening methods were used to evaluate LS: 25-question Geriatric Locomotive Function Scale (GLFS-25), a two-step test, and a stand-up test. Musculoskeletal pain was assessed by self-report and visual analog scale (VAS), and joint body laxity was evaluated using the GJL test. The prevalence of LS was 21.7% of all participants. Musculoskeletal pain affected 77.8% of the college students with LS and was strongly associated with LS. A total of 55.0% of college students with LS had four or more site joints that were positive for GJL, and higher scores of GJL were associated with a higher prevalence rate of LS. Young Chinese college students have a relatively high prevalence of LS, and musculoskeletal pain and GJL were significantly related to LS. The present results suggest that we need early screening of musculoskeletal symptoms and LS health education in young adults to prevent the mobility limitations of LS in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Preventive Care in Healthcare)

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10 pages, 675 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Association between Sedentary Time and Falls among Middle-Aged Women in Japan

by Etsuko Ozaki, Daisuke Matsui, Nagato Kuriyama, Satomi Tomida, Yukiko Nukaya and Teruhide Koyama

Healthcare 2022, 10(12), 2354; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10122354 - 23 Nov 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1934

Abstract

There are many reports on the risk of falls in older adults but none regarding the risk among middle-aged people. We aimed to determine fall risk factors among middle-aged women. The participants comprised 1421 women aged 40 to 64 years; anthropometric and other measurements were obtained, and lifestyle factors were examined using a self-administered questionnaire. The participants were categorized into two groups (No-fall and Fall/Almost-fall) based on their questionnaire responses. The No-fall and Fall/Almost-fall groups comprised 1114 and 307 participants, respectively. Body mass index, abdominal circumference measurements, and prevalence of dyslipidemia were significantly higher in the Fall/Almost-fall group. Additionally, those in the Fall/Almost-fall group had a shorter two-step test, experienced difficulty performing the 40 cm single-leg sit-to-stand test, and had higher 25-question Geriatric Locomotive Function Scale (GLFS-25) scores than those in the No-fall group. The results of the adjusted logistic regression analysis indicated that physical activity, higher GLFS-25 scores, and sedentary time of more than seven hours were all risk factors for falling or almost falling. Longer sedentary time is a new risk factor for falls among middle-aged women. It is necessary for people to be concerned with their sedentary behavior, such as by reducing or interrupting continuous sedentary time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Preventive Care in Healthcare)

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Review

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18 pages, 4462 KiB

Open AccessReview

Foot Reflexology: Recent Research Trends and Prospects

by Deng-Chuan Cai, Ching-Yun Chen and Ting-Yun Lo

Healthcare 2023, 11(1), 9; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11010009 - 20 Dec 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 18892

Abstract

Foot reflexology is a non-invasive complementary therapy that is increasingly being accepted by modern people in recent years. To understand the research trends and prospects of foot reflexology in the past 31 years, this study used the Web of Science core collection as the data source and two visualization tools, COOC and VOSviewer, to analyze the literature related to the field of foot reflexology from 1991 to 2021. This study found that the number of articles published in the field of foot reflexology has been increasing year by year, and the top three journals with the most articles are Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, Therapies in Medicine, and the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. The top three most prolific authors are Wyatt, Sikorskii, and Victorson, and the core institutions in the field of foot reflexology are Michigan State University, Northwestern University, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, and the University of Exeter. Foot reflexology has been shown to have a moderating effect on anxiety, fatigue, and cancer, and is a topic of ongoing and future research. This study uses this bibliometric analysis of foot reflexology literature to provide an overview of prior knowledge and a reference direction for modern preventive medicine. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Preventive Care in Healthcare)

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Other

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12 pages, 1581 KiB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome among Apparently Healthy Adult Population in Pakistan: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

by Syed Omair Adil, Md Asiful Islam, Kamarul Imran Musa and Kashif Shafique

Healthcare 2023, 11(4), 531; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11040531 - 10 Feb 2023

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3665

Abstract

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is considerably higher worldwide. It varies greatly in different populations geographically and based on criteria used to diagnose the disease. This review was conducted to determine the prevalence of MetS among apparently healthy adults of Pakistan. A systematic review was performed on Medline/PubMed, SCOPUS, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and Web of Science databases until July 2022. Articles published on Pakistani healthy adult population reporting MetS were included. Pooled prevalence was reported with 95% confidence interval (CI). Of 440 articles, 20 articles met the eligibility. Results: The pooled prevalence of MetS was 28.8% (95% CI: 17.8–39.7). The maximum prevalence was from a sub-urban village of Punjab (68%, 95% CI: 66.6–69.3) and Sindh province (63.7%, 95% CI: 61.1–66.3). International Diabetes Federation guidelines had shown 33.2% (95% CI: 18.5–48.0) whereas National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines showed 23.9% (95% CI: 8.0–39.8) prevalence of MetS. Furthermore, individuals with low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) 48.2% (95% CI: 30.8–65.6), central obesity 37.1% (95% CI: 23.7–50.5), and high triglyceride 35.8% (95% CI: 24.3–47.3) showed higher prevalence. Conclusion: A considerably higher prevalence of MetS was observed among apparently healthy individuals in Pakistan. High triglyceride, low HDL, and central obesity were found as significant risk factors. (Registration # CRD42022335528) Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Preventive Care in Healthcare)

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