Higgins Stephen T
Vermont Center on Behavior and Health, Departments of Psychiatry and Psychological Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
Prev Med. 2015 Nov;80:1-4. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2015.07.020. Epub 2015 Aug 6.
This Special Issue of Preventive Medicine (PM) is the 2nd that we have organized on behavior change, health, and health disparities. This is a topic of fundamental importance to improving population health in the U.S. and other industrialized countries that are trying to more effectively manage chronic health conditions. There is broad scientific consensus that personal behavior patterns such as cigarette smoking, other substance abuse, and physical inactivity/obesity are among the most important modifiable causes of chronic disease and its adverse impacts on population health. As such behavior change needs to be a key component of improving population health. There is also broad agreement that while these problems extend across socioeconomic strata, they are overrepresented among more economically disadvantaged populations and contribute directly to the growing problem of health disparities. Hence, behavior change represents an essential step in curtailing that unsettling problem as well. In this 2nd Special Issue, we devote considerable space to the current U.S. prescription opioid addiction epidemic, a crisis that was not addressed in the prior Special Issue. We also continue to devote attention to the two largest contributors to preventable disease and premature death, cigarette smoking and physical inactivity/obesity as well as risks of co-occurrence of these unhealthy behavior patterns. Across each of these topics we included contributions from highly accomplished policy makers and scientists to acquaint readers with recent accomplishments as well as remaining knowledge gaps and challenges to effectively managing these important chronic health problems.
《预防医学》（PM）的这一特刊是我们组织的第二期关于行为改变、健康和健康差距的特刊。对于改善美国以及其他试图更有效地管理慢性健康状况的工业化国家的人口健康而言，这是一个至关重要的主题。科学界已形成广泛共识，诸如吸烟、其他物质滥用以及缺乏身体活动/肥胖等个人行为模式，是慢性病及其对人口健康产生不利影响的最重要的可改变因素。因此，行为改变需要成为改善人口健康的关键组成部分。人们还普遍认为，虽然这些问题在社会经济各阶层都存在，但在经济上处于更不利地位的人群中更为突出，并直接导致健康差距这一日益严重的问题。因此，行为改变也是遏制这一令人不安的问题的关键一步。在这第二期特刊中，我们用了相当篇幅探讨当前美国处方阿片类药物成瘾的流行情况，这一危机在前一期特刊中并未涉及。我们还继续关注导致可预防疾病和过早死亡的两大主要因素，即吸烟和缺乏身体活动/肥胖，以及这些不健康行为模式同时出现的风险。在上述每个主题中，我们都收录了成就斐然的政策制定者和科学家的文章，以使读者了解近期取得的成果以及在有效管理这些重要慢性健康问题方面仍然存在的知识空白和挑战。
