ABSTRACT
Imtiaz S, Nafeh F, Russell C, Ali F, Elton-Marshall T, Rehm J. The impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on drug overdose-related deaths in the United States and Canada: a systematic review of observational studies and analysis of public health surveillance data. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. 2021;16(1):87. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13011-021-00423-5 Monitoring PopulationLevel Physical Activity in Adolescents and Adults Namibia Nashandi et al. validated a selfreport questionnaire by comparing it to an accurate device-based method to assess moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among adolescent girls (n = 52) and women (n = 51) in Namibia. BMC Public Health. 2021;21(1):1750. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-1 1765-x Automated Syndromic Surveillance in Communities Taiwan Chan et al. describe a surveillance system to serve as a sentinel for infectious disease outbreaks in Taipei City, Taiwan, using data from primary care clinics and community hospitals and incorporating spatiotemporal information.
ABSTRACT
Converging empirical evidence indicates that exposure to adversity in childhood is associated with increased vulnerability to mental health problems in adulthood. As early life adversity has the potential to alter an individual's appraisal of threat, we hypothesized that individuals exposed to adversity in childhood may also exhibit increased threat from environmental stressors, which in turn may impact their state anxiety levels. We examined the relations between adverse childhood experiences, assessed using the Adverse Childhood Experiences Scale (ACEs), perceived threat from COVID-19, and state anxiety in a sample of adults. Additionally, flexibility is implicated in adaptive coping with life's stressors so we also assessed participants' cognitive flexibility. Parallel mediation regression analyses revealed that both perceived threat from COVID-19 and flexibility in the appraisal of challenges mediated the influence of maltreatment, but not household dysfunction, on state anxiety. Our data indicate that experience with early life adversity in the form of maltreatment is associated with increased perceived threat from COVID-19, which results in higher anxiety levels for the individual. In contrast, childhood maltreatment is associated with reduced flexibility in appraising challenges, which in turn mediates the relationship between maltreatment and anxiety. The findings of this study adds to the limited literature on the impact of early life adversity on cognitive flexibility and highlights the psychological toll of COVID-19 on individuals who have been exposed to adverse childhood experiences.