Effects of regular sport activities on stress level in sporting and non-sporting university students.

Background: Regular sport has favourable influence on the physical and mental state. Our aim was to analyse the relationship between regular sport activities, body parameters, cortisol level, perceived stress and the frequency of psychosomatic symptoms in male and female university students.

Methods: Subjects were university students (N = 200).

The Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study: how important is physical activity in youth for later health? (ELS 33).

Background: Three important results came from the Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study (AGAHLS). This study followed three birth cohorts (1962, 1963 and 1964) of boys and girls in the Amsterdam region in the Netherlands. The follow-up period was 25 years, with 10 measurements from age 12 to 42 years.

Pediatric Exercise Testing: Value and Implications of Peak Oxygen Uptake.

Peak oxygen uptake (peak V ˙ O 2 ) measured by clinical exercise testing is the benchmark for aerobic fitness. Aerobic fitness, estimated from maximal treadmill exercise, is a predictor of mortality in adults. Peak V ˙ O 2 was shown to predict longevity in patients aged 7-35 years with cystic fibrosis over 25 years ago.

The Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy: Development of a Model of Children's Capacity for a Healthy, Active Lifestyle Through a Delphi Process.

Background: The Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy (CAPL) was conceptualized as a tool to monitor children's physical literacy. The original model (fitness, activity behavior, knowledge, motor skill) required revision and relative weights for calculating/interpreting scores were required.

Methods: Nineteen childhood physical activity/fitness experts completed a 3-round Delphi process.

Physical inactivity of adults and 1-year health care expenditures in Brazil.

Objectives: To analyze the association between physical inactivity in different domains and direct public healthcare expenditures in adults and to identify whether the clustering of physical inactivity in different domains would contribute to increased public healthcare.

Methods: The sample composed of 963 adults randomly selected in a middle-size Brazilian city. Annual healthcare expenditure was estimated including all items registered in the medical records in the last 12 months prior to the interview.

The challenges of underweight and overweight in South African children: are we winning or losing the battle? A systematic review.

Underweight and overweight are adverse effects of malnutrition and both are associated with negative health consequences in children and adolescents. In South Africa, the burden of economic and social disparity coexists with malnutrition in children. The purpose of this study was to review available South Africa studies regarding the comprehensive summary of prevalence of underweight and overweight and evaluates government policies in addressing undernutrition and overnutrition in South African children and adolescents.

The clinical translation gap in child health exercise research: a call for disruptive innovation.

In children, levels of play, physical activity, and fitness are key indicators of health and disease and closely tied to optimal growth and development. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) provides clinicians with biomarkers of disease and effectiveness of therapy, and researchers with novel insights into fundamental biological mechanisms reflecting an integrated physiological response that is hidden when the child is at rest. Yet the growth of clinical trials utilizing CPET in pediatrics remains stunted despite the current emphasis on preventative medicine and the growing recognition that therapies used in children should be clinically tested in children.

Changes in aerobic fitness in boys and girls over a period of 25 years: data from the Amsterdam Growth And Health Longitudinal Study revisited and extended.

In the Amsterdam Growth And Health Longitudinal Study (AGAHLS), a group of approximately 650 12- to 14-year-old boys and girls was followed in their growth, and development of their health their lifestyle including diet, physical activity and smoking. One of the main interests was the change in their aerobic fitness. From 12 to 36 years of age in total, eight repeated measurements were performed to measure peak oxygen uptake (peak VO2).

Advertisement and knowledge of tobacco products among Ellisras rural children aged 11 to 18 years: Ellisras Longitudinal study.

Background: Tobacco products use is the leading cause of chronic diseases morbidity and mortality. This study explores an exposure to tobacco advertisements factors and knowledge, an association with snuff/pipe usage and cigarette smoking among Ellisras rural children aged between 11 to 18 years.

Methods: A total of 1654 subjects (854 boys and 800 girls) who were part of the Ellisras Longitudinal Study completed the questionnaire.

Cohort profile: the Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study.

The Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study (AGHLS) is a unique, multidisciplinary cohort study that was initially set up to examine growth and health among teenagers. Throughout the years, the AGHLS has aimed to answer research questions dealing with the relationships between the (natural) development of anthropometry, lifestyle and health from adolescence into adulthood. The AGHLS specifically focuses on anthropometrics, physical activity and fitness, cardiovascular disease risk, lifestyle, musculoskeletal health, psychological health and well-being.

Current smoking behaviour among rural South African children: Ellisras Longitudinal Study.

Background: The use of tobacco products is the major cause of chronic diseases morbidity and mortality. Most smokers start the smoking habits from childhood and adolescent stages.

Method: This was a cross-sectional study.

Development and tracking of central patterns of subcutaneous fat of rural South African youth: Ellisras longitudinal study.

Background: Individuals grow and accumulate central patterns of body fat into the diseases they will suffer from as older adults. The need to elicit the development and tracking of central patterns of body fat from younger age into adolescent remains to be explored.

Method: Skinfolds measurements were done according to the standard procedures in the Ellisras Longitudinal Growth and Health Study.

The impact of aerobic fitness on functioning in chronic back pain.

Despite lack of convincing evidence that reduced aerobic fitness is associated with chronic back pain (CBP), exercise programs are regarded as being effective for persons with non-specific CBP. It is unsure whether gain in aerobic fitness following intervention is associated with functioning improvement in persons with CBP. The objective of this prospective cohort study was to study the impact of aerobic fitness on functioning in persons with CBP, at baseline and following 3-week intensive interdisciplinary intervention.

Adolescent skinfold thickness is a better predictor of high body fatness in adults than is body mass index: the Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study.

Background: Body mass index (BMI) during adolescence is predictive of BMI at adult age. However, BMI cannot distinguish between lean and fat body mass. Skinfold thickness may be a better predictor of body fatness.

Longitudinal relationships between nutritional status, body composition, and physical fitness in rural children of South Africa: The Ellisras longitudinal study.

The objective of this study was to investigate the development and tracking of nutritional status, body composition and physical fitness, and the longitudinal relationship of changes in nutritional status, and body composition with changes in physical fitness over a 1-year period of follow-up. Studied were 380 boys and 322 girls aged 7-14 years from the Ellisras Longitudinal Study. Boys and girls were divided into two groups of pre-adolescence (<11 years) and adolescence (>10 years).

Functioning description according to the icf model in chronic back pain: disablement appears even more complex with decreasing symptom-specificity.

Objective: To determine the significance of degree of symptom-specificity in the disablement condition in chronic back pain.

Design: Cross-sectional design.

Subjects: All inhabitants of a restricted geographical area of Norway, who had had 8 weeks of sick-leave due to back pain during a 2-year period, were included in this study.

Association between an IGF-I gene polymorphism and body fatness: differences between generations.

Objective: A polymorphism near the promoter region of the IGF-I gene has been associated with serum IGF-I levels, body height and birth weight. In this study, we investigated whether this polymorphism is associated with body composition in young healthy subjects in two cohorts of different generations.

Design: Observational study with repeated measurements.

A birth-weight questionnaire indicated that life style modifies the birth weight and metabolic syndrome relationship at age 36.

Objective: Investigating the relationship between birth weight and the metabolic syndrome and the modifying effects of lifestyle in adults (36.5 years).

Study Design And Setting: 273 subjects completed a birth-weight questionnaire; waist circumference, HDL and triglyceride concentrations, blood pressure and HbA1c, physical activity and fitness, smoking status and dietary intake were measured.

In a prospective study in young people, associations between changes in smoking behavior and risk factors for cardiovascular disease were complex.

Objective: This study investigates how voluntary changes in tobacco consumption are related to changes in biological risk factors for cardiovascular disease in 21- to 36-year-old men and women.

Study Design And Setting: Data of the Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study (AGAHLS) were used to study the association between voluntary changes in tobacco consumption and changes in biological risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) during 4-6 years of follow-up in 165 men and 195 women aged 21-36 years. We used multiple linear regression analyses with corrections for age and changes in other lifestyles.

An IGF-I promoter polymorphism modifies the relationships between birth weight and risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes at age 36.

Objective: To investigate whether IGF-I promoter polymorphism was associated with birth weight and risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM), and whether the birth weight--risk factor relationship was the same for each genotype.

Design And Participants: 264 subjects (mean age 36 years) had data available on birth weight, IGF-I promoter polymorphism genotype, CVD and T2DM risk factors. Student's t-test and regression analyses were applied to analyse differences in birth weight and differences in the birth weight--risk factors relationship between the genotypes.

The metabolic syndrome, cardiopulmonary fitness, and subcutaneous trunk fat as independent determinants of arterial stiffness: the Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study.

Background: The mechanisms that link the metabolic syndrome to increased cardiovascular risk are incompletely understood, especially in young people. We therefore examined whether the metabolic syndrome was associated with arterial stiffness and whether any such associations were independent of cardiopulmonary fitness and subcutaneous trunk fat.

Methods: Cross-sectional analyses of data on 364 men and women aged 36 years from the Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study (ninth follow-up measurement, year 2000).

Development of fatness, fitness, and lifestyle from adolescence to the age of 36 years: determinants of the metabolic syndrome in young adults: the amsterdam growth and health longitudinal study.

Background: Among young adults, the metabolic syndrome is an increasingly frequent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Its determinants are, however, incompletely understood. We investigated the time course, from adolescence (age, 13 years) to young adulthood (age, 36 years), of important potential determinants (body fatness and fat distribution, cardiopulmonary fitness, and lifestyle) in 364 individuals (189 women).

Comparison of short questionnaires on alcohol drinking behavior in a nonclinical population of 36-year-old men and women.

Little is known on the diagnostic characteristics of brief questionnaires on alcohol drinking behaviors. This report investigates the determinants of three short alcohol questionnaires and investigates their diagnostic utility as screening tools for alcohol-related problems in a general population from The Netherlands. This report uses cross-sectional data obtained in the year 2000 from 36-year-old healthy male (N=166) and female (N=165) volunteers who reported to drink alcohol at least occasionally.

Comparison between self-report and a dipstick method (NicCheck 1) to assess nicotine intake.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the agreement between self-reported tobacco consumption and NicCheck 1 (Dynagen Inc. Cambridge, Mass., USA) regarding smoking status and nicotine intake in a population of smokers (20.

The ER22/23EK polymorphism in the glucocorticoid receptor gene is associated with a beneficial body composition and muscle strength in young adults.

Glucocorticoids play an important role in determining body composition. A polymorphism of the glucocorticoid receptor gene (in codons 22 and 23) has previously been found to be associated with relative glucocorticoid resistance, low cholesterol levels, and increased insulin sensitivity. In this study, we investigated whether this ER22/23EK polymorphism is associated with differences in body composition and muscle strength.