Physically active lessons in schools: A systematic review and meta-analysis of effects on physical activity, educational, health and cognition outcomes

Objective: This review provides the first meta-analysis of the impact of physically active lessons on lesson-time and overall physical activity (PA), as well as health, cognition and educational outcomes. // Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled studies. Six meta-analyses pooled effects on lesson-time PA, overall PA, in-class educational and overall educational outcomes, cognition and health outcomes. Meta-analyses were conducted using the metafor package in R. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane tool for risk of bias. // Data sources: PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, ERIC and Web of Science, grey literature and reference lists were searched in December 2017 and April 2019. // Studies eligibility criteria: Physically active lessons compared with a control group in a randomised or non-randomised design, within single component interventions in general school populations. // Results: 42 studies (39 in preschool or elementary school settings, 27 randomised controlled trials) were eligible to be included in the systematic review and 37 of them were included across the six meta-analyses (n=12 663). Physically active lessons were found to produce large, significant increases in lesson-time PA (d=2.33; 95% CI 1.42 to 3.25: k=16) and small, increases on overall PA (d=0.32; 95% CI 0.18 to 0.46: k=8), large, improvement in lesson-time educational outcomes (d=0.81; 95% CI 0.47 to 1.14: k=7) and a small improvement in overall educational outcomes (d=0.36; 95% CI 0.09 to 0.63: k=25). No effects were seen on cognitive (k=3) or health outcomes (k=3). 25/42 studies had high risk of bias in at least two domains. // Conclusion: In elementary and preschool settings, when physically active lessons were added into the curriculum they had positive impact on both physical activity and educational outcomes. These findings support policy initiatives encouraging the incorporation of physically active lessons into teaching in elementary and preschool setting

Low socioeconomic status and psychological distress as synergistic predictors of mortality from stroke and coronary heart disease.

The purpose of this study was to test whether lower socioeconomic status (SES) augments the effect of psychological distress on mortality from stroke or coronary heart disease (CHD)

Does physical activity moderate the association between alcohol drinking and all-cause, cancer and cardiovascular diseases mortality risk? A pooled analysis of eight British population cohorts

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether physical activity (PA) moderates the association between alcohol intake and all-cause mortality, cancer mortality and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) mortality. DESIGN: Prospective study using 8 British population-based surveys, each linked to cause-specific mortality: Health Survey for England (1994, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004 and 2006) and Scottish Health Survey (1998 and 2003). PARTICIPANTS: 36 370 men and women aged 40 years and over were included with a corresponding 5735 deaths and a mean of 353 049 person-years of follow-up. EXPOSURES: 6 sex-specific categories of alcohol intake (UK units/week) were defined: (1) never drunk; (2) ex-drinkers; (3) occasional drinkers; (4) within guidelines (35 (women) >49 (men)). PA was categorised as inactive (≤7 MET-hour/week), active at the lower (>7.5 MET-hour/week) and upper (>15 MET-hour/week) of recommended levels. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Cox proportional-hazard models were used to examine associations between alcohol consumption and all-cause, cancer and CVD mortality risk after adjusting for several confounders. Stratified analyses were performed to evaluate mortality risks within each PA stratum. RESULTS: We found a direct association between alcohol consumption and cancer mortality risk starting from drinking within guidelines (HR (95% CI) hazardous drinking: 1.40 (1.11 to 1.78)). Stratified analyses showed that the association between alcohol intake and mortality risk was attenuated (all-cause) or nearly nullified (cancer) among individuals who met the PA recommendations (HR (95% CI)). CONCLUSIONS: Meeting the current PA public health recommendations offsets some of the cancer and all-cause mortality risk associated with alcohol drinking

Alcohol intake and mortality risk of COVID-19, pneumonia, and other infectious diseases: An analysis of 437191 UK biobank participants

This study aims to investigate the association between alcohol consumption and COVID-19, infectious diseases, and pneumonia mortality. This is a prospective analysis of 437,191 UK Biobank participants (age 56.3 years, 54% female). The main exposure was self-reported alcohol consumption. In addition to never and previous drinkers, we applied quartiles-based and UK guidelines-based criteria to divide current drinkers by weekly consumption into four groups. Outcomes included COVID-19, infectious diseases, and pneumonia mortality, obtained from the national death registries until May 2020. After an 11-year follow-up, compared to never drinkers, previous drinkers had higher mortality risks of infectious diseases and pneumonia (adjusted HR: 1.29 [95% CI 1.06–1.57] and 1.35 [1.07–1.70], respectively), but not COVID-19. There was a curvilinear association of alcohol consumption with infectious diseases and pneumonia mortality. Drinking within-guidelines (<14 UK units/wk) and amounts up to double the recommendation (14 to < 28 UK units/wk) was associated with the lowest mortality risks of infectious diseases (0.70 [0.59–0.83] and 0.70 [0.59–0.83], respectively) and pneumonia (0.71 [0.58–0.87] and 0.72 [0.58–0.88], respectively). Alcohol consumption was associated with lower risks of COVID-19 mortality (e.g., drinking within-guidelines: 0.53 [0.33–0.86]). Drinkers reporting multiples of the recommended alcohol drinking amounts did not have higher mortality risks of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases than never drinkers. Despite the well-established unfavorable effects on general health, we found no deleterious associations between alcohol consumption and the risk of infectious diseases, including COVID-19. Future research with other study designs is needed to confirm the causality

Feasibility of measuring sedentary time with thigh worn accelerometry and sociodemographic correlates: the 1970 British Cohort Study

In large scale cohort studies sedentary behaviour has been routinely measured using self-report or devices that apply count-based threshold. We employed a gold standard postural allocation technique using thigh inclination and acceleration to capture free-living sedentary behaviour . Participants (n=5,346, aged 46.8 ± 0.7 yrs) from the 1970 British Cohort study (U.K.) were fitted with a water-proofed thigh mounted accelerometer device (activPAL3 micro) worn continuously over 7 days, collected 2016 – 2018. Useable data were retrieved in 83.0% of the devices fitted, with 79.6% of the sample recording at least 6 full days of wear (at least 10 waking hours). Total daily sitting time (average 9.5±2.0 hr/d men and 9.0±2.0 hr/d women) accounted for 59.4% and 57.3% of waking hours in men and women respectively; 73.8% of the sample recorded ≥8hr/d of sitting. Sitting in prolonged bouts of more than 60 continuous minutes accounted for 25.3 % and 24.4% of total daily sitting in men and women respectively. In mutually adjusted models, male sex, underweight and obesity, education, poor self-rated health, TV-viewing time and a sitting occupation were associated with higher device measured sitting times. Thigh worn accelerometry was feasibly deployed and should be considered for larger scale national surveys

Reconciling taxonomy and phylogenetic inference: formalism and algorithms for describing discord and inferring taxonomic roots

Although taxonomy is often used informally to evaluate the results of phylogenetic inference and find the root of phylogenetic trees, algorithmic methods to do so are lacking. In this paper we formalize these procedures and develop algorithms to solve the relevant problems. In particular, we introduce a new algorithm that solves a "subcoloring" problem for expressing the difference between the taxonomy and phylogeny at a given rank. This algorithm improves upon the current best algorithm in terms of asymptotic complexity for the parameter regime of interest; we also describe a branch-and-bound algorithm that saves orders of magnitude in computation on real data sets. We also develop a formalism and an algorithm for rooting phylogenetic trees according to a taxonomy. All of these algorithms are implemented in freely-available software.Comment: Version submitted to Algorithms for Molecular Biology. A number of fixes from previous versio

Are Sitting Occupations Associated with Increased All-Cause, Cancer, and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality Risk? A Pooled Analysis of Seven British Population Cohorts

There is mounting evidence for associations between sedentary behaviours and adverse health outcomes, although the data on occupational sitting and mortality risk remain equivocal. The aim of this study was to determine the association between occupational sitting and cardiovascular, cancer and all-cause mortality in a pooled sample of seven British general population cohorts.The sample comprised 5380 women and 5788 men in employment who were drawn from five Health Survey for England and two Scottish Health Survey cohorts. Participants were classified as reporting standing, walking or sitting in their work time and followed up over 12.9 years for mortality. Data were modelled using Cox proportional hazard regression adjusted for age, waist circumference, self-reported general health, frequency of alcohol intake, cigarette smoking, non-occupational physical activity, prevalent cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline, psychological health, social class, and education.In total there were 754 all-cause deaths. In women, a standing/walking occupation was associated with lower risk of all-cause (fully adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 0.68, 95% CI 0.52-0.89) and cancer (HR = 0.60, 95% CI 0.43-0.85) mortality, compared to sitting occupations. There were no associations in men. In analyses with combined occupational type and leisure-time physical activity, the risk of all-cause mortality was lowest in participants with non-sitting occupations and high leisure-time activity.Sitting occupations are linked to increased risk for all-cause and cancer mortality in women only, but no such associations exist for cardiovascular mortality in men or women