The American Pediatric Surgical Nurses Association, Inc. (APSNA) has released a comprehensive position statement declaring firearm violence a public health crisis and outlining actionable steps to prevent firearm-related injuries and deaths among children and teens. Firearms are now the leading cause of death for pediatric patients aged 1–19 in the United States. APSNA calls for a public health approach to prevention, emphasizing the role of nurses in clinical screening, education, research, and advocacy.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death and disability for adults in the U.S. Recent projections from the American Heart Association suggest that by 2050, more than 45 million American adults will have clinical CVD and more than 184 million will have hypertension. As a result, inflation-adjusted direct health care costs related to CVD risk factors are projected to triple between 2020 and 2050, to $1.34 trillion annually, and direct costs related to clinical CVD conditions are projected to rise from $393 billion to $1.49 trillion. Thus, understanding early-life determinants of cardiovascular health behaviors and health factors are of particular interest.

In the first prospective study of social determinants from birth, and how they impact young adult cardiovascular health, researchers from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and colleagues are investigating the upstream causes of cardiovascular disease — the factors that drive poor diet, a sedentary lifestyle, nicotine exposure, poor sleep, obesity, and adverse blood cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose levels. Known as the Future of Families Cardiovascular Health Among Young Adults (FF-CHAYA) Study, a new paper describes the rationale, study design, methods and characteristics of the FF-CHAYA cohort, a novel longitudinal study designed to examine associations of childhood social determinants with young adult cardiovascular health and early arterial injury.

Confiscating personal belongings during government-led dismantling of tent cities in Vancouver inflicts immediate harm and further destabilizes people already struggling to meet their basic needs, according to a new study from Simon Fraser University.

Published in the journal Public Health, the study found nearly one in four people experiencing homelessness reported having their personal belongings confiscated by city workers between 2021 and 2023. These confiscations—often part of street sweeps to remove tent cities—were significantly associated with non-fatal overdoses, violent victimization, and barriers to accessing essential services.