Public Health Res Pract
October 2024
Objectives: The Australian Government, through the National Obesity Strategy 2022-2032, has set an aspirational goal of reducing the prevalence of childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity by 5% by 2030 (from 25% to 20%). Our objective was to quantify the long-term economic benefits of achieving this goal.
Methods: Using a microsimulation model and a synthetic cohort of Australian children and adolescents aged 4-17 years, we estimated the excess per capita lifetime costs of overweight and obesity.
Establishing healthy feeding habits during infancy is crucial for optimal growth. However, certain parental feeding and cultural practices might hinder the development of children's healthy eating behaviours. This research explored responsive feeding practices among migrant mothers in Australia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Depression and eating disorders are heightened for adolescents with obesity. Clinical reviews alongside self-report questionnaires are important to ensure appropriate intervention.
Objective: To evaluate changes in self-report symptoms of depression, eating disorders, and binge eating in adolescents with obesity during the Fast Track to Health trial.
Importance: Adolescent obesity requires effective and accessible treatment. Intensive dietary interventions have the potential to be used as adjunctive therapy for behavioral weight management.
Objective: To examine the effectiveness of 2 diet therapies, delivered as part of an intensive behavioral weight management intervention, in adolescents with metabolic complications associated with obesity.
Background: Over the past two decades, there has been an increase of immigrants in Australia. Despite this, the availability of culturally responsive resources and services that cater to their needs remains insufficient.
Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the resources used and trusted by Mongolian- and Arabic-speaking migrant mothers in Australia for child health information and examine how they navigate and overcome challenges they encounter accessing this information.
Polyolefins exhibit robust mechanical and chemical properties and can be applied in the medical field, e.g. for the manufacturing of dentures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Significance: Australia has a high level of cultural and linguistic diversity, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Children from specific cultural and ethnic groups may be at greater risk of overweight and obesity and may bear the additional risk of socioeconomic disadvantage. Our aim was to identify differences in body-mass index z-score (zBMI) by: (1) Cultural and ethnic groups and; (2) Socioeconomic position (SEP), during childhood and adolescence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To examine the associations of pregnant women's dietary and sedentary behaviours with their children's birth weight.
Design: Secondary data analysis was conducted using data from a randomised controlled trial, Communicating Healthy Beginnings Advice by Telephone, conducted in Australia. Information on mothers' socio-demographics, dietary and sedentary behaviours during pregnancy was collected by telephone survey at the third trimester.
Background: Promoting and supporting breastfeeding is an important public health intervention with multiple benefits for both infants and mothers. Even modest increases in the prevalence and duration of breastfeeding could significantly reduce healthcare costs and improve maternal and child health outcomes. However, widespread adoption of breastfeeding recommendations remains poor in most settings, which contributes to widening health and social inequalities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChildren from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds experience higher rates of obesity and have poorer outcomes in obesity prevention studies. Interventions tailored to specific cultural groups may be limited within linguistically diverse, multicultural communities, and thus, alternative approaches to childhood obesity prevention in these communities are needed. This study aims to describe communication strategies used in interventions targeting prevention of obesity/obesity-related behaviors, among children 0-5 years, from linguistically diverse communities, and assess their effectiveness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Parents' play a proactive role in seeking health information to ensure optimal growth and development for their children. To date, very little is known about the differences between information seeking behaviour for child health and engagement with resources between culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and non-CALD parents.
Objective: To investigate the differences in resources used and trusted for information related to child health behaviours and engagement with online features among CALD and non-CALD respondents in Australia.
Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol
February 2024
Background: Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months followed by ongoing breastfeeding to 12 months and beyond is associated with multiple benefits for both mother and child. Maternal smoking is associated with a reduction in breastfeeding. Little is known about the effect of partner smoking on breastfeeding.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Eating Disorders In weight-related Therapy (EDIT) Collaboration brings together data from randomised controlled trials of behavioural weight management interventions to identify individual participant risk factors and intervention strategies that contribute to eating disorder risk. We present a protocol for a systematic review and individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis which aims to identify participants at risk of developing eating disorders, or related symptoms, during or after weight management interventions conducted in adolescents or adults with overweight or obesity. We systematically searched four databases up to March 2022 and clinical trials registries to May 2022 to identify randomised controlled trials of weight management interventions conducted in adolescents or adults with overweight or obesity that measured eating disorder risk at pre- and post-intervention or follow-up.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMulti-factor experiments suggest that interactions among environmental changes commonly influence biodiversity and community composition. However, most field experiments manipulate only single factors. Soil food webs are critical to ecosystem health and may be particularly sensitive to interactions among environmental changes that include soil warming, eutrophication, and altered precipitation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe prevalence of child and adolescent obesity has plateaued at high levels in most high-income countries and is increasing in many low-income and middle-income countries. Obesity arises when a mix of genetic and epigenetic factors, behavioural risk patterns and broader environmental and sociocultural influences affect the two body weight regulation systems: energy homeostasis, including leptin and gastrointestinal tract signals, operating predominantly at an unconscious level, and cognitive-emotional control that is regulated by higher brain centres, operating at a conscious level. Health-related quality of life is reduced in those with obesity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: Social media platforms are being increasingly used to support participant recruitment into paediatric health-related research. This study aimed to develop a multi-phase approach for using social media as a recruitment strategy for paediatric research studies.
Methods: The process was informed by the authors' prior experiences recruiting for paediatric obesity-related research studies, expertise in social media marketing and digital participant/ patient recruitment.
Background/objectives: Few quality intervention studies have assessed whether a combined telephone and short message service (SMS) intervention to mothers is effective in reducing BMI and obesity risk behaviors of children at 3 years of age. This study aimed to assess effectiveness of telephone and SMS support in reducing children's body mass index (BMI) and obesity risk behaviors.
Subjects/methods: A randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 662 women of 2-year-old children (with the proportion of overweight and obesity being similar to the general population) was conducted in Sydney, Australia, March 2019-October 2020.
Background/objectives: Childhood overweight and obesity are influenced by a range of prenatal and postnatal factors. Few studies have explored the integrative pathways linking these factors and childhood overweight. This study aimed to elucidate the integrative pathways through which maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), infant birth weight, breastfeeding duration, and rapid weight gain (RWG) during infancy are associated with overweight outcomes in early childhood from ages 3 to 5 years.
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