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

Does parental support moderate the effect of children’s motivation and self-efficacy on physical activity and sedentary behaviour?

Objectives: 1) To test whether parental support moderates the direct effects of children's motivation and self-efficacy on objectively measured moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time. 2) To explore differences in the relationships between boys and girls. Design: Cross-sectional observational study. Method: Data were collected from 430 9-11 year old UK children and their parents; parents selfreported on the support they provided to their children to be active (through providing transport, encouragement, watching, or taking part with their child), and children self-reported their motivation and self-efficacy towards exercise. MVPA and sedentary time were measured using accelerometers. Results: Both parent- and child-level factors were largely positively associated with children's MVPA and negatively related to sedentary time. There was no evidence of a moderation effect of parental support on MVPA or sedentary time in boys. Parental provision of transport moderated the effect of girls' motivation on week-day MVPA; more motivated girls were less active when transport was provided. Transport and exercising with one's child moderated the effect of motivation and self-efficacy on girls' sedentary time at weekends; more motivated girls, and those with higher self-efficacy were less sedentary when parents provided more frequent transportation or took part in physical activity with them. Conclusions: The results largely supported a model of the independent effects of parent and child determinants for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, but there was evidence that some types of parent support can moderate sedentary time in girls. Further research is needed to explore the causal pathways between the observed cross-sectional results

Distinct trajectories of leisure time physical activity and predictors of trajectory class membership: a 22 year cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Prospective studies linking social factors to long term patterns of physical activity are lacking. In this 22 year longitudinal study, we seek to identify long term patterns of involvement in leisure time physical activity (LTPA), and explore socioeconomic and demographic predictors of distinct LTPA trajectories.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Among 2102 individuals aged 18–60 years in 1981 who participated in the 1981 Canada Fitness Survey/1988 Campbell's Survey of Well-Being, 1186 (56.4%) completed questionnaires for the 2002/04 follow-up. Complete data on LTPA at all 3 surveys were available for 884 participants. Latent class growth analysis was used to identify major classes of LTPA trajectories; predictors of class membership were identified using polytomous logistic regression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Four latent classes were identified: <it>inactive</it>, <it>increasers</it>, <it>active</it>, and <it>decreasers </it>(53%, 26%, 12%, and 9% of participants, respectively). Women, older participants, those with lower household income, and with lower educational attainment, were significantly less likely to follow <it>active </it>(Vs. <it>inactive</it>) trajectories of LTPA. Disadvantaged groups with respect to education and income were also significantly more likely to follow <it>decreasing </it>(Vs. <it>active</it>) trajectories.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There is a need for continued efforts to increase overall population levels of LTPA, particularly among socially disadvantaged groups with respect to income and education, who are most likely to experience unfavorable trajectories of LTPA.</p

Regional variation in growth status. The Peruvian health and optimist growth study

Objective: This study aims to (1) investigate differences in weight, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC) among Peruvian children and ado lescents living in three areas located at different altitudes; (2) compare age and sex-specific height, weight, and BMI within each site with US reference data. Methods: We sampled 8753 subjects (4130 boys), aged 4 to 17 years from sea level, rainforest, and high-altitude. Height, weight, and WC were measured and BMI was calculated. Analysis of variance was used to compare variables across geographic regions, and the Hoff and Blackburn procedure was used to compare the Peruvian results with US reference data. Results: Participants living at sea level were taller, heavier, had greater BMI and WC relative to those living at high-altitude and in the rainforest. Peruvian schoolchildren of both sexes from the three geographical areas were shorter and lighter than their American peers. Boys and girls living in the rainforest and at high-altitude had lower BMI, whereas WC values of American schoolchildren are higher than those of the Peruvian children by age and gender. Conclusions: Peruvians living at different altitudes differ in their growth indi cators (height, weight, BMI, and WC), with significant differences between those living at sea level relative to their peers from other regions. Further, Peruvian schoolchildren of both sexes from the three geographical areas signif icantly differ from their US counterpartsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

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

Healthcare providers versus patients\u27 understanding of health beliefs and values

This study examined how well healthcare providers perceive and understand their patients’ health beliefs and values compared to patients’ actual beliefs, and to determine if communication relationships maybe improved as a result of healthcare providers’ understanding of their patients’ illness from their perspective. A total of 61 participants (7 healthcare providers and 54 patients) were enrolled in the study. Healthcare providers and patients individually completed survey instruments and each participated in a structured focus group. Healthcare provider and patient differences revealed that patients perceived greater meaning of their illness (p = 0.038), and a greater preference for partnership (p = 0.026) compared to providers. The three qualitative themes most important for understanding patients’ health beliefs and values as perceived by healthcare providers were education, trust, and culture. Educating patients was perceived as having the greatest impact and also the easiest method to implement to foster providers’ understanding, with at least one patient focus group in agreement of same. Likewise, three themes were derived from patients’ perspectives as relatively more important in understanding providers’ beliefs and values; bidirectional communication, comprehensive treatment, and discipline. Overwhelmingly, bidirectional communication was perceived as a critical factor as having the greatest impact and may also be easiest to implement according to these patients. When patients and healthcare providers listen and communicate with each other, they are likely to develop a shared understanding that may improve future decision making and quality of care patients receive

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