(Press-News.org) Video games are not adequately rated for tobacco content, according to a new UC San Francisco study that found video gamers are being widely exposed to tobacco imagery.
The researchers concluded that a national ratings board set up more than 20 years ago is not a reliable source for learning whether video games contain tobacco imagery.
The study will be published online September 14 in Tobacco Control.
"Parents should stop relying on the ratings to screen for tobacco use in buying video games for their kids," said first author Susan Forsyth, a PhD candidate at the UCSF School of Nursing.
Video games are a ubiquitous part of adolescent life in many countries. In the U.S., 88 percent of youth 8 to 18 years old play video games at least occasionally, according to a national study. Despite the widespread practice, there has been little research on whether smoking content is present in the games and whether games are being adequately rated for tobacco content.
Previous research has found that smoking imagery in movies can lead youths to begin smoking. In the video game study, the researchers sought to assess whether tobacco content was appropriately labelled. "The presence of tobacco imagery in (video) games exposes players to products and behaviors within an immersive...environment, with unknown effects on real-world smoking behavior," the authors wrote.
The Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) was established in 1994 by the video game industry as a voluntary, self-regulating body to assist buyers in determining age-appropriate content. Much like movie ratings, video game ratings assess the level of violence and tobacco content in games.
For the study, the researchers interviewed 65 gamers between 13 and 50 years old on their favorite games and whether the games contained smoking imagery. Tobacco content included visible smoking equipment, characters mentioning smoking or characters smoking a cigarette, pipe, cigar, or e-cigarette.
The authors found that game ratings do not accurately reflect tobacco content. While 8 percent of the games received tobacco warnings, 42 percent actually had tobacco content. Among games rated "M" for "mature," 75 percent contained verified tobacco content - but the ESRB provided warnings on only 4 percent of the games.
In one popular series, Metal Gear, the ratings board gave the game no tobacco content descriptor, yet it had extensive smoking throughout.
As a result, adolescents are being exposed to significantly more tobacco imagery than previously thought, the researchers said.
"The ratings board needs to stop pretending that it's providing accurate ratings," said senior author Ruth E. Malone, RN, PhD, a professor at the UCSF School of Nursing and chair of the UCSF Department of Social and Behavior Sciences. "And it should more thoroughly and consistently screen material for content and accurately report it."
INFORMATION:
Forsyth is funded by a dissertation award from the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program grant #22DT-0003.
For related information please see http://scienceofcaring.ucsf.edu/health-public/commentary-new-generation-gets-hooked-tobacco
About UCSF: UCSF is a leading university dedicated to transforming health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. Founded in 1864 as a medical college, UCSF now includes top-ranked graduate schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy; a graduate division with world-renowned programs in the biological sciences, a preeminent biomedical research enterprise and top-tier hospitals, UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals. Please visit http://www.ucsf.edu/news.
Working shifts of 16 to 24 hours in length is linked to a 60% heightened risk of injury and illness among emergency services (EMS) clinicians, compared to shifts of 8-12 hours, finds research published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.
This risk rises in tandem with shift length, the findings show.
The nature of the job requires physical strength to lift and move patients, clear mental focus to deliver medical care in uniquely stressful and often chaotic situations, and sufficient alertness to drive safely, say the researchers.
Yet EMS clinicians often ...
The 3M software program, increasingly used to make payments to US hospitals based on readmission rates, doesn't clearly distinguish differences in care quality--one of the key factors involved in readmission--between readmissions that are preventable and those that aren't, suggests research published online in BMJ Quality and Safety.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) posts data on 30 day readmissions for three common causes of hospital admissions: heart attack; heart failure; and pneumonia.
Hospitals with high rates of readmissions are penalised ...
A study of 350,000 patients with type 2 diabetes shows that those with poor blood sugar control have 50% higher risk of being admitted to hospital in future for dementia as those with good control. The research, which suggests improving blood sugar control could prevent many cases of dementia, is by Dr Aidin Rawshani, National Diabetes Register and Institute of Medicine, Gothenburg, Sweden, and colleagues, and is presented at this year's annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Stockholm.
Evidence is growing that diabetes increases ...
New research presented at this year's annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Stockholm shows that diabetic women are more at risk than diabetic men of having a heart attack and other complications as they age. The study is by Dr Giuseppe Seghieri, Regional Health Agency, Florence, Italy, and colleagues.
Previous research has revealed that diabetic women have a higher risk of cardiovascular events than diabetic men, when compared with the respective non-diabetic counterparts. However, it is unclear when this risk begins or how long it ...
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 19 studies containing almost 11 million patients shows that diabetic women are around 40% more likely to suffer acute coronary syndromes (heart attack or angina) than diabetic men. The study is by Dr Xue Dong, the Affiliated ZhongDa Hospital of Southeast University, Nanjing, China, and colleagues, and is presented at this year's annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Stockholm.
Diabetes is a strong risk factor for acute coronary syndrome, yet whether diabetes confers the same excess risk ...
In 2013, England performed better than average on a variety of key health outcomes compared with 18 other high-income countries in the European Union [1], and Australia, Canada, Norway, and the USA (EU15+), according to new research published in The Lancet.
However, the findings also reveal the impact of substantial health disparities within English regions, the significant toll of chronic disabling conditions, and the importance of tackling preventable diseases. It is likely that around 40% of NHS workload is due to potentially preventable risk factors.
Using data ...
An international panel of experts applied the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method to develop criteria for use of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs). The Michigan Appropriateness Guide for Intravenous Catheters (MAGIC) is published as a supplement in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Use of PICCs has become popular for venous access in hospital settings but their use can result in important complications, such as thrombosis and infection. In addition, a growing number of studies suggest substantial variation and potentially inappropriate use of PICCs in hospitalized ...
Cost of Sustaining a Patient-Centered Medical Home More than $100,000 per Full Time Physician Annually
With primary care practices in the United States aggressively shifting to the patient-centered medical home model of care, researchers examine the costs to deliver PCMH functions and find even partial implementation costs approximately $105,000 per full time equivalent provider annually. Using a PCMH cost dimensions tool, researchers assessed costs associated with activities uniquely required to maintain PCMH functions at a diverse group of 20 primary care practices in ...
BOSTON--September 14, 2015--Researchers from Harvard-affiliated Hebrew SeniorLife Institute for Aging Research (IFAR), in collaboration with scientists from a number of international institutes, have identified a genetic variant regulating a gene responsible for bone mineral density and fracture risk. Findings from this study--funded in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)--are published in the journal Nature and could lead to interventions that may prevent fractures in older adults.
Osteoporosis, a word meaning "porous bone," is a disease that ...
The buildup of a substance in the pancreas during the pre-symptomatic stage of Type 1 diabetes is essential to the development of the disease, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have shown.
The investigators used a drug to block production of this substance in mouse models, staving off damage to insulin-producing cells and preventing the onset of the autoimmune disorder. The drug, which is currently used in Europe and Asia for treating gallstone-related spasms, has an excellent safety record, the researchers said.
The findings, described in a study to ...
