Health-related lifestyles among Italian university students: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: to investigate lifestyle, health-related behaviours, and nutritional knowledge among a sample of Italian university students and to identify social determinants of - and barriers to - healthier lifestyles. DESIGN: cross-sectional observational study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: students attending degree courses in health professions in a single university in Northern Italy (No. 1,495) were invited to participate in a structured web survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: a comprehensive, validated questionnaire was used. Questions regarded nutritional knowledge and habits, smoking habit, physical activity, self-efficacy, and barriers to change. Anthropometric and sociodemographic information was collected. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize results. With single and multiple regression models, differences between subgroups and ranked predictors of students' attitudes towards healthy behaviours were analysed. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. RESULTS: a total of 554 subjects completed the survey (participation rate: 42%; completion rate: 88%). Students showed good nutritional knowledge (73%), but some deficiencies related to low fruit/high sweets consumption, and a lack of basic macronutrients information. Only 30% of the students led a very active lifestyle and physical inactivity was greatest among overweight/obese students. Sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy diet were mainly associated with modifiable risk factors, e.g., being overweight and smoking. CONCLUSIONS: this study provides evidence that health profession students have good knowledge, but their health-related lifestyle is a concern, especially given the role of prescribers that they will play. Structured programmes need to be developed to address the modifiable risk factors associated with detrimental behaviours manifest already during the university years.

Effect of massage on DOMS in ultramarathon runners: A pilot study.

In recent years, the popularity of ultramarathons has increased. During these competitions, musculoskeletal problems are very common. Among the more frequent of those problems is the onset of muscle pain, which is defined in the literature as delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS). The present study aimed to collect epidemiological data regarding the onset of musculoskeletal problems during the Tor des Geants (International ultramarathon race of 330 km in length and 24,000 m in elevation difference) and to describe the effects of massage on reducing pain and overall perceived improvement in a sample of 25 athletes who complained of DOMS. Two hundred and twenty-one treatments were performed on 220 ultramarathon runners, of which 207 were males and 34 were females; the age group most represented ranged from 40 to 50 years. The most common symptom was pain, which occurred in more than 95% of cases, and the most affected area was the lower extremities (90% of subjects). In the analysed subjects, treatment with massage generated a significant (p < 0.0001) improvement. The numeric pain rating scale (NPRS) value was 3.6 points on average (SD 2.1) after massage, and there were no cases of worsening DOMS after massage as determined using the patient global impression of change (PGIC). The values of minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in DOMS management were calculated on the basis of the ROC curves and two other anchor-based methods in the PGIC and were 2.8-3.9 points on the NPRS. In the context analysed, massage was an effective treatment to reduce DOMS during the onset of symptoms.