Sedentary Behaviour and Life Expectancy in the USA: A Cause-Deleted Life Table Analysis

Objectives: To determine the impact of sitting and television viewing on life expectancy in the USA. Design: Prevalence-based cause-deleted life table analysis. Setting: Summary RRs of all-cause mortality associated with sitting and television viewing were obtained from a meta-analysis of available prospective cohort studies. Prevalences of sitting and television viewing were obtained from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Primary outcome measure: Life expectancy at birth. Results: The estimated gains in life expectancy in the US population were 2.00 years for reducing excessive sitting to <3 h/day and a gain of 1.38 years from reducing excessive television viewing to <2 h/day. The lower and upper limits from a sensitivity analysis that involved simultaneously varying the estimates of RR (using the upper and lower bounds of the 95% CI) and the prevalence of television viewing (±20%) were 1.39 and 2.69 years for sitting and 0.48 and 2.51 years for television viewing, respectively. Conclusion: Reducing sedentary behaviours such as sitting and television viewing may have the potential to increase life expectancy in the USA

Association between birth weight and neuromotor performance: a twin study

The development of neonatal intensive care has led to an increase in the prevalence of children with low birth weight and associated morbidity. The objectives of this study are to verify (1) The association between birth weight (BW) and neuromotor performance? (2) Is the neuromotor performance of twins within the normal range? (3) Are intra-pair similarities in neuromotor development of Monozygotic (MZ) and Disygotic (DZ) twins of unequal magnitude? The sample consisted of 191 children (78 MZ and 113 DZ), 8.9+3.1 years of age and with an average BW of 2246.3+485.4g. In addition to gestational characteristics, sports participation and Zurich Neuromotor Assessment (ZNA) were observed at childhood age. The statistical analysis was carried out with software SPSS 18.0, the STATA 10 and the ZNA performance scores. The level of significance was 0.05. For the neuromotor items high intra and inter-investigator reliabilities were obtained (0.793<R<1). BW, gestational length and Apgar 5´ accounted for <26% of the variance. Twins showed elevated percentages of subjects (32.7%<76.9%) with low performance <P10 in time-related neuromotor tasks, but not for the quality of the associated movements (2.6%<6.4%). The MZ twins were more similar than DZ for several neuromotor items. BW showed a limited association with neuromotor performance

The metabolic syndrome adds utility to the prediction of mortality over its components: The Vietnam Experience Study

Background\ud The metabolic syndrome increases mortality risk. However, as “non-affected” individuals may still have up to two risk factors, the utility of using three or more components to identify the syndrome, and its predictive advantage over individual components have yet to be determined.\ud \ud Methods\ud Participants, male Vietnam-era veterans (n = 4265) from the USA, were followed-up from 1985/1986 for 14.7 years (61,498 person-years), and all-cause and cardiovascular disease deaths collated. Cox's proportional-hazards regression was used to assess the effect of the metabolic syndrome and its components on mortality adjusting for a wide range of potential confounders.\ud \ud Results\ud At baseline, 752 participants (17.9%) were identified as having metabolic syndrome. There were 231 (5.5%) deaths from all-causes, with 60 from cardiovascular disease. After adjustment for a range of covariates, the metabolic syndrome increased the risk of all-cause, HR 2.03, 95%CI 1.52, 2.71, and cardiovascular disease mortality, HR 1.92, 95%CI 1.10, 3.36. Risk increased dose-dependently with increasing numbers of components. The increased risk from possessing only one or two components was not statistically significant. The adjusted risk for four or more components was greater than for only three components for both all-cause, HR 2.30, 95%CI 1.45, 3.66 vs. HR 1.70, 95%CI 1.11, 2.61, and cardiovascular disease mortality, HR 3.34, 95%CI 1.19, 9.37 vs. HR 2.81, 95%CI 1.07, 7.35. The syndrome was more informative than the individual components for all-cause mortality, but could not be assessed for cardiovascular disease mortality due to multicollinearity. Hyperglycaemia was the individual strongest parameter associated with mortality.\ud \u

What are the most effective behaviour change techniques to promote physical activity and/or reduce sedentary behaviour in inactive adults? : A systematic review protocol

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ The version of record, Howlett N, Trivedi D, Troop NA, et al, 'What are the most effective behaviour change techniques to promote physical activity and/or reduce sedentary behaviour in inactive adults? A systematic review protocol', BMJ Open, Vol 5(8), 2015; 5:e008573, is available online via doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008573 Published by MBJ Publishing Group Limited.Large proportions of the population are not meeting recommended levels of physical activity and have increasingly sedentary lifestyles. Low levels of physical activity are predictive of poor health outcomes and time spent sedentary is related to a host of risk factors independently of physical activity levels. Building an evidence base of the best approaches to intervene in the lifestyles of inactive individuals is crucial in preventing long-term disease, disability and higher mortality ratesPeer reviewedFinal Published versio

Centile curves and reference values for height, body mass, body mass index and waist circumference of peruvian children and adolescents

This study aimed to provide height, body mass, BMI and waist circumference (WC) growth centile charts for school-children, aged 4–17 years, from central Peru, and to compare Peruvian data with North-American and Argentinean references. The sample consisted of 8753 children and adolescents (4130 boys and 4623 girls) aged 4 to 17 years, from four Peruvian cities: Barranco, La Merced, San Ramón and Junín. Height, body mass and WC were measured according to standardized techniques. Centile curves for height, body mass, BMI and WC were obtained separately for boys and girls using the LMS method. Student t-tests were used to compare mean values. Overall boys have higher median heights than girls, and the 50th percentile for body mass increases curvilinearly from 4 years of age onwards. In boys, the BMI and WC 50th percentiles increase linearly and in girls, the increase presents a curvilinear pattern. Peruvian children are shorter, lighter and have higher BMI than their counterparts in the U.S. and Argentina; in contrast, age and sex-specific WC values are lower. Height, body mass and WC of Peruvian children increased with age and variability was higher at older ages. The growth patterns for height, body mass, BMI and WC among Peruvian children were similar to those observed in North-American and Argentinean peers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Correlates of changes in BMI of children from the Azores islands

Objective: To model changes in body mass index (BMI), including its stability, and to investigate the association between physical activity, 1-mile run/walk and levels of gross motor coordination and BMI during 5 consecutive years. Design: A longitudinal study of children 6 years of age at baseline followed at annual intervals over 5 years. Subjects: A total of 285 children (143 boys and 142 girls) were enrolled in grade 1 (age 6 years) and followed through grade 5 (age 10 years). Measurements: BMI was recorded and physical activity was assessed by questionnaire, aerobic fitness was evaluated with the 1-mile run/walk and gross motor coordination was measured with the KTK test battery (Korperkoordination test fur Kinder). Multilevel modelling techniques were for the primary analysis. Results: Changes in BMI showed similar curvilinear trends in boys and girls, with ample inter-individual crossing trajectories that is, low tracking. Longitudinal changes in physical activity (PA) and aerobic fitness were not significantly associated with BMI-changes during the 5 years. Children who were more proficient in their motor coordination showed lower values of BMI during the 5 years. Conclusions: BMI trajectories of both boys and girls show low tracking of BMI-values. Considerable inter-individual variation exists both in baseline BMI-values and changes (velocity and acceleration) over time. PA and fitness were not associated with BMI-changes, but gross motor function was negatively associated with BMI-changes. No gender-specific associations were found. If confirmed in other populations these observations could be translated in the promotion of physical activities that improve gross motor function in children aged 6-10 years. This seems to be of major importance for the physical education curriculum of primary school children

Interventions for reducing sedentary behaviour in community-dwelling older adults

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: To identify the effects and assess the effectiveness of interventions to reduce sedentary behaviour (total sedentary time and the pattern of accumulation of sedentary time) in older adults. To summarise the effects of interventions to reduce sedentary behaviour on quality of life, depression, and health status in older adults. To summarise any evidence on the cost-effectiveness of interventions that reduce sedentary behaviour in older adults

Correlates of sedentary time in children: a multilevel modelling approach

BACKGROUND: Sedentary behaviour (SB) has been implicated as a potential risk factor for chronic disease. Since children spend most of their awake time in schools, this study aimed to identify individual- and school-level correlates of sedentary time using a multilevel approach, and to determine if these correlates have a similar effect in normal weight (NW) and overweight/obese (O/O) children. METHODS: Sample comprised 686 Portuguese children aged 9-10 years from 23 schools that took part in the ISCOLE project. Actigraph GT3X + accelerometers were used 24 hours/day for 7 days to assess sedentary time (daily minutes <100 counts/min); BMI was computed and WHO cut-points were used to classify subjects as NW or O/O. Sex, BMI, number of siblings, family income, computer use on school days, and sleep time on school days were used as individual-level correlates. At the school level, school size (number of students), percentage of students involved in sports or physical activity (PA) clubs, school promotion of active transportation, and students’ access to equipment outside school hours were used. All multilevel modelling analysis was done in SPSS, WINPEPI, and HLM. RESULTS: School-level correlates explain ≈ 6.0% of the total variance in sedentary time. Results (β ± SE) showed that boys (-30.85 ± 5.23), children with more siblings (-8.56 ± 2.71) and those who sleep more (-17.78 ± 3.06) were less sedentary, while children with higher family income were more sedentary (4.32 ± 1.68). At the school level, no variable was significantly correlated with sedentary time. Among weight groups, variables related to sedentary time in NW were sex, sleep time and family income, while in O/O sex, number of siblings and sleep time were significant correlates. No school-level predictors were significantly associated in either of the weight groups. CONCLUSION: Notwithstanding the relevance of the school environment in the reduction of children’s sedentary time, individual and family characteristics played a more relevant role than the school context in this study

Sources of variability in childhood obesity indicators and related behaviors

The purpose of this study was to describe sources of variability in obesity-related variables in 6022 children aged 9-11 years from 12 countries. The study design involved recruitment of students, nested within schools, which were nested within study sites. Height, weight and waist circumference (WC) were measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated; sleep duration and total and in-school moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time were measured by accelerometry; and diet scores were obtained by questionnaire. Variance in most variables was largely explained at the student level: BMI (91.9%), WC (93.5%), sleep (75.3%), MVPA (72.5%), sedentary time (76.9%), healthy diet score (88.3%), unhealthy diet score (66.2%), with the exception of in-school MVPA (53.8%) and in-school sedentary time (25.1%). Variance explained at the school level ranged from 3.3% for BMI to 29.8% for in-school MVPA, and variance explained at the site level ranged from 3.2% for WC to 54.2% for in-school sedentary time. In general, more variance was explained at the school and site levels for behaviors than for anthropometric traits. Given the variance in obesity-related behaviors in primary school children explained at school and site levels, interventions that target policy and environmental changes may enhance obesity intervention efforts.Peer reviewe

An epidemiologic study of psychotropic medication and obesity-related chronic illnesses in older psychiatric patients

Objective: Adverse effects from medication vary with age. Weight gain with several psychotropics is well known in adults but less information is available related to extent and complications of psychotropic-induced weight gain in older psychiatric patients. We determined the relative incidence of 2 obesity-related conditions (diabetes and hypertension) in older psychiatric patients receiving antipsychotics, antidepressants, and mood stabilizers. Method: A population-based case-control study of all psychiatric patients aged 67 years or older in contact with either specialist services or primary care using administrative data from Nova Scotia. Results: We identified incident cases of diabetes (n = 608) and of hypertension (n = 1056), as well as an equal number of control subjects for each condition. Amitryptiline, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and olanzapine were associated with an increased risk of presenting with hypertension 6 months after initial prescription. By contrast, conventional antipsychotics were associated with a reduced incidence of hypertension. Olanzapine was also significantly associated with diabetes after 6 months (OR = 2.58, 95% CI 1.12 to 5.92). The findings for SSRIs and olanzapine remained significant after adjusting for potential confounders such as sociodemographic characteristics, schizophrenia, beta blockers, thiazide diuretics, and corticosteroids. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the association of psychotropics and 2 obesity-related conditions, hypertension and diabetes, applies to older psychiatric patients as well as younger populations. Within drug classes, there are drugs that have a greater association than others, and this may be a factor when choosing a specific agent