Objective: To evaluate both the short- and long-term effectiveness of a lifestyle intervention on physical fitness in adolescents and young adults with cerebral palsy (CP).
Design: Single-blind, randomized controlled trial.
Setting: University hospitals and rehabilitation clinics.
Participants: Adolescents and young adults (N=57) with spastic CP classified in Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I through IV; of these, 42 completed the study.
Intervention: A 6-month lifestyle intervention consisting of physical fitness training combined with counseling sessions focused on physical behavior and sports participation.
Main Outcome Measures: Physical fitness, including measures of cardiopulmonary fitness, muscle strength, and body composition.
Results: Favorable short- and medium-term effects were found for peak oxygen consumption, oxygen consumption, and load on the anaerobic threshold and waist circumference. Favorable long-term effects were found for sum of skinfolds, systolic blood pressure, and total cholesterol.
Conclusions: This exploratory study showed that the lifestyle intervention was effective in improving cardiopulmonary fitness and body composition. Effects of body composition were maintained in the long term. However, the intervention needs to be optimized to increase muscle strength and for long-term retention of effects on aerobic capacity.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2014.05.011 | DOI Listing |
BMC Public Health
January 2025
Preventive Medicine and Public Health Research Center, Psychosocial Health Research Institute, Department of Community and Family Medicine, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran., Shahid Hemmat Highway, Tehran, P.O Box: 14665-354, 1449614535, Iran.
Introduction: Although COVID-19 has altered various harms and exacerbated the prevalence of some of them, this period has also set the stage for the emergence of new harms. The present study aims to identify the emerging harms resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran.
Methods: The study was conducted using a qualitative content analysis approach through semi-structured interviews with 21 experts and professors knowledgeable about social harms and COVID-19 consequences who were selected through purposive and theoretical sampling.
BMC Public Health
January 2025
Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON, M5S 1V4, Canada.
Background: Loneliness is a public health epidemic in the United States (US), with older adults being vulnerable to experiencing loneliness. Predictors of loneliness are less understood among racial/ethnic groups of US older adults, and few studies have included perceived institutional discrimination (PID), stressful life events (SLE), and perceived neighborhood characteristics (PNC) as antecedent stressors of loneliness in diverse older adult samples. Our study assessed the relationship between these stressors and loneliness among specific racial/ethnic groups of older adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Public Health
January 2025
Chair group Consumption and Healthy Lifestyles, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Background: Creating healthy and sustainable food environments within long-term healthcare facilities asks for a systemic approach. This study aimed to: (1) identify system dynamics underlying the food environment of long-term healthcare facilities, (2) formulate actions for changing the system to promote a healthy and sustainable food environment and (3) evaluate stakeholder perspectives about the process and progress towards action implementation up to one-year follow-up.
Methods: A group model building (GMB) approach was used during two workshops with stakeholders of five different long-term healthcare facilities in the Netherlands.
BMC Gastroenterol
January 2025
Department of Nephrology, QingPu Branch of Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Background: Gallstone disease (GSD) is associated with obesity. The Cardiometabolic Index (CMI), a metric that accurately assesses central adiposity and visceral fat, has not been extensively studied in relation to GSD risk. This study investigates the link between CMI and GSD incidence in U.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Pediatr
January 2025
School of Nursing and Health Sciences, The College of New Jersey, Ewing Township, USA.
Background: Preterm infants may experience many health and developmental issues, which continue even after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit. Once home, the mother, as a non-professional and the primary caregiver will be responsible for the essential care of her preterm infant.
Purpose: Understanding the take care ability in mothers with preterm infants.
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