METHODS: A total of 590 preschoolers, comprising 317 boys and 273 girls were included. Pre-pilot parental questionnaires were used to assess diet, physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour practices and anthropometry was assessed in preschoolers and their parents.
RESULTS: Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that preschoolers with more frequent weekly intake of snacks [OR 2.7; 95% CI, 1.6-4.4; p
METHODS: Parents of children aged 3-5 years, from 14 countries (8 low- and middle-income countries, LMICs) completed surveys to assess changes in movement behaviours and how these changes were associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Surveys were completed in the 12 months up to March 2020 and again between May and June 2020 (at the height of restrictions). Physical activity (PA), sedentary screen time (SST) and sleep were assessed via parent survey. At Time 2, COVID-19 factors including level of restriction, environmental conditions, and parental stress were measured. Compliance with the World Health Organizations (WHO) Global guidelines for PA (180 min/day [≥60 min moderate- vigorous PA]), SST (≤1 h/day) and sleep (10-13 h/day) for children under 5 years of age, was determined.
RESULTS: Nine hundred- forty-eight parents completed the survey at both time points. Children from LMICs were more likely to meet the PA (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AdjOR] = 2.0, 95%Confidence Interval [CI] 1.0,3.8) and SST (AdjOR = 2.2, 95%CI 1.2,3.9) guidelines than their high-income country (HIC) counterparts. Children who could go outside during COVID-19 were more likely to meet all WHO Global guidelines (AdjOR = 3.3, 95%CI 1.1,9.8) than those who were not. Children of parents with higher compared to lower stress were less likely to meet all three guidelines (AdjOR = 0.5, 95%CI 0.3,0.9).
CONCLUSION: PA and SST levels of children from LMICs have been less impacted by COVID-19 than in HICs. Ensuring children can access an outdoor space, and supporting parents' mental health are important prerequisites for enabling pre-schoolers to practice healthy movement behaviours and meet the Global guidelines.
METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study in which 339 first trimester pregnant women were sampled from 13 maternal and child health clinics located in all four parliament districts of Kuala Lumpur. Self-administered questionnaires which contained the Malay version of the pregnancy physical activity questionnaire (PPAQ) were used. Descriptive analysis was conducted to determine the physical inactivity prevalence followed by simple and multiple logistic regression to identify the determinants of physical inactivity with significant level of 5%.
RESULTS: The prevalence of physical inactivity was 38.3%. The highest activity was seen in the household activity domain, despite only 24.8% of the respondents were housewives/unemployed. There was little to no participation observed in the vigorous intensity category. The determinants of physical inactivity were primigravida (aOR 3.54 95% CI 1.40, 8.97), education level (aOR 3.77 95% CI 1.35, 10.52) and body mass index (aOR 0.88 95% CI 0.80, 0.97) which explained 22.6% variation of physical inactivity in the final adjusted model.
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of physical inactivity among first trimester pregnant mothers in this study was 38.3%, and the highest activity was seen in the household category. Health education on physical activity in pregnancy should be focused on those who are primigravida and have no tertiary education. The educational content should be updated and tailored to current pandemic situation where self-isolation is the new norm, by advocating for home-based, moderate to vigorous intensity physical activities.
Purpose: To investigate the effects of 'graded exercise integrated with education' on physical fitness, exercise self-efficacy (ESE), and physical activity (PA) levels among subacute and chronic wheelchair-dependent paraplegia patients.
Overview of Literature: Most of the chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) patients had low physical fitness due to a sedentary lifestyle and lack of ESE after discharge from a rehabilitation program. Education may encourage them to engage with exercise to regain and maintain their physical fitness. However, there is a lack of research to support the effects of exercise integrated with education after an SCI.
Methods: A total of 44 participants will be assigned to either the experimental group (graded exercise integrated with education) or active control (conventional physical therapy). The experimental group will receive graded strength and aerobic exercise training according to their progression criteria. They will attend an education program during and after the rehabilitation program. The control group will only receive conventional physical therapy during their in-rehabilitation program. This study will be conducted during a period of 16 weeks, consisting of 8 weeks of in-rehabilitation and 8 weeks post-rehabilitation. Statistical analysis will be performed using the IBM SPSS ver. 21.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) at a significance level of p≤0.05.
Results: The primary outcome measures will be upper-limb isokinetic strength, isometric grip strength, and cardiorespiratory fitness. The secondary outcomes will be ESE and PA levels.
Conclusions: An intervention that combines exercise training and education may be warranted to enhance the physical fitness, ESE, and PA levels in SCI patients. This trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03420170).
PURPOSE: To examine the influence of physical activity (PA) and sedentary time on bone strength, structure, and density in older adolescents.
METHODS: We used peripheral quantitative computed tomography to estimate bone strength at the distal tibia (8% site; bone strength index, BSI) and tibial midshaft (50% site; polar strength strain index, SSIp) in adolescent boys (n = 86; 15.3 ± 0.4 years) and girls (n = 106; 15.3 ± 0.4 years). Using accelerometers (GT1M, Actigraph), we measured moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPAAccel), vigorous PA (VPAAccel), and sedentary time in addition to self-reported MVPA (MVPAPAQ-A) and impact PA (ImpactPAPAQ-A). We examined relations between PA and sedentary time and bone outcomes, adjusting for ethnicity, maturity, tibial length, and total body lean mass.
RESULTS: At the distal tibia, MVPAAccel and VPAAccel positively predicted BSI (explained 6-7% of the variance, p
METHODS: Two hundred subjects (104 patients, 96 controls) underwent extensive clinical phenotyping. Stool samples were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Fecal metabolomics were performed using two platforms, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.
RESULTS: Fecal microbiome and metabolome composition in PD was significantly different from controls, with the largest effect size seen in NMR-based metabolome. Microbiome and NMR-based metabolome compositional differences remained significant after comprehensive confounder analyses. Differentially abundant fecal metabolite features and predicted functional changes in PD versus controls included bioactive molecules with putative neuroprotective effects (eg, short chain fatty acids [SCFAs], ubiquinones, and salicylate) and other compounds increasingly implicated in neurodegeneration (eg, ceramides, sphingosine, and trimethylamine N-oxide). In the PD group, cognitive impairment, low body mass index (BMI), frailty, constipation, and low physical activity were associated with fecal metabolome compositional differences. Notably, low SCFAs in PD were significantly associated with poorer cognition and low BMI. Lower butyrate levels correlated with worse postural instability-gait disorder scores.
INTERPRETATION: Gut microbial function is altered in PD, characterized by differentially abundant metabolic features that provide important biological insights into gut-brain pathophysiology. Their clinical relevance further supports a role for microbial metabolites as potential targets for the development of new biomarkers and therapies in PD. ANN NEUROL 2021;89:546-559.