American journal of preventive medicine
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The focus of the PhenX (Phenotypes and eXposures) Toolkit is to provide researchers whose expertise lies outside a particular area with key measures identified by experts for uniform use in large-scale genetic studies and other extensive epidemiologic efforts going forward. The current paper specifically addresses the PhenX Toolkit research domain of physical activity and physical fitness (PA/PF), which are often associated with health outcomes. A Working Group (WG) of content experts completed a 6-month consensus process in which they identified a set of 14 high-priority, low-burden, and scientifically supported measures. ⋯ Measures from the PA/PF domain and 20 other domains are publicly available and found at the PhenX Toolkit website, www.phenxtoolkit.org. The use of common measures and protocols across large studies enhances the capacity to combine or compare data across studies, benefiting both PA/PF experts and non-experts. Use of these common measures by the research community should increase statistical power and enhance the ability to answer scientific questions that previously might have gone unanswered.
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Identifying neighborhood environment attributes related to childhood obesity can inform environmental changes for obesity prevention. ⋯ Findings support the proposed GIS-based definitions of obesogenic neighborhoods for children and parents that consider both physical activity and nutrition environment features.