Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci
November 2024
Aims: It is widely recognized that the COVID-19 pandemic exerted an impact on the mental health of the general population, but epidemiological evidence is surprisingly sparse. We aimed to explore the association between serologically confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and psychological distress - assessed by symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress - in the general adult population in southern Switzerland, a region widely affected by the pandemic. We also investigated whether this association varied over time and between pandemic waves from late 2020 through 2021.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aimed to examine the factorial structure of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Medical student version (JSE-S) and assess items' discriminatory ability at higher and lower empathy levels in medical student populations from different countries and languages. JSE-S datasets were retrieved from previous studies of 4113 first- and/or second-year medical students from Switzerland, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, France, Spain, New Zealand, UK, Ireland, Mexico, and Peru. Parallel principal component analyses and item response theory were applied.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: We assessed trends in socioeconomic inequalities in cardiovascular risk factors prevalence among Swiss adults from 2008 to 2019.
Methods: Using data from the Bus Santé study, an annual survey of adults living in Geneva, Switzerland, we calculated the prevalence per period and by demographic and socioeconomic indicators, assessing inequality trends using the relative index of inequality (RII) and the slope index of inequality (SII).
Results: Among 10,739 participants, most CVD risk factors decreased over time, while diabetes, obesity, and smoking prevalence remained steady.
Background: Sport participation is an important component of a healthy lifestyle and is known to be more common among privileged individuals. However, few studies examined socio-demographic patterns of participation by type of activity. This study aims at quantifying socio-economic inequalities in sport participation by sport type, and to analyse their trend over 15 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The COVID-19 pandemic continues, and evidence on infection- and vaccine-induced immunity is key. We assessed COVID-19 immunity and the neutralizing antibody response to virus variants across age groups in the Swiss population.
Study Design: We conducted a cohort study in representative community-dwelling residents aged five years or older in southern Switzerland (total population 353,343), and we collected blood samples in July 2020 (in adults only, N = 646), November-December 2020 (N = 1457), and June-July 2021 (N = 885).