scholarly journals Exploring associations between children’s obesogenic behaviours and local environment using big data (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicos Maglaveras ◽  
Dimitris Filos ◽  
Irini Lekka ◽  
Vasileios Kilintzis ◽  
Leandros Stefanopoulos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Childhood Obesity ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Major Public Health Problem ◽  
European Cities ◽  
Custom Made

UNSTRUCTURED Obesity is a major public health problem globally and in Europe, while the prevalence of childhood obesity is also soaring. Several parameters of the living environment are contributing to this increase, such as the density of fast-food retailers, among others. Thus, preventive health policies against childhood obesity must focus on the environment to which children are exposed. Currently, there are no systems to objectively measure the effect of living environment parameters on obesogenic behaviours and obesity so that tailored policies can be planned. The H2020 project “BigO: Big Data Against Childhood Obesity” (http://bigoprogram.eu) aims to tackle childhood obesity by creating new sources of evidence based on big data. This paper introduces the Obesity Prevention dashboard (OPdashboard), implemented in the context of BigO, which can support public health authorities in formulating effective, context-specific policies and interventions addressing childhood obesity. In particular, OPdashboard allows for (i) the real time monitoring of children’s obesogenic behaviours, (ii) the extraction of associations between them and the local environment, (iii) the evaluation of an intervention in time, and (iv) the design of an action by predicting its effect. More than 3700 children, from more than 33 schools and 2 clinics, in 5 European cities have been monitored using a custom-made mobile application for the extraction of behavioural patterns through the capturing of accelerometer and geolocation data, while online databases were assessed in order to have a description of the environment. In this paper, OPdashboard functionality is described in detail, while the preliminary association outcomes in two European cities, namely Thessaloniki in Greece and Stockholm in Sweden, indicate a correlation between children’s eating and physical activity behaviours and the availability of food related places or sport facilities close to schools. In addition, OPdashboard was used to assess the modification of children’s physical activity as the result of the health policies applied for the deceleration of the COVID-19 outbreak. The preliminary outcomes of the analysis revealed that in urban areas the decrease on physical activity was statistically significant, while in the suburbs a slight increase was observed. Those findings suggest the importance of the open spaces availability on children’s behavioural change. However, additional factors must be taken into account in order to have a clearer understanding of the results. The OPdashboard is exposed as a web interface (http://bigo.med.auth.gr:3838/), while its functionality was evaluated during a focus group with experts on public health, where its usefulness on the better understanding of the interplay between children’s obesogenic behaviours and the environment was underlined.

Recent Advances in Treatment of Childhood Obesity

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 1072-1078
Author(s):  
Walter Milano ◽  
Paola Ambrosio ◽  
Francesca Carizzone ◽  
Walter Di Munzio ◽  
Valeria De Biasio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Bariatric Surgery ◽  
Childhood Obesity ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Family Context ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Biological Factors ◽  
The Family

: Childhood obesity has assumed epidemic proportions and is currently one of the most widespread public health problems. Many are the factors involved in the pathogenesis of excess weight with interactions between genetic, environmental and biological factors and therefore, also the therapeutic approach must be multidisciplinary and multidimensional. In this review of the literature, we report the contiguity of childhood obesity with eating disorders and the importance of involving the family context in order to induce stable lifestyle changes, both in relation to dietary and nutritional habits, but also in increasing physical activity. Finally, among the therapeutic options, although for selected cases, pharmacotherapy and bariatric surgery can be used as treatment strategies.

scholarly journals Why are children sedentary: an examination using the International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and the Environment

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 790-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allana LeBlanc
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Childhood Obesity ◽  
Sedentary Behaviour ◽  
Screen Time ◽  
Weight Status ◽  
Sedentary Time ◽  
International Study ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World

Physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour have been independently associated with a wide range of negative health indicators including obesity, poor cardio-metabolic health, and poor psychosocial health. The overarching objective of this research was to gain a better understanding as to why children are sedentary and where we need to focus public health messages and interventions to reduce sedentary behaviour. Specifically, I aimed to provide insight on current awareness of sedentary behaviour guidelines, determine important correlates of total sedentary time (SED) and screen time (ST) in Canadian children, and understand correlates of SED and ST in a global context. The primary dataset used for this project was the International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and the Environment (ISCOLE). Background work was completed to review current literature on knowledge and awareness of Canadian physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines (in all age groups) and to understand the representativeness of the ISCOLE dataset. In addition to the 2 background papers, this dissertation includes 3 manuscripts, all prepared for submission in scientific, peer-reviewed journals: Canadian physical activity and screen time guidelines: do children know?, Correlates of objectively measured sedentary time and self-reported screen time in Canadian children, and Correlates of total sedentary time and screen time in 9–11 year-old children around the world: The International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and the Environment. Overall, this work showed the majority of children around the world are accumulating large amounts of sedentary time, and exceeded current screen time guidelines. We found that the large majority of Canadian children are not aware of screen time guidelines; however, a greater proportion of children could identify physical activity guidelines. We also identified a number of correlates of SED and ST in Canadian children and in children around the world. The most common correlates included weight status and access to electronics in the house. Taken together, this work suggests that public health messaging should focus on increasing awareness of screen time guidelines. While increasing awareness of the guidelines, messaging can be tailored to promoting healthy weight status and reducing (or removing) children’s access to electronic devices in hopes of reducing overall time spent sedentary.

scholarly journals Privacy-aware Big Data Analytics as a service for public health policies in smart cities

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 68-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Anisetti ◽  
Claudio Ardagna ◽  
Valerio Bellandi ◽  
Marco Cremonini ◽  
Fulvio Frati ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Data Analytics ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Big Data Analytics ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Public Health Policies

scholarly journals Interventions to Promote an Integrated Approach to Public Health Problems: An Application to Childhood Obesity

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Marie Hendriks ◽  
Jessica S. Gubbels ◽  
Nanne K. De Vries ◽  
Jaap C. Seidell ◽  
Stef P. J. Kremers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Childhood Obesity ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Intersectoral Collaboration ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Obesity Epidemic ◽  
Children’S Physical Activity

Experts stress the need to bring the childhood obesity epidemic under control by means of an integrated approach. The implementation of such an approach requires the development of integrated enabling policies on public health by local governments. A prerequisite for developing such integrated public health policies is intersectoral collaboration. Since the development of integrated policies is still in its early stages, this study aimed to answer the following research question: “What interventions can promote intersectoral collaboration and the development of integrated health policies for the prevention of childhood obesity?” Data were collected through a literature search and observations of and interviews with stakeholders. Based on a theoretical framework, we categorized potential interventions that could optimize an integrated approach regarding children's physical activity and diet. The intervention categories included education, persuasion, incentivization, coercion, training, restriction, environmental restructuring, modeling, and enablement.

Investigating Diabetic Subjects on Their Correlation With TTH and CAD

2020 ◽  
pp. 197-220
Author(s):  
Rohit Rastogi ◽  
Devendra K. Chaturvedi ◽  
Parul Singhal ◽  
Mayank Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Major Public Health Problem ◽  
Quality Patient Care ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Natural Information ◽  
Digital Healthcare

Digital technology is modernizing healthcare. Large volumes of data refer to big data by digitising health information that can quickly be processed by machines. Digital healthcare analysis is the ability to diagnose and suggest ways to reduce costs; provide quality patient care and outcomes, available 24/7; reach to patients located in vast distant geographical areas; and avert preventable diseases. Artificial intelligence (AI) is an autonomous real-time machine system in comparison to natural information analyzed by humans. Diabetes is a serious, under-reported, life-threatening disease affecting millions of people of all ages, and researchers have identified it to be a major public health problem that is approaching epidemic proportions globally. The purpose of this study is to investigate diabetes analysis from CAD and other diseases using the latest advanced digital technologies to analyze information extracted from IoT and big data and stress correlation (TTH) on human health.

scholarly journals Prevalence of Physical Activity among Adolescents from 105 Low, Middle, and High-Income Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 3145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adilson Marques ◽  
Duarte Henriques-Neto ◽  
Miguel Peralta ◽  
João Martins ◽  
Yolanda Demetriou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Physical Inactivity ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Timor Leste ◽  
National Prevalence

Introduction: Physical activity (PA) is a beneficial health behaviour, however most adolescents worldwide are physically inactive. Updated information on the prevalence and trends of PA is important to inform national and international authorities and support countries’ public health policies and actions. This study aimed to present the worldwide, regional, and national prevalence of PA participation according to its frequency in adolescents. Methods: This study is based on cross-sectional surveys of adolescents’ populations from several countries and all regions worldwide. The sample comprised 520,533 adolescents (251,788 boys; 268,745 girls), from 105 countries and regions. Results: Most adolescents engaged in PA up to 3 days/week (57.1%; 95% CI: 56.9; 57.2). The prevalence of engaging in PA every day decreases over the age from 28.2% at age of 11–12 years (95% CI: 27.4; 29.0) to 21.2% at age of 16–17 years (95% CI: 20.3; 22.0) among boys; and from 19.4% (95% CI: 18.5; 20.2) to 11.1% (95% CI: 10.1; 12.0) among girls. For boys and girls who engaged in PA 5-6 days/week, the prevalence increases from countries with the lowest human development index to countries with the highest. Cambodia (7.3%, 95% CI: 3.8; 10.8), Philippines (7.7%, 95% CI: 5.6; 9.7), Sudan (8.8%, 95% CI: 4.7; 12.9), Timor-Leste (8.9%, 95% CI: 5.5; 12.3), and Afghanistan (10.1%, 95% CI: 6.1; 14.1) were the countries with the lowest prevalence of sufficient PA. Conclusions: National, regional, and worldwide data on the prevalence of physical activity in adolescents highlights the importance of improving the global levels of PA, especially in girls. Identifying the factors causing the age-related decrease in physical activity levels will permit public health entities to define priority actions and policies against physical inactivity.

scholarly journals Alcohol Consumption and Behavioral Consequences in Romanian Medical University Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 7531
Author(s):  
Bogdana Adriana Nasui ◽  
Monica Popa ◽  
Anca Dana Buzoianu ◽  
Anca Lucia Pop ◽  
Valentin Nicolae Varlas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Illicit Drug Use ◽  
Major Public Health Problem ◽  
Behavioral Consequences

Alcohol consumption is a major public health problem facing universities. The objectives of the present study were to investigate alcohol consumption and the behaviors associated with it among Romanian university medical students, with particular reference to sex differences, behavioral consequences, and lifestyle patterns. We performed a cross-sectional study on 722 medical students (60.4% females; 39.6% males); the participants filled out a validated questionnaire containing the following items co-occurring with alcohol consumption: smoking, illicit drug use, energy drink consumption, and other behavioral drinking consequences. Physical activity was estimated using the IPAQ questionnaire. We statistically analyzed the interrelation between alcohol consumption and target factors. The present study showed a high percentage of at-risk drinkers among male (15.0%) and female medical students (14.9%) in the studied group. Male students reported higher illicit drug use and physical activity than female students, but the at-risk female drinkers’ group consumed more drugs than the low-risk female drinkers. Both male and female drinkers engaged in other risky behaviors correlated with drinking (e.g., smoking, low academic performance, and driving a car after drinking). Public health policies, strategies, and interventions should be initiated to reduce alcohol consumption and associated behaviors in medical students.

Public Health Informatics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sundeep Sahay ◽  
T Sundararaman ◽  
Jørn Braa
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Integration ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Health Systems Strengthening ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Public Health Informatics ◽  
New Challenges

Rapid and unpredictable developments in health policies, technologies, disease profiles, institutional environments, and their inter-connections have significant implications on how we design, develop, implement, and use health information systems (HIS) in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Our current systems have heightened expectations but have proven largely incapable of meeting these new challenges. Nor have they been able to effectively leverage upon the new opportunities that are emerging, such as through the cloud, big data, the proliferation of mobile devices and the Internet of Things, and also the increasing array of new open source software solutions being made available through global development communities. What is required to try and address these challenges and opportunities? This book proposes the ‘Expanded PHI’ (public health informatics) perspective as a way forward, and through the various chapters first seeks to define it, and then apply it to analyse the following key problematics facing public health informatics in the domains of research, practice, and policy: use of information; integration of systems; leveraging cloud computing and big data; design and building of institutions that facilitate; managing complexity; evolving governance mechanisms and standards; responding to the new challenges thrown up by universal health coverage and Sustainable Development Goals; and building synergies between health systems strengthening and health information strengthening efforts. In defining the scope of Expanded PHI, the field of public health informatics is first situated within an informatics context, and then within public health and finally within the context of changing global health policies. Drawing from these contextualizations, the design principles for Expanded PHI are elucidated, based primarily on a social systems perspective, where the health of populations is kept as the central purpose and a participatory and incremental nature of change as the primary strategy.

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