"Where have all the bicycles gone?" Are bicycle sales in Australia translated into health-enhancing levels of bicycle usage?

Objective: To explore whether the reported increase in bicycle sales in Australia is corroborated by increases in numbers of cyclists.

Methods: Australian representative data on cycling from annual Exercise, Recreation and Sport Surveys (ERASS) from 2001 to 2008 were used. Based on the weighted proportion of cyclists and 'regular cyclists' each year, the number of 'new' riders each year was calculated.

Exposure-based cycling crash, near miss and injury rates: the Safer Cycling Prospective Cohort Study protocol.

Introduction: There are clear personal, social and environmental benefits of cycling. However, safety concerns are among the frequently cited barriers to cycling. In Australia, there are no exposure-based measures of the rates of crash or 'near miss' experienced by cyclists.

Effectiveness of an early intervention on infant feeding practices and "tummy time": a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a home-based early intervention on infant feeding practices and "tummy time" for infants in the first year of life.

Design: Randomized controlled trial with follow-up measures scheduled at 6 and 12 months.

Setting: Socially and economically disadvantaged areas of Sydney, Australia.

Workplace nutrition and physical activity promotion at Liverpool Hospital.

Issue Addressed: The workplace is an effective way of reaching large numbers of adults during working hours, and increasing physical activity, promoting healthy eating or both.This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a workplace intervention in a hospital setting in Australia.

Methods: A 12-week program was conducted with 399 employees of Liverpool Hospital, NSW, to increase physical activity and healthy eating.

Who is NOT likely to access the Internet for health information? Findings from first-time mothers in southwest Sydney, Australia.

Purpose: This study aimed to explore inequities in access to online health information and its relation to socioeconomic status, and to inform the development of the use of the Internet for health promotion.

Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional baseline survey data for 664 first-time mothers from the Healthy Beginnings Trial conducted in Southwest Sydney, Australia during 2007-2010. First-time mothers' reports of their computer ownership, sources of health information including Internet access and self-rated health as well as demographic data were collected through face-to-face interviews.

Maternal smoking, weight status and dietary behaviours during pregnancy: findings from first-time mothers in south-west Sydney, Australia.

Background: Few studies have been conducted examining the relationship between maternal smoking, weight status and dietary behaviours during pregnancy.

Aim: The objective of the study was to examine the relationship between maternal smoking, weight status and dietary behaviours during pregnancy.

Methods: An analysis of cross-sectional baseline survey data was conducted with 406 first-time mothers participating in the Healthy Beginnings Trial (HBT) conducted in south-west Sydney, Australia.

Family functioning and obesity risk behaviors: implications for early obesity intervention.

Family functioning is found to be associated with overweight and obesity in childhood, but its association with maternal obesity risk behaviors is not clear. This study aimed to investigate whether family functioning is associated with maternal obesity risk behaviors and to inform the development of early obesity interventions. A total of 408 first-time mothers at 24-34 weeks of pregnancy were included in the study.

The Early Prevention of Obesity in CHildren (EPOCH) Collaboration--an individual patient data prospective meta-analysis.

Background: Efforts to prevent the development of overweight and obesity have increasingly focused early in the life course as we recognise that both metabolic and behavioural patterns are often established within the first few years of life. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions are even more powerful when, with forethought, they are synthesised into an individual patient data (IPD) prospective meta-analysis (PMA). An IPD PMA is a unique research design where several trials are identified for inclusion in an analysis before any of the individual trial results become known and the data are provided for each randomised patient.

A validation study of assessing physical activity and sedentary behavior in children aged 3 to 5 years.

Assessing young children's physical activity and sedentary behavior can be challenging and costly. This study aimed to assess the validity of a brief survey about activity preferences as a proxy of physical activity and of a 7-day activity diary, both completed by the parents and using accelerometers as a reference measure. Thirty-four parents and their children (aged 3-5 years) who attended childcare centers in Sydney (Australia) were recruited for the study.

Health promotion and secondary prevention: response to Milat, O'Hara and Develin.

This paper responds to a recent HPJA article by Milat, O'Hara and Develin, which called for health promotion practitioners to be more closely involved in secondary prevention of Type 2 diabetes. It considers the resources currently available to health promotion in Australia, and examines and critiques the terminology of prevention used by Milat et al. The paper argues that Milat et al.

Chronic disease and climate change: understanding co-benefits and their policy implications.

Chronic disease and climate change are major public policy challenges facing governments around the world. An improved understanding of the relationship between chronic disease and climate change should enable improved policy formulation to support both human health and the health of the planet. Chronic disease and climate change are both unintended consequences of our way of life, and are attributable in part to the ready availability of inexpensive fossil fuel energy.

Mothers' awareness of their weight status and concern about their children being overweight: findings from first-time mothers in south-west Sydney.

Objective: To assess mothers' awareness of their weight status and to investigate whether this awareness influences mothers' concerns about their child being overweight or obese.

Design And Setting: An analysis of cross-sectional baseline survey data from the Healthy Beginnings Trial conducted in south-west Sydney, NSW.

Participants: A total of 667 first-time mothers at 24-36 weeks of pregnancy or within one month after giving birth, who participated in the Healthy Beginnings Trial.

Representations of cycling in metropolitan newspapers--changes over time and differences between Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.

Background: Cycling is important for health, transport, environmental and economic reasons. Newspaper reporting of cycling reflects and can influence public and policy maker attitudes towards resource allocation for cycling and cycling infrastructure, yet such coverage has not been systematically examined.

Methods: The Factiva electronic news archive was searched for articles referring to cycling published in four major metropolitan newspapers--two in Sydney and two in Melbourne, Australia, in the years from 1998 until 2008.

Current cycling, bicycle path use, and willingness to cycle more-findings from a community survey of cycling in southwest sydney, australia.

Background: Encouraging cycling could increase levels of physical activity and health in the community. A population survey of cycling and physical activity was conducted as part of the baseline evaluation of a new intervention research project (Cycling Connecting Communities).

Methods: A telephone survey of adults (18+) living within 2 kilometers of selected major new bicycle paths in 3 local government areas in south western Sydney, Australia was conducted using a 2-stage sampling method.

Weight status, modes of travel to school and screen time: a cross-sectional survey of children aged 10-13 years in Sydney.

Issue Addressed: The relationship between weight status and modes of travel to school and screen time of children is not clearly understood. This study aims to explore these relationships of Australian children aged 10-13 years.

Method: Weight and height, modes of travel to school and screen time of 1,362 children were reported by their parents.

Staff walking program: a quasi-experimental trial of maintenance newsletters to maintain walking following a pedometer program.

Issue Addressed: The Step by Step self-help walking program plus a pedometer previously motivated a community sample of adults to be physically active for up to three months. This study evaluates the effect of enhancement of this program over an additional nine months in a workplace.

Methods: A quasi-experimental trial was conducted.

Evaluation of a comprehensive tobacco control project targeting Arabic-speakers residing in south west Sydney, Australia.

Tobacco control is a health promotion priority, but there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of campaigns targeting culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations. Being the largest population of non-English-speaking smokers residing in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, Arabic-speakers are a priority population for tobacco control. We report findings from baseline and post-intervention cross-sectional telephone surveys evaluating a comprehensive social marketing campaign (SMC) specifically targeting Arabic-speakers residing in south west Sydney, NSW.

Dietary behaviours during pregnancy: findings from first-time mothers in southwest Sydney, Australia.

Background: Limited prevalence data are available for nutrition related health behaviours during pregnancy. This study aimed to assess dietary behaviours during pregnancy among first-time mothers, and to investigate the relationships between these behaviours and demographic characteristics, so that appropriate dietary intervention strategies for pregnant women can be developed.

Method: An analysis of cross-sectional survey was conducted using data from 409 first-time mothers at 26-36 weeks of pregnancy, who participated in the Healthy Beginnings Trial conducted in southwestern Sydney, Australia.

The effectiveness of community-based cycling promotion: findings from the Cycling Connecting Communities project in Sydney, Australia.

Background: Encouraging cycling is an important way to increase physical activity in the community. The Cycling Connecting Communities (CCC) Project is a community-based cycling promotion program that included a range of community engagement and social marketing activities, such as organised bike rides and events, cycling skills courses, the distribution of cycling maps of the area and coverage in the local press. The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of this program designed to encourage the use of newly completed off-road cycle paths through south west Sydney, Australia.

Health sector leadership in mitigating climate change: experience from the UK and NSW.

The threat to human health from climate change means that all levels of government and private and public agencies will need to change their current practices to reduce carbon emissions. The health sector will also need to respond and change practice. The National Health Service in the United Kingdom is developing a systematic and strategic approach to reduce its carbon footprint, as described in the recently released NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy for England.