This Free Life Campaign: Increasing Intention to Quit Among LGBTQ+ Young Adult Nondaily Smokers in Minneapolis.

PURPOSE: LGBTQ+ young adults smoke at disproportionately higher rates than their non-LGBTQ+ counterparts, but prevention efforts are limited. Furthermore, prior to This Free Life (TFL), no known campaigns target LGBTQ+ nondaily smokers. In this study Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota evaluated a local partnership extension of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products' TFL campaign. METHODS: The intervention featured a variety of LGBTQ+-tailored events, social/digital media, and out-of-home media placed in locations with a high density of LGBTQ+ young adults. Cross-sectional surveys (n = 1215) were collected from LGBTQ+ young adult (18-26) nondaily smokers at 4 time points between 2016 and 2019. The national TFL campaign was tracked in a separate evaluation conducted by the FDA. RESULTS: 43.0% of nondaily LGBTQ+ smokers reported awareness of the campaign (n = 522), and 63.4% of those also engaged with TFL (n = 330). Engagement was highest for gay, lesbian and transgender participants, and for Asian and Black/African American participants. Each additional instance of campaign engagement increased participants' odds of intending to quit smoking by 20% (AOR = 1.20; 95% CI = 1.05, 1.36). The relationship between campaign engagement and intention to quit was fully mediated by the campaign's impact on attitudes against smoking and perceived normative trends, but not by perceived behavioral control. CONCLUSION: The local extension of TFL increased intentions to quit for LGBTQ+ nondaily smokers. Future research should further explore the relationship between perceived behavioral control and intentions to quit for nondaily smokers.

Self-Reported Sleep During U.S. Navy Operations and the Impact of Deployment-Related Factors.

Sleep disruption is a growing concern among military personnel. Very little is known, however, regarding sleep and associated factors in military members serving in combat environments. We sought to quantify the prevalence of sleep disruption among military personnel serving in a combat zone during Operation Enduring Freedom, utilizing a cross-sectional survey of active duty and reserve U.S. Navy personnel in the Afghanistan combat theater (N = 6,118). Survey sleep measures included total hours of sleep per day, total hours of sleep needed to feel well rested, difficulty falling asleep, and difficulty staying asleep. Other reported outcomes included accidents related to the mission. Participants reported an average of 5.9 hours of sleep per day despite needing an average of 6.8 hours to feel well rested. Fifty-seven percent reported insufficient sleep, and this interacted with mission type. Sleep disruption was associated with number of prior deployments, as well as total number of months in a combat zone. Further, those who reported less sleep were more likely to report causing an accident or error that affected the mission. This article documents basic sleep metrics and deployment-related correlates of sleep disruption among military members in a combat zone.

A genetic risk factor for major depression and suicidal ideation is mitigated by physical activity.

We evaluated associations of five candidate polymorphisms (Bcl1 [rs41423247], -2C/G [rs2070951], COMT [rs737865], Val66Met [rs6265], and 5HTTLPR [biallelic and triallelic [5HTTLPR/rs25531]) with probable MDD and suicidal ideation (SI), the effects of physical activity on these endpoints, and whether physical activity attenuates genetic risk in military members (N=736). C carriers who were also less physically active were 3.3 times as likely to meet criteria for probable MDD and 9.6 times as likely to endorse SI as compared to physically active GG carriers. An adequate dose of physical activity diminishes risk of MDD and SI imposed by a genetic predisposition.

Prevalence and mental health correlates of sleep disruption among military members serving in a combat zone.

Sleep disruption is an emergent military health issue, but remarkably little is known of its prevalence or comorbidities in the combat zone. This study was designed to quantify the prevalence and mental health correlates of sleep disruption among military personnel serving within a ground combat zone during Operation Enduring Freedom. This was a large, cross-sectional survey of active duty and reserve U.S. Navy personnel (N = 3,175). Self-reported sleep measures included total hours of sleep per day, total hours of sleep required to feel well-rested, difficulty falling asleep, and difficulty staying asleep. The survey also measured mental health symptoms, including post-traumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, and depression. Participants reported an average of 5.9 hours of sleep per day despite requiring on average 6.8 hours to feel well rested. More than half (56%) were classified as sleep deficient, and 67% reported 6 or fewer hours of sleep per day. Adjusted for covariates, individuals endorsing sleep disruption were at substantially elevated risk of meeting criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and major depressive disorder. This study documents the prevalence of sleep disruption in a very large and difficult-to-access sample of military members serving in a combat zone, and details robust associations with mental health.