Role of social-cognitive factors in the relationship between e-cigarette use and subsequent cigarette smoking among U.S. youth: A causal mediation analysis.

Objective: E-cigarette use is associated with subsequent cigarette smoking among youth. The current study examined the mediating role of social-cognitive factors in this association.

Methods: Data from four waves of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health study (2013/4 - 2017/8) were analyzed.

Earlier Bedtimes Mediate the Effect of a Brief Behavioral Sleep Intervention on Children's Weight Status.

Whether the effect of a brief behavioral sleep intervention on child weight status resulted from observed differences in sleep duration and/or bedtimes was assessed. Findings demonstrate that the intervention's beneficial effect on weight status was due to earlier bedtimes, suggesting the potential importance of earlier bedtimes for obesity prevention.

mHealth-Based Just-in-Time Adaptive Intervention to Improve the Physical Activity Levels of Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: The lack of regular physical activity (PA) in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) in the United States is an ongoing health crisis. Regular PA and exercise-based interventions have been linked with improved outcomes and healthier lifestyles among those with SCI. Providing people with an accurate estimate of their everyday PA level can promote PA.

Sampling weighting strategies in causal mediation analysis.

Background: Causal mediation analysis plays a crucial role in examining causal effects and causal mechanisms. Yet, limited work has taken into consideration the use of sampling weights in causal mediation analysis. In this study, we compared different strategies of incorporating sampling weights into causal mediation analysis.

Differential relationships between physical activity and pain phenotypes in individuals with spinal cord injury.

Background: Chronic pain affects 70% of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) and leads to declines in health and quality of life. Neuropathic and nociceptive pain are phenotypes derived from different mechanisms that contribute to pain perception. The objective of this research was to investigate differential pain responses to moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in two chronic pain phenotypes: neuropathic and nociceptive pain.

Estimating generalized propensity scores with survey and attrition weighted data.

Prior work in causal inference has shown that using survey sampling weights in the propensity score estimation stage and the outcome model stage for binary treatments can result in a more robust estimator of the effect of the binary treatment being analyzed. However, to date, extending this work to continuous treatments and exposures has not been explored nor has consideration been given for how to handle attrition weights in the propensity score model. Nonetheless, generalized propensity score (GPS) analyses are being used for estimating continuous treatment effects on outcomes when researchers have observational data, and those data sets often have survey or attrition weights that need to be accounted for in the analysis.

Why Are Adolescent Cannabis Use Disorder Treatment Admissions Declining in the US? The Mediated Pathway of State Treatment Admissions Rates before and after Recreational Cannabis Legalization.

: State-level prevalence data are used to investigate whether recreational cannabis legalization moderates the mediated pathway from the perception of low risk of harm, to cannabis use, to cannabis use disorder (CUD) treatment admissions, among adolescents (age 12-17) in the US. : Annual state prevalence measures of perception of low risk, cannabis use, and CUD treatment admissions between 2008 and 2019 ( = 542 state-year observations) were collected from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) and the Treatment Episode Dataset - Admissions (TEDS-A). A two-way fixed effects (state and year) moderated mediation model was used to test whether recreational legalization moderated the indirect effect of perception of low risk on treatment admissions cannabis use.

A Tutorial for Propensity Score Weighting for Moderation Analysis With Categorical Variables: An Application Examining Smoking Disparities Among Sexual Minority Adults.

Objective: To provide step-by-step guidance and STATA and R code for using propensity score (PS) weighting to estimate moderation effects with categorical variables.

Research Design: Tutorial illustrating the key steps for estimating and testing moderation using observational data. Steps include: (1) examining covariate overlap across treatment groups within levels of the moderator; (2) estimating the PS weights; (3) evaluating whether PS weights improved covariate balance; (4) estimating moderated treatment effects; and (5) assessing the sensitivity of findings to unobserved confounding.

Age-related differences in eating location, food source location, and timing of snack intake among U.S. children 1-19 years.

Background: Snacking is nearly universal and contributes significant energy to U.S. children's diets.

Tutorial on causal mediation analysis with binary variables: An application to health psychology research.

Mediation analysis has been widely applied to explain why and assess the extent to which an exposure or treatment has an impact on the outcome in health psychology studies. Identifying a mediator or assessing the impact of a mediator has been the focus of many scientific investigations. This tutorial aims to introduce causal mediation analysis with binary exposure, mediator, and outcome variables, with a focus on the resampling and weighting methods, under the potential outcomes framework for estimating natural direct and indirect effects.

Assessing functional recovery for individuals with spinal cord injury post-discharge from inpatient rehabilitation.

To determine the associations between trauma variables, acute phase-related variables, and patient-level characteristics with functional recovery during the first-year post-discharge from inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRF) for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). Retrospective cohort analysis. Two SCI Model Centers in Pennsylvania, United States.

The Role of Pre-Treatment Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Adolescent Substance Use Treatment Outcomes.

Prominent theories suggest that individuals with co-occurring traumatic stress symptoms (TSS) and substance use (SU) may be less responsive to SU treatment compared to those with SU only. However, empirical findings in adult samples are mixed, and there has been limited work among adolescents. This study assesses the association between TSS and SU treatment outcomes among trauma-exposed adolescents, using statistical methods to reduce potential confounding from important factors such as baseline SU severity.

A Causal Approach to Functional Mediation Analysis with Application to a Smoking Cessation Intervention.

The increase in the use of mobile and wearable devices now allows dense assessment of mediating processes over time. For example, a pharmacological intervention may have an effect on smoking cessation via reductions in momentary withdrawal symptoms. We define and identify the causal direct and indirect effects in terms of potential outcomes on the mean difference and odds ratio scales, and present a method for estimating and testing the indirect effect of a randomized treatment on a distal binary variable as mediated by the nonparametric trajectory of an intensively measured longitudinal variable (e.

Electrodermal and postural responses in dizzy adults: Diagnostic indicators of vestibular migraine.

Introduction: No reliable biometric measurement of vestibular involvement with migraine is currently available.

Objective: Measures of autonomic nervous system and postural responses could serve as quantifiable indicators of vestibular involvement with migraine.

Methods: A convenience sample of 22 young healthy adults (34±9 years old) and 23 young adults (34±8 years old) diagnosed with vestibular migraine (VM) participated.

Varying Coefficient Mediation Model and Application to Analysis of Behavioral Economics Data.

This article is concerned with causal mediation analysis with varying indirect and direct effects. We propose a varying coefficient mediation model, which can also be viewed as an extension of moderation analysis on a causal diagram. We develop a new estimation procedure for the direct and indirect effects based on B-splines.

Association of weight status with the types of foods consumed at snacking occasions among US adolescents.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate snack food-group composition by weight status among United States adolescents.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of adolescent food-group-component intake from snacking occasions using two 24-hour dietary recalls from the 2007 through 2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES; n = 5264; 12-19 years) was conducted. ANCOVA models evaluated food intakes by BMI percentile (BMI%; normal weight [NW]: <85th BMI%; overweight [OW]: 85th-95th BMI%; and obesity [OB]: ≥95th BMI%), adjusting for energy misreporting and key covariates.

The effects of visual context on visual-vestibular mismatch revealed by electrodermal and postural response measures.

Background: No objective criteria exist for diagnosis and treatment of visual-vestibular mismatch (VVM).

Objective: To determine whether measures of electrodermal activity (EDA) and trunk acceleration will identify VVM when exposed to visual-vestibular conflict.

Methods: A modified VVM questionnaire identified the presence of VVM (+ VVM) in 13 of 23 young adults (34 ± 8 years) diagnosed with vestibular migraine.

Evaluating associations between trauma-related characteristics and functional recovery in individuals with spinal cord injury.

Objective: To determine the associations between trauma variables, acute phase-related variables, and patient-level characteristics with functional recovery during inpatient rehabilitation for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). The associations were evaluated by linking individuals' records between the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Outcomes Study and the National SCI Model Systems databases.

Design: Retrospective cohort analysis.

The Impact of Smoking Status and Smoking-Related Comorbidities on Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patient Outcomes: A Causal Mediation Analysis.

Introduction: Smoking history is a known risk factor for significant chronic diseases as well as pulmonary infections; however, the impact of smoking status on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes has not been conclusively characterized. This study aims to evaluate the association of smoking status on COVID-19 outcomes, and to explore the mechanism by which smoking and smoking-related comorbidities relate to COVID-19 outcomes.

Aims And Methods: Patients admitted with SARS-CoV-2 infection from November 2020 through January 2021 were included in this study.

Association of Snacking Frequency, Size, and Energy Density with Weight Status among Preschool-Aged Children in the United States.

Background: Snacking (ie, eating between meals) is common among US preschool-aged children, but associations with weight status are unclear.

Objective: This research evaluated associations of snack frequency, size, and energy density as well as the percent of daily energy from snacking with weight status and sociodemographic characteristics among US children aged 2 to 5 years.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis of 2007-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data using two, caregiver proxy, 24-hour dietary recalls.

Estimation and inference for the mediation effect in a time-varying mediation model.

Background: Traditional mediation analysis typically examines the relations among an intervention, a time-invariant mediator, and a time-invariant outcome variable. Although there may be a total effect of the intervention on the outcome, there is a need to understand the process by which the intervention affects the outcome (i.e.

Time-Varying Mediation of Pharmacological Smoking Cessation Treatments on Smoking Lapse via Craving, Cessation Fatigue, and Negative Mood.

Introduction: The addictive nature of nicotine makes smoking cessation an extremely challenging process. With prolonged exposure, tobacco smoking transforms from being a positive reinforcer to a negative one, as smoking is used to mitigate aversive withdrawal symptoms. Studying the variations in withdrawal symptoms, especially during their peak in the first week of a quit attempt, could help improve cessation treatment for the future.

Randomized controlled trial to enhance children's sleep, eating, and weight.

Background: The present study assessed the efficacy of a behavioral intervention to enhance children's sleep and reduce caloric intake and body mass index (BMI) change.

Methods: Seventy-eight children 8-11 years old who slept 9.5 h/night or less were randomized to the sleep intervention or to no treatment control.

Neighborhood disadvantage moderates the effect of a mobile health intervention on adolescent depression.

This study leverages data from a pilot randomized controlled trial to investigate whether the effectiveness of a text-delivered mHealth intervention targeting adolescent depression and anxiety differs according to residential- and activity space-based measures of exposure to community-level socioeconomic disadvantage. For depression, we find that intervention efficacy is significantly stronger for youth residing in more disadvantaged neighborhoods, even after controlling for individual level socioeconomic status, as well as marginal moderating effects of activity space-based neighborhood disadvantage on treatment efficacy. We do not find evidence of treatment efficacy moderation by neighborhood disadvantage regarding anxiety.