1,721,051 research outputs found
Obesity: epidemics or crisis worldwide?
Full text linkThe rapid increase in the level of obesity and overweight worldwide is
recognized as a major health problem: obesity poses a major risk for serious dietrelated
diseases, including diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, hypertension,
stroke and cancer; therefore, it increases the risk of premature death.[1] In
particular, abdominal obesity - an increased amount of intra-abdominal fat - has
been associated with a number of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors,
CVD and all-cause mortality [2]. Recent research demonstrated that high BMI
values are associated with increased sympathetic activity, which results in
decreased Heart Rate Variability (HRV). [3]
Obesity can also be related to psychiatric disorders. [4,5] Some research
suggests that depression and anxiety might lead to obesity through the adoption
of an inactive lifestyle; however, the opposite direction is also possible. [6]
The rising epidemic reflects the profound changes in society and in
behavioural patterns of communities over recent decades. While genes are
important in determining a person's susceptibility to weight gain, energy
balance is determined by calorie intake and physical activity [7]. Economic
growth, modernization, urbanization and globalization of food markets are just
some of the forces thought to underlie the obesity trend. Based on the existing
prevalence, trend data and the epidemiological evidence linking obesity with
health conditions, it is reasonable to describe obesity as a public health crisis
that severely impairs the quality of life, adds to national health care budgets. [8
Good quality and available urban green spaces as good quality, health and wellness for human life
No full text[No abstract available
In salute in Sapienza
Full text linkBackground and objective:
The growing impact of chronic degenerative pathologies (such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease) requires and pushes towards the development of new preventive strategies to reduce the incidence and prevalence of these diseases.
Lifestyle changes, especially related to the Mediterranean Diet (MD), have the potential to modify disease outcomes and ultimately costs related to their management.
The Mediterranean dietary pattern (MDP) is a useful tool in the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases, and its adoption has significantly beneficial public health implications. The rise in chronic diseases, stresses the need to retain a healthy workforce.
Many chronic diseases are linked to unhealthy lifestyles and stress. Fortunately, in many cases the severity chronic disease can be altered and improved by appropriate nutrition, increased physical activity, smoking cessation and reduced alcohol consumption.
Unfortunately, high level of stress and unhealthy lifestyles are very common among university employees and students.
This calls for appropriate action focusing on improving and maintaining university employees and students’ health.
Settings such as the workplace and the university, in particular, have been established as one of the priority settings for health promotion into the 21st century, as they can reach a great range of people of diverse backgrounds.
Therefore, the proposed project examined university employees’ and students’ health and well-being, with the overall aim to improve and promote health in “Sapienza” University of Rome.
Material and methods:
Phase 1: The first part of the project followed a cross-sectional design. In order to identify areas of health-promotion and prevention, employee and student health were assessed through a self-administered questionnaire. Both groups participated in survey based on existing and validated instruments: Socio-demographic factors; Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ); Questionnaire on alcohol consumption (Audit c); Questionnaire on smoking habit and tobacco consumption (e.g. Fagerström Test); Questionnaire for the evaluation of physical activity (IPAQ); Questionnaire on the health related quality of life (SF-12).
The project provides the establishment of a pilot center of preventive medicine and health care and it was created an ad hoc website dedicated to these issues. It could be visualized on the following link: https://dspmi.uniroma1.it/strutture/progetto-preveniamo
In progress:
Phase 2: based on the results of the first part target-oriented workplace and university health promotion efforts will be developed.
Phase 3: it will involve the evaluation and monitoring of the project. Evaluation and monitoring is an important in ensuring the ongoing development of the project as well as safeguarding that goals, objectives and strategies are being met. Evaluation will take place through questionnaires.
Results:
On 760 University people, the mean score was 5 (SD 1.71; range:0-10).
The majority of the students/employees (n.632; 83.2%) showed a score < 6.99, indicating that they do not respect the rules of the MD; on the contrary, only 128 (16.8%) exceeded a score of 7, and therefore adhered in varying degrees. In detail, no one reached the maximum score of 12 and no one of 11. The maximum score gained was 10 for only 2 people (0.3%).
By binary logistic regression, resulted that the likelihood of adhering to healthy eating habits increase in older people and to be an employee could reduce the likelihood of adhering to the Mediterranean dietary pattern.
About 23.1% declared to smoke cigarettes, 52.2% in the last 7 days never performed vigorous physical activities and 21.2% never performed moderate physical activities. A percentage of 45% of the sample in the last 7 days walked for at least 10 minutes every day. Only 5.5% of the sample answered “excellent” to the question on own health perception, 29.7% declared “very good”, 50.1% “good”, 13.3% “not very good”, 1.3% poor. Most of the sample (n. 256; 33.7%) consumes alcoholic beverages 2-4 times a week and for n.151 (19.9%) was happened to drink more than six glasses once a month.
Conclusions
This study is a good starting point for carrying out larger study, with repeated health promotion interventions over time and long-term efficacy evaluation
Cost and cost-effectiveness of the mediterranean diet: Results of a systematic review
No full textThe growing impact of chronic degenerative pathologies (such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease) requires and pushes towards the development of new preventive strategies to reduce the incidence and prevalence of these diseases. Lifestyle changes, especially related to the Mediterranean diet, have the potential to modify disease outcomes and ultimately costs related to their management. The objective of the study was to perform a systematic review of the scientific literature, to gauge the economic performance and the cost-effectiveness of the adherence to the Mediterranean diet as a prevention strategy against degenerative pathologies. We investigated the monetary costs of adopting Mediterranean dietary patterns by determining cost differences between low and high adherence. Research was conducted using the PubMed and Scopus databases. Eight articles met the pre-determined inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Quality assessment and data extraction was performed. The adherence to the Mediterranean diet has been extensively reported to be associated with a favorable health outcome and a better quality of life. The implementation of a Mediterranean dietary pattern may lead to the prevention of degenerative pathologies and to an improvement in life expectancy, a net gain in health and a reduction in total lifetime costs
Smoking Prevention and Cessation
No full textTobacco smoking is considered the big killer and one of the most avoidable risk factors for many human pathologies. Reducing and controlling tobacco smoking should be a primary aim for a certain population, in order to reduce harms to health caused by this important risk factor, and it seems urgent to adopt intervention tools involved in responsibility fields such as health care, education, politics, economy and media. Among health professionals the prevalence of tobacco smoke is extremely high, more than other professional categories, and this could be partly attributed to a low weight that tobacco smoking has in the medical curriculum of future physicians, that will contribute in a determinant way to healthy choices of their patients. In order to realise that, the medical students need to be adequately trained with the aim of acquire competences and skills that help patients to prevent tobacco smoking and to increase smoking cessation, through a programme oriented to specific issue related to the potential harm of tobacco products. A survey conducted by Ferry et al. in the American Schools of Medicine underlined the lack of courses related to tobacco smoking. Moreover, a randomised trial carried out by Cummings et al., the Schools of Medicine result as the ideal setting to teach smoking cessation techniques to health professionals. The National Cancer Institute in 1992 recommended that primary and secondary prevention interventions on tobacco smoking will become mandatory in the curriculum of Medical USA students. However, until now this recommendation still is far from being fully implemented. The aim of the book is to give an overview on the epidemiology of tobacco smoking among different settings and populations, but with a special focus on health professionals and medicals students, and to show available examples of smoking prevention and cessation training in different settings
Hepatitis B immunization in health care workers: Needs and opportunities
No full text[No abstract available
Do the quality of the trials and the year of publication affect the efficacy of intervention to improve seasonal influenza vaccination among healthcare workers? Results of a systematic review
No full textIntroduction: Despite longstanding recommendations by public-health authorities vaccination coverage in health care workers worldwide are poor. The aim of this study is to conduct a systematic review of the trials conducted to increase seasonal influenza vaccination rates among health care workers. Results: 10 articles met the pre-determined criteria. For all article the score calculation was performed. Discussion: The combination of an educational and a promotional element appared the most effective in augmenting the influenza vaccination coverage among health care workers. But some cases, the intervention did not contribute to increasing the vaccination rates among health care workers. In any case, the quality of controlled trials plays an important role in the results obtained by carrying out a specific intervention and contributed to obtaining this debatable results. Materials and Methods: Research was conducted using Scopus and PubMed database. We selected all clinical trials to perform the meta-analyses
Cardiovascular Diseases Risk Factors in oil and gas workers: a ten years observational retrospective cohort
Full text linkThe study aim was to examine the trend of major clinical biochemistry factors associated with cardiovascular diseases and dyslipidemia onset over a 10-year period (2000-2010) in Oil and Gas workers
Health risks associated with urban environmental pollution in Europe: results of the HEREPLUS multicentre study in Rome (Italy)
No full textUrban air pollution is known to cause numerous health problems. The HEREPLUS project aims to evaluate the association between environmental air pollution and health and to provide guidelines for the management and organization of the urban environment. Risk maps were developed by georeferentiation, using hospitalization data and concentration levels of ozone and pollution matter. Data for four European cities involved in the project (Rome, Madrid, Dresden, and Athens) were analysed for the period 2003-2004. In this article, we report results for Rome only. Study findings demonstrated that the green area in a city reduces pollution in a city reduces pollution levels in the atmosphere, thus reducing health risks
[Playground marking for contrasting sedentary lifestyle: systematic literature review]
No full textBackground: promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviour are public health priorities aimed at ensuring health and well-being at all stages of life. Physical activity should be encouraged from early childhood, with play being a key component, including interactive 'floor-based' activities in safe spaces. The introduction of colourful markings in playgrounds and public spaces (such as 'playground markings') may offer a cost-effective and feasible way to promote physical activity, also providing structured opportunities for teachers to support motor skill development. Objectives: to provide evidence of the benefits of playground markings interventions in schools on increasing physical activity levels and enhancing the physical and psychological well-being in pre-school and school-aged children. Design: a systematic literature search was conducted in Cochrane Library, MedLine, Embase, PsycInfo, and Epistemonikos databases up to 13.02.2024. The primary focus was to identify systematic reviews (SRs) or, in their absence, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomized controlled trials (NRCTs). Study quality was assessed using validated tools according to study design, and meta-analyses were conducted where feasible. The GRADE approach was used to evaluate the certainty of evidence and results were presented in Summary of Findings (SoF) tables. Studies not included in the meta-analyses due to data unavailability or heterogeneity in outcome measures or interventions were narratively reported. Setting and participants: students aged 3 to 10 years attending preschool and primary school. Main outcome measures: increased physical activity (including light, moderate vigorous and reduction of sedentary lifestyle); reduced obesity, overweight, Body Mass Index; well-being (quality of life, psychological aspect); cognitive level; school performance. Results: a total of 557 records were screened and 35 potentially eligible full-text assessed publications. The review included 14 publications corresponding to 11 studies: 6 RCTs and 5 NRCTs. No systematic reviews were included. Meta-analyses were conducted using data from 2 RCTs, examining outcomes related to reduced sedentary behaviour and increased light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity. No statistically significant differences between comparison groups. The certainty of evidence was very low for all outcomes. Four of the 9 studies that were not included in the meta-analysis were RCT studies and 5 non-randomized studies reported heterogeneous results with respect to the physical activity outcome with some outcomes showing an effect in favour of the intervention while others reported no effect. Conclusions: multi-coloured playground markings consist of a low-cost approach to promote physical activity in children. However, the results reported by the few available studies in both pre-school and school-age children are inconclusive
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