The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the rate of primary care visits for substance use among patients in Ontario, Canada.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in the prevalence of substance use presentations. This study aims to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the rate of primary care visits for substance use including tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use among primary care patients in Ontario, Canada. Diagnostic and service fee code data were collected from a longitudinal cohort of family medicine patients during pre-pandemic (March 14, 2019-March 13, 2020) and pandemic periods (March 14, 2020-March 13, 2021).

Multimorbidity and Blood Pressure Control in Patients Attending Primary Care in Canada.

Background: There has been conflicting evidence on the association between multimorbidity and blood pressure (BP) control. This study aimed to investigate this associations in people with hypertension attending primary care in Canada, and to assess whether individual long-term conditions are associated with BP control.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in people with hypertension attending primary care in Toronto between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2019.

An ecological analysis of walkability and housing affordability in Canada: Moderation by city size and neighbourhood property type composition.

The neighbourhood built environment can support the physical activity of adults regardless of their individual-level socioeconomic status. However, physical activity supportive (walkable) neighbourhoods may not be accessible to those with lower incomes if homes in walkable neighbourhoods are too expensive. The objectives of this study were: 1) to estimate the associations between neighbourhood walkability and home values in Canadian cities, and 2) to test whether these associations differ by city size and residential property type composition within neighbourhoods.

The neighbourhood built environment and health-related fitness: a narrative systematic review.

Background: There is increasing evidence demonstrating the importance of the neighbourhood built environment in supporting physical activity. Physical activity provides numerous health benefits including improvements in health-related fitness (i.e.

Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between the built environment and walking: effect modification by socioeconomic status.

Background: Although socioeconomic status (SES) has been shown to modify associations between the neighborhood built environment and physical activity, contradictory results exist. Objectives of this cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis were to: 1) examine whether overall neighborhood walkability and specific built characteristics were associated with walking among adults at a single point in time and after they relocate neighborhoods, and 2) test for effect modification of these associations by SES.

Methods: We linked longitudinal data from 703 adults who relocated urban neighborhoods between two waves of Alberta's Tomorrow Project (2008-2015) to neighborhood built environment data.

Social integration after moving to a new city predicts lower systolic blood pressure.

Residential mobility is linked to higher incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality. A mechanism by which residential relocation may impact health is through the disruption of social networks. To examine whether moving to a new city is associated with increased CVD risk and whether the extent to which movers rebuild their social network after relocating predicts improved CVD risk and psychosocial well-being, recent movers (n = 26), and age- and sex-matched nonmovers (n = 20) were followed over 3 months.

Associations between the built environment and physical activity among adults with low socio-economic status in Canada: a systematic review.

Objective: To synthesize literature on the associations between the built environment and physical activity among adults with low socio-economic status (SES) in Canada.

Methods: Using a pre-specified study protocol (PROSPERO ID: CRD42019117894), we searched seven databases from inception to November 2018, for peer-reviewed quantitative studies that (1) included adults with low SES living in Canada and (2) estimated the association between self-reported or objectively measured built characteristics and self-reported or objectively measured physical activity. Study quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies.

Are sentiments subject to selection pressures? The case of oxytocin.

We argue that natural selection operates on emotional and cognitive capacities supporting the subjective experience of sentiments, rather than on discrete sentiments themselves. We support this argument by examining the case of oxytocin in relation to the sentiment of love. We also explore future directions for health psychology research that includes "cold" aspects of contempt in conjunction with "hot" aspects.

Vegetarian or meat? Food choice modeling of main dishes occurs outside of awareness.

It is well established that the amount eaten by other people affects how much we eat, but unanswered questions exist regarding how much the food choices of other people affect the types of food that we choose. Past research on food choice modeling has primarily been conducted in controlled laboratory situations and has focused on snack foods. The current research examines the extent to which food choice modeling of a main dish occurs in a real-life context and whether people are aware of being influenced by others.

From Misperception to Social Connection: Correlates and Consequences of Overestimating Others' Social Connectedness.

Two studies document the existence and correlates of a widespread social belief, wherein individuals who have recently moved to a new social environment see their peers as more socially connected than they themselves are. In Study 1, the prevalence of this belief was documented in a large sample of first-year students ( N = 1,099). In Study 2, the prevalence of this social belief was replicated in a targeted sample of university students ( N = 389).