The Association between Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Cardiometabolic Health at 6 Months following a Hypertensive Pregnancy: A BP2 Sub-Study.

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) complicate 5-10% of pregnancies, with resultant lifelong increased risks of cardiovascular disease (CVD). We aimed to describe lifestyle behaviours at 6 months post-HDP in four HDP subgroups, and their association with markers of cardiometabolic health. Subgroups were chronic hypertension (CH), gestational hypertension (GH), preeclampsia, and preeclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension (CH + PE). The BP2 study is a multi-site, three-arm, randomised controlled trial. At 6 months postpartum, the NSW Population Health Survey and BP2 surveys collected lifestyle behaviours and demographic data. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and blood pressure (BP) were also assessed. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Spearman's correlation coefficients were used. Of 484 women (16% CH, 23% GH, 55% preeclampsia, and 6% CH + PE), 62% were overweight or obese. Only 6% met the recommended five vegetable and two fruit serves per day, and 43% did not meet the recommended 150 min of moderate-vigorous physical activity in five sessions per week. Adherence to both diet and physical activity recommendations was correlated with more favourable cardiometabolic outcomes, including lower BMI, waist circumference, and systolic and diastolic BP. Lifestyle interventions that improve diet and physical activity post-HDP are needed to reduce BP, BMI, and long-term CVD in this high-risk population.

Reliability of orofacial quantitative sensory testing for pleasantness and unpleasantness.

BACKGROUND: Quantitative sensory testing protocols for perceptions of pleasantness and unpleasantness based on the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain protocol were recently introduced. However, there are no reliability studies yet published. AIM: To evaluate the intra-examiner (test-retest) and inter-examiner reliability for orofacial pleasantness and unpleasantness quantitative sensory testing protocols. METHODS: Sixteen healthy participants from Aarhus University (11 women and five men, mean age 24, range 21-26 years) contributed. Two examiners were trained in performing the entire quantitative sensory testing protocols for pleasantness and unpleasantness, which included the additional dynamic tactile stimulation test using a goat-hair brush. Each participant underwent examination of both protocols by each examiner (inter-examiner reliability) on day 1. They returned at least 8 days following the testing to be re-examined by one examiner (intra-examiner reliability). All testing was performed on the skin of the right mandibular mental region. The intraclass correlation (ICC) was used to determine reliability. RESULTS: For the protocol investigating pleasantness, the majority of parameters had good to excellent intra-examiner (11/14: Intraclass correlation 0.67-0.87) and inter-examiner (13/14: Intraclass correlation 0.62-0.96) reliabilities. Similarly, the protocol investigating unpleasantness had good to excellent intra-examiner (intraclass correlation 0.63-0.99) and inter-examiner (intraclass correlation 0.65-0.98) reliabilities for most (13/15) of the parameters. CONCLUSION: Intra and inter-examiner reliabilities in the majority of quantitative sensory testing parameters (apart from the summation ratio) investigating pleasantness and unpleasantness are acceptable when assessing somatosensory function of the orofacial region.Trial registration: NA.