Physical Activity, Nutritional Habits, and Sleeping Behavior in Students and Employees of a Swiss University During the COVID-19 Lockdown Period: Questionnaire Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: The new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 led to the COVID-19 pandemic starting in January 2020. The Swiss Federal Council prescribed a lockdown of nonessential businesses. Students and employees of higher education institutions had to install home offices and participate in online lectures. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this survey study was to evaluate lifestyle habits, such as physical activity (PA), sitting time, nutritional habits (expressed as median modified Mediterranean Diet Score [mMDS]), alcohol consumption habits, and sleeping behavior during a 2-month period of confinement and social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Survey participants were students and employees of a Swiss university of applied sciences. METHODS: All students and employees from Bern University of Applied Sciences, Department of Health Professions (ie, nursing, nutrition and dietetics, midwifery, and physiotherapy divisions) were invited to complete an anonymous online survey during the COVID-19 confinement period. Information on the lifestyle dimensions of PA, sitting time, nutritional and alcohol consumption habits, and sleep behavior was gathered using adaptations of validated questionnaires. Frequency analyses and nonparametric statistical methods were used for data analysis. Significance was set at 5% α level of error. RESULTS: Prevalence of non-health-enhancing PA was 37.1%, with participants of the division of physiotherapy showing the lowest prevalence. Prevalence of long sitting time (>8 hours/day) was 36.1%. The median mMDS was 9, where the maximal score was 15, with participants of the division of nutrition and dietetics being more adherent to a Mediterranean diet as compared to the other groups. Prevalence of nonadherence to the Swiss alcohol consumption recommendations was 8.3%. Prevalence of low sleeping quality was 44.7%, while the median sleeping duration was 8 hours, which is considered healthy for adult populations. CONCLUSIONS: In the group analysis, differences in PA, sitting time, and mMDS were observed between different divisions of health professions as well as between Bachelor of Science students, Master of Science students, and employees. Therefore, public health messages regarding healthy lifestyle habits during home confinement should be more group specific. The results of this study may provide support for the implementation of group-specific health promotion interventions at universities in pandemic conditions. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04502108; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04502108.

Physical Activity, Nutritional Habits, and Sleep Behavior Among Health Profession Students and Employees of a Swiss University During and After COVID-19 Confinement: Protocol for a Longitudinal Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus strain, has resulted in the COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020. To contain the transmission of this virus, the Swiss Federal Council ordered a nationwide lockdown of all nonessential businesses. Accordingly, students and employees of institutions for higher education were informed to continue their academic programs through home-office settings and online lectures. OBJECTIVE: This longitudinal survey aims to evaluate various lifestyle habits such as physical activity, nutritional habits, and sleep behavior among students and employees of a Swiss University of Applied Sciences during a 2-month period of confinement and social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and 1 year thereafter. METHODS: This paper describes a protocol for a retrospective and prospective observational cohort study. Students and employees of Bern University of Applied Sciences, Department of Health Professions, were invited to anonymously complete a web-based survey during the COVID-19 confinement period. This will be followed by a second survey, scheduled 1 year after the lockdown. Information on various lifestyle aspects, including physical activity, nutritional habits, and sleep behavior, will be collected using adaptations of existing validated questionnaires. RESULTS: This longitudinal study started during the government-ordered confinement period in Switzerland in mid-April 2020 and will end in mid-2021. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this survey will provide information about the impact of confinement during the COVID-19 crisis on the physical activity, nutritional habits, and sleep behavior of students and employees of a Swiss institute. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04502108; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04502108. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/25051.

Effectiveness and Feasibility of a Remote Lifestyle Intervention by Dietitians for Overweight and Obese Adults: Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: To tackle the problem of obesity and related diseases in Switzerland, cost-efficient, effective, and innovative primary health care interventions for weight management are required. In this context, Oviva has developed a scalable technology for registered dietitians to counsel overweight and obese patients via a mobile phone app. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of weight loss counseling by dietitians using a mobile phone app for patients with overweight and obesity. METHODS: In this pre- and posttest pilot study, overweight and obese adults participated in a 1-year behavioral intervention to lose weight through remote counseling by dietitians in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. The study started in April 2016 and finished in May 2018. Participants received individual counseling through the app and the exchange with the dietitian focused on regular feedback on photo-based food log, motivation, and education. The contents were tailored to the individual lifestyle goal set. The predefined intensity of remote counseling decreased during the year. Group chat could be used. The outcomes examined were changes in weight (primary outcome), hemoglobin A1c, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, body fat, and responses to a self-administered questionnaire with questions regarding participants' physical activity, dietary assessment, and health-related quality of life. Changes were tested at baseline, after 3 months, and after 12 months, as well as between the third and the 12th month. RESULTS: In total, 36 women and 7 men, with a mean age of 40.6 years, participated and 36 participants completed the study. Median weight change after the first 12 weeks was -3.8 kg (range: -15 to 2.4 and P<.001), between week 12 and week 52 it was -1.1 kg (range: -9.7 to 7 and P=.08), and the median change during the entire period of intervention was -4.9 kg (range: -21.9 to 7.5 and P<.001). Furthermore, changes in BMI, waist circumference, body fat, and BP between baseline and 12 weeks and between baseline and 52 weeks were also significant. Significant changes in certain eating habits were also demonstrated (higher frequency of vegetable, fruit, and breakfast consumption and lower frequency of alcohol, sweet, and fat consumption). CONCLUSIONS: In addition to the professional skills of a dietitian, a profession-specific app such as Oviva can provide effective support that meets the needs of dietitians and clients on the long path of behavioral change and sustainable weight reduction. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02694614; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02694614 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/76gYkGOIc).

Mass media nutrition information sources and associations with fruit and vegetable consumption among adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study was to examine associations between exposure to nutrition information as covered in mass media and daily fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption among adolescents. DESIGN: Cross-sectional nutrition survey. SETTING: Vocational schools in Vienna, Austria. SUBJECTS: A sample of 2949 ethnically diverse adolescents with mean age 17.3 (sd 1.7) years. An FFQ was used to assess usual FV consumption. Data on mass media exposure and sociodemographic characteristics were collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to control for potentially confounding variables. RESULTS: Adolescents who reported exposure to nutrition information provided by booklets, the Internet or newspaper articles were more likely to eat FV daily. For example, the OR for daily fruit consumption (ORfru) was 1.6 (P < 0.001) when exposure to the Internet was reported after adjustment for age, gender, ethnicity, BMI and salary. No such associations were found for radio, television and magazines as sources of nutrition information. A negative impact on daily FV consumption was found for exposure to radio commercials (ORfru = 0.74, P = 0.04 and ORveg = 0.67, P = 0.03). Exposure to TV commercials had a negative impact on vegetable consumption (ORveg = 0.81, P = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Newspaper articles, the Internet and booklets as a source of nutrition information are positively associated with daily FV consumption among adolescents, whereas radio commercials have a negative impact. Dissemination of 'healthy eating' slogans should make use of print media and the Internet.

Influence of fish on habitat choice of water birds: a whole system experiment.

It is notoriously difficult to study population interactions among highly mobile animals that cannot be meaningfully confined to experimental plots of limited size. For example, migratory water birds are believed to suffer from competition with resident fish populations for shared food resources. While observational evidence in support of this hypothesis is accumulating, replicated experiments addressing this issue at the proper spatial scale are lacking. Here, we report from a replicated whole-system experiment in which we stocked large (0.07 km2), shallow (< or =2.5 m deep), highly eutrophic ponds in the bird protection area "Ismaninger Speichersee mit Fischteichen" with different densities of carp and assessed the responses of water birds and their food resources during summer over several years. In all years, the biomasses of benthic macroinvertebrates, macroalgae, and macrophytes as well as the densities of herbivorous, carnivorous, and omnivorous water birds were reduced in carp ponds compared to fishless ponds. The negative effects of carp on food resources and on the numbers of water birds feeding in carp ponds increased over the season (May-September) and were stronger at high than at low stocking densities of carp. Consequently, differences in resource densities between ponds with and without carp increased, and the ranking of ponds with respect to resource densities became more predictable over the season. These factors may have contributed to a seasonal improvement of the birds' abilities to track resource densities across ponds, as suggested by tight correlations of bird numbers on ponds with resource densities late, but not early, in the season.