The effect of the UP4FUN pilot intervention on objectively measured sedentary time and physical activity in 10-12 year old children in Belgium: the ENERGY-project

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Bakckground</p> <p>The first aim was to examine the effect of the UP4FUN pilot intervention on children’s total sedentary time. The second aim was to investigate if the intervention had an effect on children’s physical activity (PA) level. Finally, we aimed to investigate demographic differences (i.e. age, gender, ethnicity, living status and having siblings) between children in the intervention group who improved in sedentary time and PA at post-test and children in the intervention group who worsened in sedentary time and PA at post-test.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The six weeks UP4FUN intervention was tested in a randomized controlled trial with pre-test post-test design with five intervention and five control schools in Belgium and included children of the 5^th and 6^th grade. The children wore accelerometers for seven days at pre- and post-test. Analyses included children with valid accelerometer data for at least two weekdays with minimum 10h-wearing time and one weekend day with 8h-wearing time.</p> <p>Result</p> <p>Final analyses included 372 children (60% girls, mean age = 10.9 ± 0.7 years). There were no significant differences in the change in sedentary time or light PA between intervention and control schools for the total sample or for the subgroup analyses by gender. However, children (specifically girls) in the intervention group had a higher decrease in moderate-to-vigorous PA than children in the control group. In the intervention group, children who lived with both parents and children with one or more siblings were less likely to reduce sedentary time after exposure to the intervention. Older children, girls and children who lived with both parents were less likely to increase light PA after the intervention.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The UP4FUN intervention did not result in an effect on children’s sedentary time. Based on the high amounts of accelerometer-derived sedentary time in this age group, more efforts are needed to develop strategies to reduce children’s sedentary time.</p

Quality of Data Entry Using Single Entry, Double Entry and Automated Forms Processing–An Example Based on a Study of Patient-Reported Outcomes

Background: The clinical and scientific usage of patient-reported outcome measures is increasing in the health services. Often paper forms are used. Manual double entry of data is defined as the definitive gold standard for transferring data to an electronic format, but the process is laborious. Automated forms processing may be an alternative, but further validation is warranted. Methods: 200 patients were randomly selected from a cohort of 5777 patients who had previously answered two different questionnaires. The questionnaires were scanned using an automated forms processing technique, as well as processed by single and double manual data entry, using the EpiData Entry data entry program. The main outcome measure was the proportion of correctly entered numbers at question, form and study level. Results: Manual double-key data entry (error proportion per 1000 fields = 0.046 (95 % CI: 0.001–0.258)) performed better than single-key data entry (error proportion per 1000 fields = 0.370 (95 % CI: 0.160–0.729), (p = 0.020)). There was no statistical difference between Optical Mark Recognition (error proportion per 1000 fields = 0.046 (95 % CI: 0.001–0.258)) and double-key data entry (p = 1.000). With the Intelligent Character Recognition method, there was no statistical difference compared to single-key data entry (error proportion per 1000 fields = 6.734 (95 % CI: 0.817–24.113), (p = 0.656)), as well as double-key data entry (error proportion per 1000 fields = 3.367 (95 % CI: 0.085–18.616)), (p = 0.319))

Global burden of disease due to smokeless tobacco consumption in adults : analysis of data from 113 countries

BACKGROUND: Smokeless tobacco is consumed in most countries in the world. In view of its widespread use and increasing awareness of the associated risks, there is a need for a detailed assessment of its impact on health. We present the first global estimates of the burden of disease due to consumption of smokeless tobacco by adults. METHODS: The burden attributable to smokeless tobacco use in adults was estimated as a proportion of the disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) lost and deaths reported in the 2010 Global Burden of Disease study. We used the comparative risk assessment method, which evaluates changes in population health that result from modifying a population's exposure to a risk factor. Population exposure was extrapolated from country-specific prevalence of smokeless tobacco consumption, and changes in population health were estimated using disease-specific risk estimates (relative risks/odds ratios) associated with it. Country-specific prevalence estimates were obtained through systematically searching for all relevant studies. Disease-specific risks were estimated by conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses based on epidemiological studies. RESULTS: We found adult smokeless tobacco consumption figures for 115 countries and estimated burden of disease figures for 113 of these countries. Our estimates indicate that in 2010, smokeless tobacco use led to 1.7 million DALYs lost and 62,283 deaths due to cancers of mouth, pharynx and oesophagus and, based on data from the benchmark 52 country INTERHEART study, 4.7 million DALYs lost and 204,309 deaths from ischaemic heart disease. Over 85 % of this burden was in South-East Asia. CONCLUSIONS: Smokeless tobacco results in considerable, potentially preventable, global morbidity and mortality from cancer; estimates in relation to ischaemic heart disease need to be interpreted with more caution, but nonetheless suggest that the likely burden of disease is also substantial. The World Health Organization needs to consider incorporating regulation of smokeless tobacco into its Framework Convention for Tobacco Control

Stress Echocardiography in Aortic Valve Disease

International audienceIn aortic valve disease, the role of stress echocardiography is well supported by the literature. Exercise stress echocardiography is a tool of choice in asymptomatic patients with aortic stenosis (AS). However, it remains strictly contra-indicated in patients with symptoms. During exercise, the changes in trans-aortic velocity and gradient, in systolic pulmonary arterial pressure and in left ventricular ejection fraction, are of clinical and prognostic interest. The dobutamine stress echocardiography in patients with AS and low flow-low gradient (i.e. with impaired left ventricular ejection fraction) is useful to differentiate true severe and pseudo severe AS, to assess flow reserve, and ultimately to guide decision making and stratify the risk of patients