7 research outputs found
Obesogenic dietary intake in families with 1-year-old infants at high and low obesity risk based on parental weight status: baseline data from a longitudinal intervention (Early STOPP)
Physical activity and fitness among adolescents [sic] in Sweden with a 20-year trend perspective
To prevent chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type-2
diabetes, it is important to avoid body fatness, to remain physically
active and to maintain aerobic fitness. It is also important to maintain
a certain level of muscular strength to be able to perform everyday tasks
in adolescence and adulthood. Regular study of the secular trends
(time-changes) in physical activity and fitness of the young can help in
identifying how social and lifestyle changes can affect these factors.
Also, studying the attitudes towards physical activity among various
groups of young, could provide information for tailoring physical
activity promotion programmes for contemporary children and adolescents.
The aim of this study was to investigate physical activity and physical
fitness among 16-year old adolescents in secondary school in 1995. Also,
the aim was to study the secular trend (time trend from 1974 to 1995) in
physical activity and fitness.
A questionnaire assessing physical activity was completed by 93% (n=542)
of the invited adolescents and body dimension measurments and physical
capacity tests was performed by 78% (n= 460) of the invited adolescents
in 1995. In 1974, 395 adolescents was invited and all participated.
One third of the students in 1995 failed to achieve the recommended level
of thirty minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per day day and
70% did not achieve sixty minutes per day. Students in practical programs
were less physically active, and were also less physically fit compared
to students in theoretical programs. The difference between the
educational programs in physical activity level was associated to lower
socio-economic status, lower percieved positive influence from parents to
be physically active as well as lower percieved health among the students
in practical programs.
Fewer girls than boys participated in sports and were members in sports
clubs. On average, the girls also were physically active at lower
intensities than the boys. However, there was no difference between girls
and boys in the time spent in overall physical activity, since many girls
performed physical activities outside sports clubs.
More adolescents were active in leisure-time sports in 1995 compared to
1974. The adolescents were also more interested in keep-fit activities in
1995 compared to 1974, which is important from a public health
perspective, since these activities have the potential to be continued
into adulthood. However, the overall lifestyle of adolescents might have
become more sedentary in 1995 compared to 1974.
The higher body weight, lower running performance and muscular endurance
in 1995 compared with 1974 may be due to less overall daily physical
activity among girls and boys. The lower muscular endurance could also be
due to lack of specific muscle endurance training for instance in
leisure-time physical activity and in physical education in school.
The physical activity level among adolescents was assessed by a
questionnaire and showed acceptable associations to the physical activity
level assed by an activity diary and to aerobic fitness on a group level.
The questionnaire could be a valuable tool in examining behavioural
changes following health and physical fitness promotion programmes and
for studying the secular trends in physical activity levels
Gender in medical curricula: course organizer of a gender-issue perspective in medicine in Sweden
Longitudinal study exploring factors associated with neck/shoulder pain at 52 years of age
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the ability of work-related measurements, body composition, physical activity, and fitness levels to predict neck/shoulder pain (upper body pain, UBP) at the age of 52 years. Another aim was to investigate the cross-sectional relationships between UBP, work-related factors, and individual factors at the age of 52 years. METHODS: We followed a randomly selected cohort of 429 adolescents that was recruited in 1974 (baseline), when they were 16 years old. The participants completed physical fitness tests, questions about sociodemographic and lifestyle factors at 16, 34, and 52 years of age, and questions about work-related factors and pain in the follow-ups. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine the associations between UBP and the other variables. RESULTS: Univariate logistic regression analyses showed that high body mass index and the work-related factors, low control, and low social support at the age of 34 years were related to UBP at the age of 52 years. For social support, there was an interaction between men and women where the relationship between low social support and the experience of pain was more evident for women. Among women, body mass index and social support remained significantly related in the multivariate analyses. For men, social support remained significantly related. Cross-sectional relationships at the age of 52 differed from the longitudinal in the sense that measures of joint flexibility and work posture were also significantly associated with UBP. CONCLUSION: The fact that the cross-sectional differed from the longitudinal relationships strengthens the importance of performing longitudinal studies when studying factors that might influence the initiation of pain. UBP preventative measures might need to include both lifestyle (such as dietary habits and physical activity to ensure that the individuals are not becoming overweight) and work-related factors such as social support
Vasculoprotective properties of plasma lipoproteins from brown bears (Ursus arctos)
Plasma cholesterol and triglyceride (TG) levels are twice as high in hibernating brown bears (Ursus arctos) than healthy humans. Yet, bears display no signs of early stage atherosclerosis development when adult. To explore this apparent paradox, we analyzed plasma lipoproteins from the same 10 bears in winter (hibernation) and summer using size exclusion chromatography, ultracentrifugation, and electrophoresis. LDL binding to arterial proteoglycans (PGs) and plasma cholesterol efflux capacity (CEC) were also evaluated. The data collected and analyzed from bears were also compared with those from healthy humans. In bears, the cholesterol ester, unesterified cholesterol, TG, and phospholipid contents of VLDL and LDL were higher in winter than in summer. The percentage lipid composition of LDL differed between bears and humans but did not change seasonally in bears. Bear LDL was larger, richer in TGs, showed prebeta electrophoretic mobility, and had 5–10 times lower binding to arterial PGs than human LDL. Finally, plasma CEC was higher in bears than in humans, especially the HDL fraction when mediated by ABCA1. These results suggest that in brown bears the absence of early atherogenesis is likely associated with a lower affinity of LDL for arterial PGs and an elevated CEC of bear plasma