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Our study evaluated the relationship between adolescent health complaints and socioeconomic position in 45 countries. Data are from the 2017/2018 international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey which used proportionate sampling among adolescents aged 11 to 15 years old (n=228,979). Multilevel, multinomial regression analysis assessed the association between the multilevel latent classes with socioeconomic status (SES; at the household and country level). Three distinct latent classes were identified: No Complaints, Psychological Complaints, and a Physical and Psychological Complaints class; where, low household SES was highest for the physical and psychological complaints class. The findings suggest that health promotion policies and interventions among adolescents should consider the specific needs of adolescents living with low household SES as they report more subjective health complaints., Author(s): Nour Hammami [sup.1] [sup.2] , Inese Gobina [sup.3] , JustÄ LukoseviciutÄ [sup.4] , Michaela Kosticová [sup.5] , Nelli Lyyra [sup.6] , Genevieve Gariepy [sup.7] , Kastytis Smigelskas [sup.8] , [...]

Insufficient sleep and recurrent health complaints may increase the risk of poorer self-reported health in adolescence, yet the relationships between these factors are not well understood. This study aims to explore the association between poor self-reported health and insufficient sleep duration among 11, 13, and 15 years old adolescents in Latvia by assessing the moderation effects of age and gender and by considering the mediating effect of health complaints. Methods: Data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study on 2017/2018 of Latvia (n = 4412) were used for statistical analysis. Results: On average, 19.3% reported insufficient sleep duration on schooldays and 4.4% on non-school days. Of those with insufficient sleep duration, 5.8% reported poor self-reported health while this proportion was 2% among those with sufficient sleep. Poor self- reported health was associated insufficient sleep duration on school days (OR = 3.02; 95%CI 2.02-4.49), but not on non-schooldays. The association between insufficient sleep and poor self-reported health changed considerably after adjustment with health complaints (OR = 1.58;95%CI 1.03-2.43), however, it still remained significant. Conclusions: There is significant association between insufficient sleep and poor self-reported health regardless of total burden of health complaints.

Background: The COVID-19-pandemic has had a profound impact on the lives of adolescents worldwide. This study examined the subjective perception of the COVID-19 pandemic measures and its association with mental health and well-being (i.e., loneliness, life satisfaction and multiple health complaints) among 13- and 15-years-old adolescents from 22 countries. Methods: Data from the cross-national Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2021/22 study were used from representative samples of 22 countries (N = 67,544; 51.9% girls). The self-perceived impact of COVID-19 measure comprised 10 items asking about the impact on several dimensions of adolescent lives (e.g., relationships with family and friends, health, or eating behaviours). Measures of loneliness, multiple health complaints, and life satisfaction were included as indicators of mental health and well-being. A non-parametric multilevel latent class analysis considering individual and country-levels was conducted to identify classes of self-perceived impact of the COVID-19 measures. Multilevel logistic regression models adjusted by age and socioeconomic status were applied to assess the association between COVID-19 measure impact classes and mental health. Results: Three classes were identified on individual level encompassing a neutral (51%), positive (31%), or negative (18%) perception of COVID-19 measures. A third of the adolescents reported a positive impact of the pandemic measures. The distribution of classes was heterogeneous within and across countries. Within the positive COVID-19 measure impact class, social relationships were the most important dimension, whereas mental health problems were mostly represented within the negative COVID-19 measure impact class. Girls with a negative perception of pandemic measures showed higher levels of loneliness and multiple health complaints and lower life satisfaction. 15-year-old adolescents and those with a low socioeconomic status reported higher levels of loneliness and lower life satisfaction. Conclusions: The majority of adolescents perceived the pandemic measures as neutral or positive. Girls, 15-year-old adolescents, and those with low socioeconomic status were at higher risk of suffering from pandemic measures and associated problems of loneliness, multiple health complaints, and low life satisfaction. We conclude that adolescent's mental health and well-being should be considered in the decision-making process by ensuring that the unique challenges of adolescents are adequately addressed in policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the rapidly progressing world where different sectors become more interconnected, cross-sectoral cooperation in health promotion lacks a specific set of instruments, navigating partners through the cooperation process in project implementation. Cross-sectoral cooperation is an everyday practice in business and has become an integral part of promoting health and wellbeing comprehensively and sustainably. In this paper, we propose a developed Model for cross-sectoral cooperation, which has been designed within the Interreg Baltic Sea Region project “Urban Labs for Better Health for All in the Baltic Sea Region” (Healthy Boost), aiming to boost cross-sectoral cooperation for health and wellbeing in cities and municipalities. The Model is developed based on literature research and self-assessment of cross-sectoral cooperation for health promotion in Healthy Boost partner cities and municipalities in Latvia, Poland, Russia, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Sweden. Composed of five major domains (risk identification, leadership, coordination, communication, and motivation) and four stages of cooperation (mapping, planning, implementation, and assessment), it provides a checklist of helpful questions for identifying solutions effectively and systematically. The Model can be used both as a navigational tool and as an “emergency” tool to manage cross-sectoral cooperation challenges successfully.

Introduction: Major alcohol control policy measures in the Baltic countries and Poland have been shown to reduce alcohol per capita consumption (APC), 100% alcohol-attributable and all-cause mortality. This publication aims to estimate the effects of taxation increases and availability restrictions separately. Material and methods: Data were obtained from the statistical offices of the countries included except for alcohol consumption data, which were taken from the WHO for comparability reasons. Various types of regression analyses were conducted on time-series data using generalized additive mixed models. Results: On average, taxation increases were associated with decreases in APC (-0.89 litres (l); 95% CI: -1.35 l, -0.43 l) and all-cause mortality (-1.3%; 95% CI: -2.4%, -0.17%) among males. Given the average number of deaths in the four countries, the 1.3% reduction in the male mortality rate corresponds to 93 deaths postponed in Estonia, 166 in Latvia, 239 in Lithuania, and 2,606 in Poland, using the 2019 populations of the respective countries as the reference points. For 100% alcohol-attributable mortality, there were significant associations with availability restrictions for males (-12.1%; 95% CI: -17.8%, -6.4%) and females (-8.5%; 95% CI: -16.3%, -0.7%), as well as with taxation for females (-9.06%; 95% CI: -14.02%, -3.83%). All other associations were in the hypothesized direction but did not reach statistical significance. Conclusions: Different effects were found for taxation increases and availability restrictions. The former works via reducing the level of consumption, and thereby reduces all-cause mortality, while the latter seems to work more specifically on reducing heavy drinking occasions and consequently in particular on decreasing 100% alcohol-attributable mortality. Both alcohol control policies important to reduce consumption and alcohol-attributable mortality. However, they produce partly different outcomes, and thus should be implemented depending on the epidemiological profile and the desired effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools and municipalities play an important role in local health promotion. The Institute of Public Health at Rıga Stradiņš University in collaboration with the National Centre of Disease Prevention and Control carried out an online survey for studying the experiences and needs of health-promoting schools and municipalities in Latvia in implementing health promotion interventions. The aim of this study was to explore the context for developing new intervention model for a health behaviour change model within the Interreg BaltCityPrevention project “Innovative Lifestyle-Related Disease Prevention Model in the Baltic Sea Region.” Totally 112 municipalities and 100 schools within the National Health Promoting Networks were targeted. Only schools and municipalities that had previous experiences in health promotion intervention development were included in the analysis. This study showed that school-aged children were the most prevalent target group for the both schools and municipality interventions. The interventions in physical activity and nutrition used to be the most common areas for health behaviour changes. Health promotion schools and municipalities reported several significant differences in experienced difficulties and expected future needs in implementing health promotion interventions, which should be considered for increasing the capacity for better health promotion for both schools and municipalities in Latvia.

Background: Reports of the overall chronic pain prevalence and its associated demographic characteristics among adolescents vary greatly across existing studies. Using internationally comparable data, this study investigates age, sex and country-level effects in the prevalence of chronic single-site and multi-site pain among adolescents during the last six months preceding the survey.Methods: Data (n = 214,283) from the 2013/2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study were used including nationally representative samples of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds from general schools in 42 participating countries. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were used.Results: The overall proportion of adolescents reporting chronic weekly pain during the last six months was high (44.2%). On average, in comparison with different specific localized types of single-site pain, the prevalence of multi-site pain was more common varying from 13.2% in Armenia to 33.8% in Israel. Adolescent age and sex were strong predictors for reporting pain, but significantly different demographic patterns were found in the cross-country analyses. The most consistent findings indicate that multi-site pain was more prevalent among girls across all countries and that the prevalence increased with age.Conclusions: Internationally comparable data suggest that self-reported chronic pain among adolescents is highly prevalent, but different age and sex patterns across countries exist. Adolescents with chronic pain are not a homogenous group. Chronic pain co-occurrence and differences in chronic pain characteristics should be addressed in both clinical and public health practice for effective adolescent chronic pain management and prevention.Significance: Chronic pain co-occurrence is common during adolescence across countries, the prevalence being among girls and in older age groups. Significant cross-country variations in the chronic pain prevalence and chronic pain patterns among adolescents exist. Significant country differences emerge for specific chronic pain patterns in association with adolescent demographics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]