257 research outputs found
Who eats four or more servings of fruit and vegetables per day? Multivariate classification tree analysis of data from the 1998 Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition in the Republic of Ireland
OBJECTIVE: To identify, using the novel application of multivariate classification trees, the socio-economic, sociodemographic and health-related lifestyle behaviour profile of adults who comply with the recommended 4 or more servings per day of fruit and vegetables.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional 1998 Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition.
SETTING: Community-dwelling adults aged 18 years and over on the Republic of Ireland electoral register.
SUBJECTS: Six thousand five hundred and thirty-nine (response rate 62%) adults responded to a self-administered postal questionnaire, including a semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire.
RESULTS: The most important determining factor of compliance with the fruit and vegetable dietary recommendations was gender. A complex constellation of sociodemographic and socio-economic factors emerged for males whereas the important predictors of 4 or more servings of fruit and vegetable consumption among females were strongly socio-economic in nature. A separate algorithm was run to investigate the importance of health-related lifestyle and other dietary factors on compliance with the fruit and vegetable recommendations. Following an initial split on compliance with dairy recommendations, a combination of non-dietary behaviours showed a consistent pattern of healthier options more likely to lead to compliance with fruit and vegetable recommendations. There did, however, appear to be a compensatory element between the variables, particularly around smoking, suggesting the non-existence of an exclusive lifestyle for health risk.
CONCLUSIONS: Material and structural influences matter very much for females in respect to compliance with fruit and vegetable recommendations. For males, while these factors are important they appear to be mediated through other more socially contextual-type factors. Recognition of the role that each of these factors plays in influencing dietary habits of men and women has implications for the manner in which dietary strategies and policies are developed and implemented
The Determinants of Self-Rated Health in the Republic of Ireland - Further Evidence and Future Directions
This paper examines the determinants of self-rated health in the Republic of Ireland using data from the 2001 Quarterly National Household Survey Health Module and the 2005 ESRI Time Usage Survey. Results indicate that self-rated health is a useful proxy for self-reported chronic illness indices. Higher education, having private medical insurance cover and being married is associated with better self-rated health. The strong inverse relationship between age and self-rated health is found to be robust to the inclusion of self-reported morbidity. Caregivers display lower self-rated health, even after controlling for age, marital status and education. We find only minor effects of gender. Understanding further the causal nature of the above associations is a key issue for future research.
SHARE Ireland: First Results
The study team gratefully acknowledges funding support from the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences under the Thematic Research Programmes initiative. Mark McGovern from UCD and Dr. Berengere Davin from NUIG provided substantial and excellent assistance in the drafting of this document. Christianne Hellmanzik, Lorna Sweeney and Fearghal O.hAodha also provided excellent research assistance at various stages of this project. We would like to thank Dr. Dorothy Watson of the ESRI who co-ordinated the field-work and her team of interviewers. Dr. Marcel Das of CenTERdata in Tilburg University and Simon Holroyd of NATCEN provided substantial technical assistance. This study would not have been possible in Ireland without the support of Professor Axel Boersch-Supan of the Mannheim Institute of Aging (MEA) who leads the European SHARE study. We would also like to sincerely thank the many participants who gave their time for this important study.share, ireland, results
Gestational age at birth and âBody-Mindâ health at 5 years of age : a population based cohort study
Numerous studies have identified the effects of prematurity on the neonateâs physical health, however few studies have explored the effects of prematurity on both the physical and mental health of the child as they develop. Secondary analysis of data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a longitudinal study of infants (n = 18 818, born 2000â2002 in the United Kingdom) was performed. Effects of gestational age at birth on health outcomes at 5 years were measured using parental rating of their childrenâs general health and severity of behavior problems. The association between parentâs general health ratings and behavior problem ratings was low: 86% of those reporting serious behavior problems (5% of the sample, n = 764) rated their child as being in excellent, very good, or good health. Still, a gradient of increasing risk of poorer outcome with decreasing gestational age was observed for a composite health measure (poor/fair health and/or serious behavior problems), suggesting an association with prematurity for this composite assessment of health status. The greatest contribution to the childhood composite health measure at 5 years was for children born at 32â36 weeks gestation: population attributable fractions for having poor outcomes was 3.4% (Bonferroni-adjusted 95% confidence interval 1.1%â6.2%), compared to 1% (0.2â2.3) for birth at less than 32 weeks. Results suggest that preterm children, by school entry, are not only at high risk of physical health problems, but also of behavioral health problems. The recognition of, and response to comprehensive health and well-being outcomes related to prematurity are important in order to correctly plan and deliver adequate paediatric health services and policies
Gestational age and chronic 'body-mind' health problems in childhood : dose-response association and risk factors
Understanding the developmental course of all health issues associated with preterm birth is
important from an individual, clinical and public health point-of-view. Both the number of
preterm births and proportion of survivors have increased steadily in recent years. The UK
Millennium Cohort Study (n=18 818) was used to examine the association of gestational age
with maternal ratings of general health and behavior problems at ages 5 and 11 years using
binary and multinomial logistic regression analyses. The association between mothersâ
ratings of general health and behavior problems was relatively weak at each time point.
Children rated as being in poor general health remained constant over time (4.0% at age 5,
3.8% at age 11), but children rated as having behavioral problems increased by almost 100%
(5.6% at 5; 10.5% at 11). A gradient of increasing risk with decreasing gestational age was
observed for a composite health measure (general health problems and/or behavior problems)
at age 5, amplified at age 11 and was strongest for those with chronic problems (poor health at
both age 5 and age 11). This association was found to be compounded by child sex, maternal
characteristics at birth (education, employment, marital status) and duration of breast feeding.
Integrated support to at-risk families initiated during, or soon after pregnancy, may prevent
chronic problems and might potentially reduce long term health costs for both the individual
and health services
Food poverty and health among schoolchildren in Ireland: findings from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study
Parental lifestyle patterns around pregnancy and risk of childhood obesity in four European birth cohort studies
Impact of parental lifestyle patterns in the preconception and pregnancy periods on childhood obesity
International audienceIntroduction High prevalence of overweight and obesity already observed in preschool children suggests the involvement of early-life risk factors. Preconception period and pregnancy are crucial windows for the implementation of child obesity prevention interventions with parental lifestyle factors as relevant targets. So far, most studies have evaluated their role separately, with only a few having investigated their potential synergistic effect on childhood obesity. Our objective was to investigate parental lifestyle patterns in the preconception and pregnancy periods and their association with the risk of child overweight after 5âyears. Materials and methods We harmonized and interpreted results from four European mother-offspring cohorts participating in the EndObesity Consortium [EDEN, France; Elfe, France; Lifeways, Ireland; and Generation R, Netherlands] with data available for 1,900, 18,000, 1,100, and 9,500 families, respectively. Lifestyle factors were collected using questionnaires and included parental smoking, body mass index (BMI), gestational weight gain, diet, physical activity, and sedentary behavior. We applied principal component analyses to identify parental lifestyle patterns in preconception and pregnancy. Their association with risk of overweight (including obesity; OW-OB) and BMI z -scores between 5 and 12âyears were assessed using cohort-specific multivariable logistic and linear and regression models (adjusted for potential confounders including parental age, education level, employment status, geographic origin, parity, and household income). Results Among the various lifestyle patterns derived in all cohorts, the two explaining the most variance were characterized by (1) âhigh parental smoking, low maternal diet quality (and high maternal sedentary behavior in some cohorts)â and, (2) âhigh parental BMI and low gestational weight gain.â Patterns characterized by high parental BMI, smoking, low diet quality or high sedentary lifestyle before or during pregnancy were associated with higher risk of OW-OB in children, and BMI z -score at any age, with consistent strengths of associations in the main cohorts, except for lifeways. Conclusion This project provides insight into how combined parental lifestyle factors in the preconception and pregnancy periods are associated with the future risk of child obesity. These findings are valuable to inform family-based and multi-behavioural child obesity prevention strategies in early life
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