Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Feb 2017
Green and lean: Is neighborhood park and playground availability associated with youth obesity? Variations by gender, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity.
Parks and park features are important for promoting physical activity and healthy weight, especially for low-income and racial/ethnic minority youth who have disproportionately high obesity rates. This study 1) examined associations between neighborhood park and playground availability and youth obesity, and 2) assessed whether these associations were moderated by youth race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES). In 2013, objectively measured height and weight were collected for all 3rd-5th grade youth (n=13.469) in a southeastern US county to determine body mass index (BMI) percentiles. ⋯ For girls, the number of parks and playgrounds were significantly associated with lower BMI (b=-2.2, b=-1.1, p<0.05, respectively) and race/ethnicity and SES moderated associations between playground availability and BMI percentile. Higher playground availability was associated with lower BMI percentile for White and high-SES girls but higher BMI percentile for African American and low-SES girls. Considerable variation was detected in associations between park and playground availability and youth obesity by SES and race/ethnicity, highlighting the importance of studying the intersection of these characteristics when exploring associations between built environment features and obesity.
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Preventive medicine · Feb 2017
Health associations with meeting new 24-hour movement guidelines for Canadian children and youth.
The study objective was to examine whether meeting the new Canadian 24-hour movement guidelines was associated with health indicators in a representative sample of Canadian children and youth. Cross-sectional findings are based on 4157 (1239 fasting subsample) children and youth aged 6-17years from cycles 1-3 of the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS). Sleep and screen time were subjectively measured while moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) was accelerometer-determined. ⋯ Finally, compared to meeting all three recommendations, meeting no recommendations was associated with higher triglycerides and lower HDL-cholesterol (Ptrend<0.05). Collectively, meeting more recommendations within the 24-hour movement guidelines was associated with better overall health. Since a small proportion (17%) of this representative sample was meeting the overall guidelines, efforts to promote adoption are needed.
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Preventive medicine · Feb 2017
Shared use agreements between municipalities and public schools in the United States, 2014.
Shared use agreements allow public use of school facilities during non-school hours. Such agreements can cover outdoor facilities alone or may be more comprehensive by also including indoor facilities. Our aim was to: 1) estimate the prevalence of shared use agreements and facility types covered among U. ⋯ Significant differences in prevalence existed by population size, rural/urban status, poverty prevalence, median education level, and census region; however, after adjustment for other municipality characteristics significant differences remained only by population size, median education level, and census region. Among municipalities with a shared use agreement, 59.6% covered both outdoor and indoor facilities, 5.5% covered indoor facilities only, and 34.9% covered outdoor facilities only. Opportunities exist to expand the use of shared use agreements particularly in municipalities with small populations, lower education levels, and in the South, and to promote more comprehensive shared use agreements that include both indoor and outdoor facilities.
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Preventive medicine · Feb 2017
Impact of a park-based afterschool program replicated over five years on modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors.
Major challenges to the current childhood obesity epidemic include availability of prevention and/or treatment programs that are affordable and acc5essible. We evaluated the change in several modifiable, obesity-related cardiovascular disease risk factors after participation in Fit2Play™, a structured afterschool program housed in a large urban county parks system. Children ages 6-14 who participated in Fit2Play™ in one of 34 parks for one school year during a five-year period (2010-2015) had height, weight, 4-site skinfold thicknesses, systolic/diastolic blood pressure (SBP/DBP), fitness tests, and a health/wellness behavior/knowledge test collected at the beginning and end of the school year. ⋯ Department of Health and Human Services, 2016) both the obese and overweight groups significantly decreased their mean body mass index (BMI) percentile (98th to 95th percentile, p<0.001; 91st percentile to 89th percentile, p<0.001, respectively); (Ogden et al. 2015) the normal weight group maintained a healthy BMI percentile (54.6th); (Ogden et al., 2014) mean SBP and DBP significantly decreased (3.6 percentile and 6 percentile points, respectively, p<0.001 for both). Mean number of sit-ups, push-ups, 400meter run time, and nutrition knowledge scores improved in all participants (p<0.001 for all). These findings suggest that parks-based afterschool health/wellness programs can be a low-cost, high value tool in both preventing and treating the current childhood obesity epidemic and among high-risk groups in particular.