Purpose: To examine changes in obesity prevalence among US adults after the COVID-19 pandemic by level of stay-at-home order and sociodemographic characteristics. Design: Quasi-experimental study using repeated cross-sectional data. Setting: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Sample: Pooled data for US adults ages ≥26 years (n = 1,107,673) from BRFSS (2018-2021). Measures: States/territories were classified into three levels of stay-at-home order: none, advisory/only for persons at risk, or mandatory for all. Individual-level sociodemographic characteristics were self-reported. Analysis: The difference-in-differences method was conducted with weighted multiple logistic regression analysis to examine obesity (body mass index ≥30 kg/m ² ) prevalence by stay-at-home order level and sociodemographic characteristics before/after the COVID-19 pandemic (January 2018-February 2020 vs March 2020-February 2022). Results: After adjusting for a secular trend and multiple covariates, adults in states/territories with mandatory stay-at-home orders experienced a larger increase in obesity prevalence (adjusted odds ratio: 1.05; 95% confidence interval: 1.01, 1.11) than adults in states/territories with no stay-at-home order. Younger adults (vs ≥65 years) and individuals with <high school education (vs ≥4-year college) experienced larger increases in obesity prevalence. Conclusion: Increases in obesity prevalence were perpetuated 2 years after implementation of stay-at-home orders, indicating that longer-term health implications are co-occurring during the pandemic recovery period. Future research should focus on successful methods for staying active and healthy during social distancing and beyond.

Purpose: To examine the association between U.S. adult cancer information seekers’ comprehension level and preventable cancer risk factors. Design: Cross-sectional analysis. Setting: Health Information National Trends Survey-6, 2022. Subjects: 2,453 cancer information seekers. Measures: Four cancer risk factors were dichotomized: cigarette smoking (have smoked ≥100 cigarettes and currently smoke every day/some days); experiencing sunburn (≥1 times/past 12 months); being overweight/obese (≥25 body mass index [kg/m ² ]); and binge drinking (≥5 [male] or ≥4 [female] alcoholic drinks on one occasion/past 30 days). Individuals who reported that cancer information was hard to understand were considered having comprehension difficulties. Analysis: Binomial and multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the association of cancer information comprehension level with individual and cumulative cancer risk factors, adjusting for sex, race/ethnicity, age, annual household income, education level, metropolitan status, depressed mood, and cancer diagnosis history. Results: Cancer information seekers with comprehension difficulties had higher odds of binge drinking (aOR: 1.66, 95% CI: 1.12, 2.46), being overweight/obese (aOR: 1.46, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.96), and experiencing sunburn (aOR: 1.61, 95% CI: 1.23, 2.11), as well as having ≥3 (aOR: 3.38, 95% CI: 1.87, 6.09) cancer risk factors concurrently than cancer information seekers without comprehension difficulties. Conclusion: Dissemination of easy-to-understand cancer information would help better prevent cancer risk factors for cancer information seekers with comprehension difficulties.

Background: Experiencing subjective cognitive concerns (SCC) marks a potential risk stage for Alzheimer's disease. Objective: This study examined sex and racial/ethnic patterns in the prevalence of functional difficulties among U.S. adults with SCC. Methods: Data for 32,105 adults aged ≥45 years who experienced SCC in the past year were sourced from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in 2015–2022. Individuals reporting SCC-related functional difficulties in daily or social life activities always/usually/sometimes (versus rarely/never) in the past year were considered having each of the functional difficulties. Weighted binomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the association of sex (male or female) and race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic White [NHW], non-Hispanic Black [NHB], Hispanic, or non-Hispanic Other [NHO]) with SCC-related daily and social life difficulties, adjusting for all covariates. Results: Overall, a decreasing trend in SCC-related functional difficulties was observed in both sexes, while female adults had higher prevalence. Trends in these functional difficulties varied by race/ethnicity, with NHW adults exhibiting the most stable and lowest prevalence. Female adults had significantly higher odds of experiencing SCC-related daily life (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.28, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.15, 1.41) and social life difficulties (AOR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.01, 1.24) than male adults. NHB, Hispanic, and NHO groups had higher odds of experiencing SCC-related daily and social life difficulties compared to NHW participants. Conclusions: Female and racial/ethnic minority individuals experienced higher levels of SCC-related functional difficulties. Public health interventions are warranted to alleviate such challenges for vulnerable populations.

Introduction: Lung cancer screening (LCS) provides substantial advantages as a secondary prevention strategy, yet screening rates remain low, with notable regional disparities. Our cross-sectional ecological study examined the variations in the density of LCS facilities and the LCS prevalence among at-risk populations across states. Methods: We used the 2024 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data to estimate the weighted LCS prevalence among at-risk populations, defined as former/current smokers aged 50-80 years with ≥20 pack-year smoking history. We categorized individuals who had a CT (computed tomography) or CAT (computerized axial tomography) scan for LCS within the past year as having a recommended LCS. The facility list was compiled from the American College of Radiology-LCS Registry accessed in February 2025. The density of LCS facilities, defined as the number of facilities per 100,000 estimated at-risk populations, was employed to account for the varying screening-recommended population sizes in each state. Results: Vermont had the fewest absolute number of facilities (9), while Florida had the most (669). However, Maine had the lowest LCS facility density (13.3), while D.C. had the highest (65.7) per 100,000 at-risk populations. The LCS prevalence was not significantly correlated with the absolute number ( r =0.0144, p =0.9208) or density ( r =0.0424, p =0.7698) of LCS facilities, but it significantly varied across states, ranging from 12.1% (95% confidence interval: 8.6%-15.6%) in South Dakota to 29.9% (23.8%-36.0%) in Connecticut. Conclusions: Our findings reveal that solely increasing the number of LCS facilities, even when accounting for the number of recommended at-risk populations, may not necessarily lead to an increase in LCS prevalence for at-risk populations. A comprehensive geospatial analysis of the distribution of LCS facilities could potentially provide fundamental insights into regional disparities in LCS prevalence by employing the issue of potential spatial mismatches in the arrangement of LCS facilities relative to the geographic distribution of need.