Background Recent epidemiologic evidence points to the health risks of prolonged sitting, that are independent of physical activity, but few papers have reported the descriptive epidemiology of sitting in population studies with adults. Purpose This paper reports the prevalence of “high sitting time” and its correlates in an international study in 20 countries. Methods Representative population samples from 20 countries were collected 2002–2004, and a question was asked on usual weekday hours spent sitting. This question was part of the International Prevalence Study, using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The sitting measure has acceptable reliability and validity. Daily sitting time was compared among countries, and by age group, gender, educational attainment, and physical activity. Results Data were available for 49,493 adults aged 18–65 years from 20 countries. The median reported sitting time was 300 minutes/day, with an interquartile range of 180–480 minutes. Countries reporting the lowest amount of sitting included Portugal, Brazil, and Colombia (medians ≤180 min/day), whereas adults in Taiwan, Norway, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, and Japan reported the highest sitting times (medians ≥360 min/day). In adjusted analyses, adults aged 40–65 years were significantly less likely to be in the highest quintile for sitting than adults aged 18–39 years (AOR=0.796), and those with postschool education had higher sitting times compared with those with high school or less education (OR=1.349). Physical activity showed an inverse relationship, with those reporting low activity on the IPAQ three times more likely to be in the highest-sitting quintile compared to those reporting high physical activity. Conclusions Median sitting time varied widely across countries. Assessing sitting time is an important new area for preventive medicine, in addition to assessing physical activity and sedentary behaviors. Population surveys that monitor lifestyle behaviors should add measures of sitting time to physical activity surveillance. Moreover, the use of objective measures to capture the spectrum of sedentary (sitting) and physical activity behaviors is encouraged, particularly in low- and middle-income countries commencing new surveillance activities.
Food environment studies have focused on ethnic and income disparities in food access. Few studies have investigated distance travelled for food and did not aim to inform the geographic scales at which to study the relationship between food environments and obesity. Further, studies have not considered neighborhood design as a predictor of food purchasing behavior.Atlanta residents (N = 4800) who completed a travel diary and reported purchasing or consuming food at one of five food locations were included in the analyses. A total of 11,995 food-related trips were reported. Using mixed modeling to adjust for clustering of trips by participants and households, person-level variables (e.g. demographics), neighborhood-level urban form measures, created in GIS, and trip characteristics (e.g. time of day, origin and destination) were investigated as correlates of distance travelled for food and frequency of grocery store and fast food outlet trips.Mean travel distance for food ranged from 4.5 miles for coffee shops to 6.3 miles for superstores. Type of store, urban form, type of tour, day of the week and ethnicity were all significantly related to distance travelled for food. Origin and destination environment, type of tour, day of week, age, gender, income, ethnicity, vehicle access and obesity status were all significantly related to visiting a grocery store. Home neighborhood environment, day of week, type of tour, gender, income, education level, age, and obesity status were all significantly related to likelihood of visiting a fastfood outlet.The present study demonstrated that people travel sizeable distances for food and this distance is related to urban. Results suggest that researchers need to employ different methods to characterize food environments than have been used to assess urban form in studies of physical activity. Food is most often purchased while traveling from locations other than home, so future studies should assess the food environment around work, school or other frequently visited destinations, as well as along frequently traveled routes.
Objectives Initial studies demonstrate the need for further investigation of how the association of built environment with physical activity and BMI may differ by sociodemographic subgroups. The aim of this study was to use a novel statistical technique to identify possible subgroups. Methods Data from the 2002 Strategies for Metro Atlanta's Regional Transportation and Air Quality (SMARTRAQ) study were analyzed to explore relationships between measures of residential density, street connectivity, land use mix, and sociodemographic characteristics of individuals in predicting walking, overweight and obesity status. Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID) analyses were used to partition the population into subgroups (N =13,065). Results Subgroups, were more likely to walk if they lived in neighborhoods with greater residential density, greater street connectivity and greater land use mix. A similar relationship was seen in men for the outcomes of obesity and overweight. Male residents of more walkable neighborhoods were less likely to be obese or overweight. In contrast, features of walkability were related to higher rates of obesity and overweight in women and non whites. Conclusions These analyses reveal that gender and ethnic subgroups display substantially different weight outcomes across different levels of walkability. In contrast, walking was consistently higher for all groups in the more walkable neighborhoods. This information can contribute to better targeting of interventions, and calls for more detailed investigation of the moderators that affect weight and physical activity across subgroups. This information supports a more efficient use of scarce resources to promote physical activity and healthy body weight.
Understanding correlates of physical activity and sedentary behaviors may contribute to fostering active lifestyles. This study aimed to identify correlates of physical activity and sedentary behaviors in leisure-time among Portuguese urban children, during school days.A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 802 students (416 boys), aged 10-12 years. A questionnaire was used to collect data of physical activity, sedentary behaviors, psychological and behavioral variables related to physical activity and sedentary behaviors. Analyses were run separately for boys and girls.Television viewing occupied the most leisure-time of boys and girls, followed by computer usage, and video game playing. These behaviors occupied 259.7 min/day for boys and 208.6 for girls (P = 0.002). Reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was 23.7 min for boys and 12.8 min for girls (P < 0.001). Perception of competence and academic achievement were related to physical activity for the boys and girls. Computer use and playing video games with friends were only related to physical activity for the boys. On the other hand, parents' physical activity participation was related with boys' and girls' physical activity. The correlates of sedentary behavior were outdoor play for the boys, age for the girls, and playing video games with friends for both.This finding suggests that interventions should be considered to replace joint video game time with joint physical activity time.
Climate change poses serious threats to public health and is exacerbating health inequities. Policy changes are essential to mitigate climate change impacts on human and planetary health. The purpose was to describe recommendations by the Policy and Advocacy Subgroup of the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) Climate Change, Behavior Change and Health Presidential Working Group (PWG). The Policy and Advocacy subgroup was comprised of experts in public health, climate policy, and health behavior change, who worked together to identify priorities and develop recommendations. We worked under the premise that building political will for climate policy action is the most urgent goal, and we recommended promotion of citizen advocacy for this purpose. Because citizen advocacy is a set of behaviors, SBM members can use behavioral science to identify and scale up interventions, working collaboratively with communities targeted for marginalization. Recommendations for SBM included establishing an organizational home for climate and health work, providing training and resources, engaging in climate advocacy as an organization, and networking with other organizations. Recommendations for a proposed SBM Climate and Health Committee, Council, or Special Interest Group included developing trainings and resources, seeking opportunities for networking and collaborations, and identifying a research agenda. Individual behavior changes are insufficient to address climate change; policy actions are needed. SBM and similar organizations can support their members to work in developing, evaluating, and scaling up advocacy interventions for action on climate policy to magnify the power of the health and medical sectors to protect planetary and human health.
Abstract PDAC is distinct by being highly desmoplastic, due to the activation and eventual infiltration of cancer associated fibroblasts (CAF) and the extracellular matrix (ECM) they produce, which is mainly composed of collagen type I (Col I). The role of fibroblasts and collagen in PDAC pathology is highly contentious, ranging from tumor stimulatory to tumor inhibitory. Using mouse models and human specimens we found that the way in which Col I affects PDAC progression, metabolism and its response to therapy is highly dependent on its cleavage by matrix metalloproteases (MMP). Whereas noncleaved Col I inhibits PDAC metabolism, inhibits human and mouse PDAC growth in mice and is correlated with improved survival after surgical resection, MMP generated Col I fragments stimulate tumor metabolism and growth and correlate with poor post-resection survival. These differential activities of cleaved and noncleaved Col I depend on its interactions with the receptor tyrosine kinase DDR1. Whereas MMP-generated Col I binds DDR1 and activates it, intact Col I induces DDR1 degradation. By activating DDR1, cleaved Col I triggers an NF-kB-p62-NRF2 signaling cascade, whose major efferent, NRF2, controls many aspects of PDAC metabolism, including macropinocytosis, aerobic glycolysis, respiration and mitochondrial biogenesis. Inhibitors of NRF2 and mitochondrial biogenesis induce regression of established PDAC in-vivo and compromise its growth and survival in-vitro. Citation Format: Michael Karin, Hua Su. Collagen cleavage controls PDAC metabolism and malignancy via a DDR1-NRF2 cascade and mitochondrial biogenesis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer; 2022 Sep 13-16; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(22 Suppl):Abstract nr IA014.
The 1991 paper, “Physical Education's Role in Public Health” described the importance of physical education in addressing public health problems. On its 20th anniversary, this article reviews accomplishments in improving the health impact of physical education and identifies areas lacking progress. Major accomplishments include development of evidence-based programs, documentation of health and academic benefits of physical education, and acceptance of physical education as a public health resource. Additional work is needed to evaluate the uptake of evidence-based programs, improve national surveillance of physical education quantity and quality, establish stronger policies supporting active physical education, and achieve wide acceptance of public health goals within the physical education field. These opportunities constitute an agenda for actualizing the promise of Health-Optimizing Physical Education before the next 20-year anniversary.
