Association of the body types and disease-related values of knee osteoarthritic patients

Different spa therapy courses are offered for treating knee osteoarthritis (OA) in Estonian medical spas. They contain approximately six daily sessions of three different treatments: massages, thermotherapies, kinesitherapies etc. There are some disease related risk factors including weight and sex. All subjects in the current study were divided into five height-weight classes and they were evaluated before and after the spa therapy course and the follow-up after 10 weeks and six months. To assess the clinical status different questionnaires (HAQ-DI, VAS, Lequesne Index) were used. The results showed that the subjects who participated in the study were mainly females and overweight. In the female group, there were more big type persons, but males were more leptomorphic. Females reported greater knee pain values, but males felt much better after six months. Also, leptomorphs had significantly better changes in the follow-up study. Higher pain diminishing was found in overweight persons but not obese subjects. The subject’s functional ability to do usual activities was mild or moderate. Only leptomorphs had significant decrease in the follow-up study. The Lequesne Index related to the function of the knee and score stabilized after 10 weeks in the small and leptomorph group

Relation of some anthropometric parameters of children aged 13–16 years with their eating habits and physical activity

People’s lifespan is increasing. Therefore, it is necessary to keep the high quality of life. Healthy lifestyle is related to healthy food and must include some physical activities. The aim of the study was to analyse how students’ (aged 13–16 years) eating habits and physical activity are related to the height-weight classes. They were administered a questionnaire that asked for information about the frequency of eating different food groups. Based on the 5 SD height-weight classification devised by the Centre for Physical Anthropology at the University of Tartu, the subjects were divided into five classes. Boys were more often overweight than girls. Most of the normal-weight boys and girls in the present study ate breakfast and had a school lunch. Their diet was sufficiently healthy, but included too many sweets and beverages with sugar. According to the heightweight classification, the group of leptomorphs was the largest – 27.8% of girls and 29.6% of boys. Pycnomorphs and large respondents did not like to eat in the morning but ate extra food at school. Although pycnomorphs were heavy, they were physically more active than others

A study on the lifestyle of school-aged children in Pärnu City and County

In 2013/2014, a study on students’ health behaviour was conducted in Estonia. In 2016, a school-aged children’s lifestyle study was carried out in Pärnu City and Pärnu County. The survey explored the students’ relations with their family and friends, family affluence, physical activity, use of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis. 2,512 respondents participated in the study, 48% of them were boys and 52% girls. The respondents mainly had a family with two biological parents and their family financial status was mostly “good”. About half of the respondents played computer games 0.5–3 hours a day, but those who were physically active spent less hours behind the computer and had higher family financial status. Respondents who were not physically very active met friends less frequently. In communication with friends, they used more social media. The questionnaire included several questions about risk behaviours. If the respondent had one bad habit, this was likely to lead to other bad habits, too

Relations between some anthropometric parameters of knee osteoarthritic patients and some indicators of the disease

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is related to the person’s gender, weight and age. However, associations between the body types and disease related values are not clear. All the subjects participated in the study of a new mud therapy course in Estonian medical spas and had knee OA. The mean age of the subjects was 61.7 years (62.0 years for women and 61.1 years for men). Based on the 5 SD heightweight classification, devised by the Centre for Physical Anthropology at the University of Tartu, the subjects were divided into five classes (1 – small height and weight; 2 – medium height and weight; 3 – big weight and height; 4 – big weight, small height; 5 – small weight, big height). The results showed that knee OA was more prevalent in women than men. 39.8% of the subjects were obese. Leptomorphic females and males prevailed among the subjects (28.5% and 26.8%, accordingly). Therefore, the height is also one factor which is associated with knee OA. Females had more problems with their knees than males. The group of small females had more problems with both knees, but pycnomorphic females complained more about knee pain in the last month before the study. Therefore, they used more analgesics. In both genders, the more problematic knee was the right knee. The class of medium males also had more problems with both knees. They had the highest values of the morning stiffness of the knee and knees crepitus in active motion

The link of diet and exercise habits of the inhabitants of Pärnu city with body mass index

This article gives an overview of the health behaviour survey of the adult population of the city of Pärnu, which was conducted in 2016. The results of the survey were used for compiling of the city health profile. The funder was the Pärnu city government. The authors focused on the links between the body mass index, diet and physical activity. The survey was carried out among the residents of the city of Pärnu aged 16–64 years. The questionnaire was filled by 506 respondents. Such a large survey had not been carried out in the city of Pärnu previously. In 2011 and 2014 two studies involving whole Estonia were conducted, in which the percentage of the respondents from Pärnu was too small to make further conclusions. The study results revealed that 65% of respondents ranked their health good or very good, and that was an improvement compared to the previous survey made five years ago. Breakfast was important for respondents, and 86% of them had it every morning or on most days. 49% of respondents were of normal weight by body mass index and 47% were overweight or obese, and these numbers showed a 20% change for better health compared to the previous study. From April to September, 45% of respondents rode a bicycle to work. In their free time, 60% did it for at least 15 minutes per day. Women walked to the workplace more often than men. Men were more overweight and ate more white bread than women. Underweight respondents ate an average of one slice of white bread per day, while others consumed it twice less on average. There was a significant but small correlation between age and BMI (r=0.31), respondents with vocational education had the highest average BMI. Obese persons and respondents with poor physical fitness were less active than normal-weight persons