Objectives: To assess parental influence on smoking behaviour by high school students in an Asian culture and to compare the relative importance of parental and peer influence. Methods: A 5% nationally representative sample, including 44 976 high school students in 10th to 12th grade (aged 15-18 years) in Taiwan, were surveyed in 1995. Each completed a long self administered questionnaire. Parental influence was measured by examining both parental behaviour (smoking status) and attitudes (perceived ''tender loving care'' (TLC) by adolescents). Changes in smoking status were used to determine peer influence, defined as the increase in the likelihood of smoking from grade 10 to 12 in a steady state environment. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated for parental and peer influence, using logistic regression. Results: Adolescents of smoking parents with low TLC had the highest smoking rates and those of nonsmoking parents with high TLC had the lowest. The difference was more than twofold in boys and more than fourfold in girls. When either parental smoking status or TLC alone was considered, parental influence was similar to peer influence in boys, but larger than peer influence in girls. However, when smoking status and TLC were considered jointly, it became larger than peer influence for both groups (OR 2.8 v 1.8 for boys and OR 3.9 v 1.3 for girls). Conclusion: When parental influence is taken as parental behaviour and attitude together, it plays a more important role than peer influence in smoking among high school students in Taiwan. This study, characterising such relationships among Asian populations for the first time, implies that future prevention programmes should direct more efforts toward the parental smoking and parent-child relationships, and not aim exclusively at adolescents in schools.

uring the past several decades, there has been a shift in the representation of women in the medical workforce at various stages of training, from medical school applicants to practicing physicians. In 2019, 56% of the Canadian medical class were female, an increase from 44% in 1990. 1 Similarly, in 2000, only 28% of all practicing physicians were female, and nearly 20 years later that proportion has increased to 43%. 2,3 It has been estimated that by 2030, the physician gender distribution will be evenly split among women and men. 4 Such a rapid paradigm shift is a relatively new phenomenon; the medical profession is slowly adjusting to a generational change in gender mentality and reordering of priorities, especially among women. 5 However, gender inequity in the medical profession is still a pressing issue given that women continue to encounter considerable differences during their training and in the workplace, including gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, career penalties associated with maternity leave, and gender-based pay differentials. [6][7][8][9][10][11] Although it is evident that the overall gender gap in medicine may be slowly closing, this same trend is not observed in all areas of medicine, particularly in surgical specialties. In 2019, only 30% of surgical specialists were female compared with 47% of general practitioners. 12 Women in surgical specialties experience lower recruitment and career advancement opportunities, lower residency completion rates, and higher rates of gender discrimination in the workplace. 6,13,14 IMPORTANCE Monitoring the evolution of gender diversity within medicine is essential to understanding the medical workforce and anticipating its future.OBJECTIVE To evaluate gender distribution and trends among trainees and practicing physicians in the field of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (OHNS) across Canada. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSThis cross-sectional study collected demographic data on the Canadian population, medical students, resident physicians, fellows, practicing physicians, and full-time professors from the following publicly available databases: the Canadian Post-MD Education Registry, the Canadian Medical Education Statistics from the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada, the Canadian Medical Association Masterfile, the Canadian Resident Matching Service archives, and the Canadian Institute for Health Information from 2000 to 2019. Information about the gender distribution in leadership positions and fellowships was obtained through publicly available websites where gender was either listed or assigned by authors. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESThe primary outcomes were the proportion of women in OHNS and the evolution of gender diversity over time. RESULTSIn 2019, 65 of 155 of OHNS trainees were female (41.9%), whereas female representation among all surgical trainees combined was 1225 of 2496 (49.1%). Female OHNS trainees and practicing physicians are underrepresented despite a 13.3% increase in female trainees and a 14.3% increase...

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BackgroundIndia has a high prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) as well as diabetes mellitus (DM). DM is a chronic disease caused by deficiency of insulin production by the pancreas. The risk of TB amongst DM patients is three times higher than those without. The estimated national prevalence of DM is 7.3%. Despite the growing burden of DM, there are limited studies describing the prevalence of TB-DM in India.ObjectiveOur study estimated the prevalence of DM amongst adult hospitalized TB patients at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal and determined factors associated with the likelihood of DM-TB co-prevalence.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal Academy of Higher Education. All hospitalized adult patients diagnosed with pulmonary TB (PTB) and extrapulmonary TB (EPTB) between June 1st 2015 and June 30th 2016 were eligible for inclusion. Pediatric and pregnant TB patients were excluded from our study. Data were extracted from medical charts. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were performed in R. Multivariate analysis adjusted for age, gender, type of TB, history of TB, and nutrition (body mass index (BMI)) status.ResultsA total of 728 patients met the eligibility criteria, 517 (71%) were male, 210 (29%) female, 406 (56%) had PTB and 322 (44%) had EPTB. Amongst those with a nutritional status, 36 (30%) patients were underweight (BMI <18.4 kg/m2), 73 (40%) had a normal BMI (18.5kg/m2–24.9 kg/m2), 15 (8%) were overweight (BMI 25.0 kg/m2–29.9 kg/m2) and 9 (5%) were obese (BMI >30.0 kg/m2). A total of 720 (98.9%) of TB patients had at least one blood sugar test result. The overall prevalence of DM (n = 184) amongst TB patients was 25.3% (95% CI 22.2%, 28.6%). When stratified, it was 35.0% (30.4%, 39.9%) and 13.0% (9.7%, 17.3%) amongst PTB and EPTB patients respectively. TB patients aged 41–60 years had 3.51 times higher odds (aOR 3.51 (2.08, 6.07)) of having DM than patients 40 years or younger. Patients aged 60 years or older had 2.49 times higher odds (aOR 2.49 (1.28, 4.85)) of having DM than younger patients (<40 years). Females had lower odds (aOR 0.80 (0.46, 1.37)) of developing DM than male TB patients and patients with a history of TB had lower odds (aOR 0.73 (0.39, 1.32)) than newly diagnosed TB patients. Additionally, EPTB patients had significantly lower odds (aOR 0.26 (0.15, 0.43)) compared to PTB patients. Underweight patients also had significantly lower odds (aOR 0.25 (0.14, 0.42)) of having DM than normal weight patients.ConclusionOur study found a higher prevalence of TB-DM than the national average. TB-DM co-prevalence was significantly associated with age, type of TB and undernutrition. As India’s DM prevalence is expected to rise, TB-DM will become an increasingly important part of the TB epidemic requiring specialized study and care.

Background Understanding mistreatment within medicine is an important first step in creating and maintaining a safe and inclusive work environment. The objective of this study was to quantify the prevalence of perceived workplace mistreatment amongst otolaryngology—head and neck surgery (OHNS) faculty and trainees in Canada. Methods This national cross-sectional survey was administered to practicing otolaryngologists and residents training in an otolaryngology program in Canada during the 2020–2021 academic year. The prevalence and sources of mistreatment (intimidation, harassment, and discrimination) were ascertained. The availability, awareness, and rate of utilization of institutional resources to address mistreatment were also studied. Results The survey was administered to 519 individuals and had an overall response rate of 39.1% (189/519). The respondents included faculty (n = 107; 56.6%) and trainees (n = 82; 43.4%). Mistreatment (intimidation, harassment, or discrimination) was reported in 47.6% of respondents. Of note, harassment was reported at a higher rate in female respondents (57.0%) and White/Caucasian faculty and trainees experienced less discrimination than their non-White colleagues (22.7% vs. 54.5%). The two most common sources of mistreatment were OHNS faculty and patients. Only 14.9% of those experiencing mistreatment sought assistance from institutional resources to address mistreatment. The low utilization rate was primarily attributed to concerns about retribution. Interpretation Mistreatment is prevalent amongst Canadian OHNS trainees and faculty. A concerning majority of respondents reporting mistreatment did not access resources due to fear of confidentiality and retribution. Understanding the source and prevalence of mistreatment is the first step to enabling goal-directed initiatives to address this issue and maintain a safe and inclusive working environment. Graphical Abstract