1,720,974 research outputs found
Trend della prevalenza di sovrappeso e obesità nei bambini toscani in età scolare dal 2002 al 2016 [Trends of overweight and obesity prevalence among schoolchildren in Tuscany Region (Central Italy), period 2002-2016]
No full textOBIETTIVI: stimare la prevalenza e la tendenza nel tempo di sovrappeso (obesità inclusa) e obesità in Toscana nei bambini nel periodo dal 2002 al 2016.
DISEGNO: studio trasversale a sette punti temporali (Progetto di sorveglianza nutrizionale in Toscana condotto negli anni 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 e 2016); il peso e l’altezza dei bambini sono stati misurati direttamente da personale sanitario appositamente formato; l’indice di massa corporea è stato calcolato con i valori soglia specifici per l’età evolutiva sia dell’International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) sia dell’Organizzazione mondiale della sanità (OMS).
SETTING E PARTECIPANTI: campione rappresentativo di bambini di terza elementare della Regione Toscana (n. 10.155) di età compresa tra 8 e 9 anni (5.258 maschi e 4.897 femmine).
RISULTATI: per quanto riguarda la stima del livello di prevalenza assoluta di sovrappeso, è stata osservata una discrepanza tra i due criteri utilizzati nella classificazione; infatti, la prevalenza di sovrappeso secondo i criteri dell’IOTF risulta inferiore rispetto al calcolo secondo i criteri dell’OMS. In tutte le rilevazioni, i ragazzi hanno mostrato una prevalenza di sovrappeso (obesità compresa) maggiore rispetto alle ragazze. L’analisi del trend ha messo in evidenza una significativa diminuzione della prevalenza del sovrappeso (obesità compresa) e dell’obesità nei bambini toscani dal 2002 al 2016 solo con i criteri dell’IOTF (sovrappeso obesità compresa: 32,0% vs. 28,1%; p <0,001 – obesità: 10% vs. 5,9%; p <0,001).
CONCLUSIONI: il presente studio è il primo che mostra una significativa diminuzione dell’obesità infantile e del sovrappeso negli ultimi 14 anni in una regione italiana. Tale riduzione è con probabilità il risultato di azioni regionali e locali che sono state attuate in molti settori sociali e istituzionali. Tuttavia, occorre ancora molto impegno per riuscire a ridurre ulteriormente la prevalenza dell’obesità e del sovrappeso infantili.OBJECTIVES: to examine the prevalence and time trends in childhood overweight (including obesity) and obesity among children dwelling in Tuscany Region (Central Italy) in the period 2002-2016.
DESIGN: cross-sectional study at seven points (Tuscan Nutritional Surveillance System conducted in the years 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016); height and weight of the subjects are directly measured by trained staff; body mass index was assessed by means of the International Obesity Task Force and of the World Health Organization cut-offs.
SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: representative sample of children dwelling in Tuscany Region (No. 10,155) aged between 8 and 9 years (5,258 boys and 4,897 girls).
RESULTS: regarding the estimation of the absolute prevalence level of childhood overweight, a discrepancy was observed between the two criteria. In all surveys, more boys than girls were overweight (or obese). Trend analysis showed a significant decrease in the prevalence of overweight (including obesity) and obesity in Tuscan children in the period 2002-2016 (32.0% vs. 28.1%; p <0.001) and of 10.0% vs. 5.9% (p <0.001) for obesity.
CONCLUSIONS: the present study is the first report from an Italian region showing a significant decrease in childhood obesity and overweight in the last 14 years. This reduction is probably a result of regional and local actions that were performed in many areas of society. However, efforts should be made to further reduce prevalence of childhood obesity and overweight
Medicine use and recurrent complaints among 15-years-old adolescents in Tuscany
No full textBackground. The use of medicines to treat common complaints, such as headache, stomachache, difficulty in getting to sleep and nervousness, is widespread among adolescents, and is increasing. The aim of this survey was to estimate the prevalence of recurrent specific complaints among 15-year-old adolescents in Tuscany over three years (2006, 2010 and 2014) and that of medicine use to treat these complaints among boys and girls. Methods. The present study is based on data from the Tuscan HBSC studies at three time points (2006, 2010 and 2014), which involved 2830 adolescents, aged 15 years old (1395 boys and 1435 girls). Results. Overall, the data confirm that adolescents who suffer from recurrent complaints are more likely to use medicines. The prevalence rates of all complaints were higher in girls than in boys in the three years considered. Over the whole period, headache, stomachache and difficulty in getting to sleep increased in girls, while boys displayed significant decrease in nervousness and stomachache. Conclusion. Our findings underline the fact that the use of medicines in adolescence is a public health concern and constitutes an emerging issue that needs greater attention and investigation on the part of scientific research
How does BMI correlate with menarche onset? Evidence from the Italian HBSC cross-sectional study
Get PDFBackgroundMenarche is an important period in a female's life; its time of onset may depend on various factors and could correlate with the development of diseases in adulthood. Our study aims to investigate the relationship between body mass index and age at onset of menarche;MethodsWe used a unique standardized national dataset on adolescent girls participating in the Italian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study. Two independent nationally representative survey datasets: one on 15-year-olds (n = 6505, year 2017/2018) and one on 11-year-olds (n = 6548, year 2013/2014) were analysed. The survey instrument was the self-report questionnaire. Median age at menarche and 95% confidence intervals were estimated through Kaplan-Meier analysis. Hierarchical models assessed the relationship between BMI and age at menarche;ResultsRegion-level median age at menarche ranged between 12 years/5 months and 13 years/4 months. Region-level prevalence of overweight among 15-year-old girls ranged between 6% and 24%. Age at menarche was inversely associated with individual BMI (unstandardized regression coefficient beta=-0.81; 95% CI, -0.92 to -0.70). Individual-level and class-level measures of BMI accounted for 215.2% of the region-level variance in age at menarche;ConclusionsThe results show that girls who were overweight during childhood went through early puberty. Further investigation needs to assess a possible cause-effect relationship
Factors associated with unhealthy behaviours and health outcomes: a cross-sectional study among tuscan adolescents (Italy)
No full textBackground: We aimed to determine the extent to which three core variables (school environment, peer group and family affluence) were associated with unhealthy behaviours and health outcomes among Tuscan adolescents. The unhealthy behaviours considered were smoking, alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyle and irregular breakfast consumption; health outcomes were classified as self-reported health, multiple health complaints and life satisfaction. School environment was measured in terms of liking school, school pressure, academic achievement and classmate support; peer groups were evaluated in terms of the number of peers and frequency of peer contact. Family affluence was measured on a socioeconomic scale.MethodsData were taken from the Tuscan 2009/10 survey of ¿Health Behaviour in School-aged Children¿, a WHO cross-national survey. A binary logistic multiple regression (95% confidence intervals) was implemented.ResultsThe total sample comprised 3291 school students: 1135 11-year-olds, 1255 13-year-olds and 901 15-year-olds. Peer group and school environment were associated with unhealthy behaviours such as smoking, alcohol consumption and sedentary lifestyle. Family affluence proved to have less impact on unhealthy behaviours, except in the case of adolescents living in low-income families. Poor health outcomes were directly related to a negative school environment. Regarding the influence of family affluence, the results showed higher odds of life dissatisfaction and poor self-reported health status in medium-income families, while low-income families had higher odds only with regard to life dissatisfaction. A consistent pattern of gender differences was found in terms of both unhealthy behaviours and health outcomes.ConclusionsUnhealthy behaviours are strongly related to the school environment and peer group. A negative school environment proved to have the strongest relation with poor health outcomes
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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