Assessing the economic costs of unhealthy diets and low physical activity: an evidence review and proposed framework

Unhealthy diets and low physical activity contribute to many chronic diseases and disability; they are responsible for some 2 in 5 deaths worldwide and for about 30% of the global disease burden. Yet surprisingly little is known about the economic costs that these risk factors cause, both for health care and society more widely. This study pulls together the evidence about the economic burden that can be linked to unhealthy diets and low physical activity and explores How definitions vary and why this matters The complexity of estimating the economic burden and How we can arrive at a better way to estimate the costs of an unhealthy diet and low physical activity, using diabetes as an example The review finds that unhealthy diets and low physical activity predict higher health care expenditure, but estimates vary greatly. Existing studies underestimate the true economic burden because most only look at the costs to the health system. Indirect costs caused by lost productivity may be about twice as high as direct health care costs, together accounting for about 0.5% of national income. The study also tests the feasibility of using a disease-based approach to estimate the costs of unhealthy diets and low physical activity in Europe, projecting the total economic burden associated with these two risk factors as manifested in new type 2 diabetes cases at €883 million in 2020 for France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom alone. The ‘true’ costs will be higher, as unhealthy diets and low physical activity are linked to many more diseases. The study’s findings are a step towards a better understanding of the economic burden that can be associated with two key risk factors for ill health and they will help policymakers in setting priorities and to more effectively promoting healthy diets and physical activity

Barren: A Case Study Using Art in Religious Instruction to Foster Empathy by Providing Deeper Insight and Encouraging Contemporary Dialogue

This thesis draws upon a review of current literature related to the empathy-building potential of fine art and experiences of infertile women, especially those within Judeo-Christian communities, to build a case study for utilizing fine art to create stronger more empathetic communities. For this case study, the researcher utilized an online survey of infertile Judeo-Christian women to further clarify the specific needs of this minority group. Then she drew upon a broad array of current and historical literature and artwork to discern what cultural and theological trends may have framed infertility as a stigma. Using this information she then produced a series of three paintings aimed to spark constructive conversation and increase understanding and empathy within the selected communities. These paintings, which depict the Biblical stories of three infertile women —Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah—were executed in a realist tradition with special effort made to communicate emotional and historical nuance, breaking from the stereotypical miracle and natal-centric narratives of western art history and Judeo-Christian theological tradition

Responsive and Equitable Health Systems-Partnership on Non-Communicable Diseases (RESPOND) study: a mixed-methods, longitudinal, observational study on treatment seeking for hypertension in Malaysia and the Philippines.

INTRODUCTION: Hypertension is a leading contributor to the global burden of disease. While safe and effective treatment exists, blood pressure control is poor in many countries, often reflecting barriers at the levels of health systems and services as well as at the broader level of patients' sociocultural contexts. This study examines how these interact to facilitate or hinder hypertension control, taking into account characteristics of service provision components and social contexts. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The study, set in Malaysia and the Philippines, builds on two systematic reviews of barriers to effective hypertension management. People with hypertension (pre-existing and newly diagnosed) will be identified in poor households in 24-30 communities per country. Quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to examine their experiences of and pathways into seeking and obtaining care. These include two waves of household surveys of 20-25 participants per community 12-18 months apart, microcosting exercises to assess the cost of illness (including costs due to health seeking activities and inability to work (5 per community)), preliminary and follow-up in-depth interviews and digital diaries with hypertensive adults over the course of a year (40 per country, employing an innovative mobile phone technology), focus group discussions with study participants and structured assessments of health facilities (including formal and informal providers). ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been granted by the Observational Research Ethics Committee at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Research Ethics Boards at the Universiti Putra Malaysia and the University of the Philippines Manila. The project team will disseminate findings and engage with a wide range of stakeholders to promote uptake and impact. Alongside publications in high-impact journals, dissemination activities include a comprehensive stakeholder analysis, engagement with traditional and social media and 'digital stories' coproduced with research participants

Bridging the reciprocal gap between sleep and fruit and vegetable consumption: A review of the evidence, potential mechanisms, implications and directions for future work

A substantial burden of disease and mortality globally is attributable to both sleep disruption and low intakes of fruit and vegetable (FV) and there is increasing mechanistic and epidemiological evidence to support a reciprocal relationship between the two. This review provides an overview of experimental and observational studies assessing the relations between sleep and FV consumption from 52 human adult studies. Experimental studies are currently limited and show inconsistent results. Observational studies support a non-linear association with adults sleeping the recommended 7–9 hours/day having the highest intakes of FV. The potential mechanisms linking sleep and FV consumption are highlighted. Disrupted sleep influences FV consumption through homeostatic and non-homeostatic mechanisms. Conversely, FV consumption may influence sleep through polyphenol content via several potential pathways. Few human experimental studies have examined the effects of FV items and their polyphenols on sleep and there is a need for more studies to address this. An appreciation of the relationship between sleep and FV consumption may help optimize sleep and FV consumption and may reduce the burden of chronic diseases. This review provides implications for public health and directions for future work

Access to parks and recreational facilities, physical activity, and health care costs for older adults: Evidence from U.S. counties

© 2019, © 2019 National Recreation and Park Association. Although research has documented the health benefits of physical activity and use of park and recreational facilities, the relationships of these factors to healthcare costs remain unexplored at the population level. Building upon a social-ecological model, we analyzed county-level data to examine the extent to which physical activity rate and access to parks and recreational facilities were related to the healthcare costs for older adults (i.e., those 65 years and above) in U.S. counties. The results revealed that older adults’ physical activity rate in a county was negatively associated with the county’s healthcare costs of these adults. Also, access to parks and recreational facilities was negatively associated with older adults’ healthcare costs through the physical activity rate. These findings indicate that access to parks and recreational facilities correlates with increased physical activity levels among older adults, which might reduce their healthcare costs in communities

Environmental sustainability assessment of ready-made baby foods: Meals, menus and diets

Although there is a growing body of literature on the environmental impacts of food, virtually none of the studies has addressed baby foods. Therefore, this work explored the life cycle environmental impacts of different ready-made baby foods, both at the level of individual meals and their combinations within a weekly menu. Twelve different meals were considered, based on baby food products available on the UK market, spanning breakfast, lunch and dessert. Menus following four different diets – omnivorous, vegetarian, pescatarian and dairy-free – were also evaluated. The results showed that, on average, lunch meals had the highest impacts and desserts the lowest. Breakfast has either intermediate (wet porridge) or low (dry porridge) impacts. Among the lunch meals, spaghetti Bolognese and salmon risotto had the highest impacts and among the desserts, strawberry, raspberry and banana as well as apple, pear and banana purees had the lowest. The key hotspots across the meals were raw materials and packaging. Meals with more meat and cream were found to have higher impacts. Manufacturing also played a significant role for global warming potential as well as depletion of fossil resources and the ozone layer due to the fossil fuels used in the process. When the impacts were analysed per mass of baby food consumed weekly, the dairy-free diet had higher impacts than the other three, but the difference among them was relatively small. The trends changed when nutritional value was taken into account, with the dairy-free diet exhibiting considerably higher impacts per unit of energy content. In that case, the pescatarian diet became the best option for most impacts. There was little difference between the omnivore and vegetarian diets. It is expected that these results will be of interest to baby food manufacturers and consumers, helping them to make more informed manufacturing and purchasing decisions

Assessing the economic costs of unhealthy diets and low physical activity: An evidence review and proposed framework.

Unhealthy diets and low physical activity contribute to many chronic diseases and disability; they are responsible for some 2 in 5 deaths worldwide and for about 30% of the global disease burden. Yet surprisingly little is known about the economic costs that these risk factors cause, both for health care and society more widely

Electrocardiogram pattern analyzer

The EKGPA software is a system that recognizes electrocardiogram (EKG) patterns and generates its basic interpretation in terms of Rate, Rhythm, Axis, Hypertrophy and Infarction. Its three main functions are: IMAGE INPUT AND PROCESSING which accepts as input the EKG waveform with the aid of a handheld scanner and cleans images by smudge-removal PATIENT\u27S FILE HANDLER which allows the modification, addition, and deletion of patient\u27s record in the file and INTERPRETATION which involves identification of pattern and characteristics of the fields to be computed and the application of the set of rules stored in the knowledge-base. An important task of the INTERPRETATION is the comparison of the patient\u27s stored cases: the current is compared with the most recent case, as is the present clinical practice. A HELP option is provided to include a GLOSSARY containing medical terms related to EKG and a CONTENTS option with information and guide to how the user should execute the system