Chronotype is associated with eating behaviors, physical activity and overweight in school-aged children.

BACKGROUND: A later chronotype has been found to be associated with unhealthy habits and diseases, such as an unhealthy diet and metabolic syndrome in adults. Little is known about the association between chronotype, eating habits, physical activity and obesity. Thus, this study aimed to explore the relationships between chronotype, eating behaviors, physical activity, and overweight in Chinese school-aged children. METHODS: Data from this study was based on 952 schoolchildren (10-12 y) from six primary schools that participated in China. Anthropometric measurements of height and body weight were performed. Information about sleeping habits, dietary behaviors, and other lifestyle behaviors was gathered using a self-administered questionnaire. Multiple linear regression analysis or multivariable logistic regression model was performed to assess the associations between chronotype, eating behaviors, physical activity, and overweight. RESULTS: Nearly 70% (69.9%) of the participants had a self-reported morning chronotype. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed chronotype score was positively associated with physical activities (all P values < 0.001) and sleep duration (all P values < 0.001) and negatively associated with BMI, meal time, eating jet lag and social jet lag (all P values < 0.001). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that compared to morning types, non-morning types individuals were more likely to be overweight (OR = 1.593, P value < 0.05), and had more frequent consumption of fast food (OR = 1.616, P value < 0.05), but less frequent consumption of milk (OR = 0.716, P value < 0.05), less time taking part in moderate (OR = 1.356, P value < 0.05) or muscle strengthening (OR = 1.393, 1.877, P value < 0.05) physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that early chronotype children are more active, have healthier dietary habits, get more sleep, have shorter social jet lag, and are less likely to be overweight than non-early chronotype children. Our findings suggest that later chronotype may be a potential indicator in the early detection of overweight, unhealthy eating, and physical inactivity behaviors. Chronotype has been found to have an important impact on individual's health. In the present study, we conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the association between chronotype, eating behaviors, physical activity, and overweight in school-aged children. The findings showed that children with early chronotype is associated with more active, healthier dietary behaviors, longer sleep duration, short social jet lag, and a lower risk of overweight.

Regression-based normative data for social health scale for the elderly (short version) in eastern China.

BACKGROUNDS: Social Health Scale for the Elderly short version (SHSE-S) is a psychometrically sound instrument that comprehensively assesses the social health status of older adults in China. The aim of the present study was to establish continuous normative data of SHSE-S. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter cross-sectional study among 31 communities in eastern China. Older adults aged 60 years and above were invited to participate in the study. Each participant was interviewed in-person to finish a structured questionnaire. The SHES-S score was calculated and standardized for each participant. We split the sample into generation and validation datasets and compared the distribution of SHSE-S score between two datasets. Multivariable linear regression was used to assess the SHSE-S score and demographic variables. Regression-based norms were built using a four-step process. RESULTS: A total of 6089 participants (51.2% females) aged 60 years old and above (mean age = 71.3, SD = 8.0) were enrolled as the normative sample. No significant difference was found between the distribution of SHSE-S standardized score in the generation (N = 2392) and validation (N = 3697) datasets. Multivariable linear regression showed that females, higher education levels were positive indicators while aging, living alone, divorced or never married, multimorbidity were negative factors. The regression-based norm which taking demographic factors into account was established and a user-friendly worksheet was also provided to facilitate the scoring and norming of the SHSE-S. CONCLUSIONS: The population-based regression norm of SHSE-S can be a useful tool for assessing the social health status of the Chinese elderly population.

Impact of Individual and Combined Lifestyle Factors on Mortality in China: A Cohort Study.

INTRODUCTION: Although numerous studies have suggested that lifestyle-related factors are associated with chronic diseases and preventable deaths, limited evidence is available for the Chinese population. METHODS: This study established a prospective cohort of >360,000 residents on the basis of the Yinzhou Health Information System in China during 2004-2017 and calculated the combined effects of lifestyle-related factors, including BMI, smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity, using a points system. A Cox regression model estimated the combined effects of lifestyle-related factors on total mortality, and a competing risk model estimated the combined effects on cancer and cardiovascular disease mortality. All data analyses were conducted in 2018‒2019. RESULTS: During 3,755,879 person-years of follow-up, 11,791 deaths were identified, including 4,983 from cancer and 3,143 from cardiovascular disease. Having a standard BMI, never smoking, never drinking, and engaging in physical activity more than 4 times per week had protective effects on total mortality. Overall, the risk of total and cause-specific mortality increased with the increment of risk score. Compared with subjects in the lowest quartile, the risk of total and cause-specific mortality peaked among individuals in the fourth quartile (total mortality: hazard ratio=1.87, 95% CI=1.77, 1.98; cancer mortality: hazard ratio=2.05, 95% CI=1.87, 2.25; cardiovascular disease mortality: hazard ratio=1.51, 95% CI=1.35, 1.68). Sensitivity analyses excluding individuals with follow-up <3 years did not materially change the results. CONCLUSIONS: The combined effects of lifestyle-related factors, including BMI, smoking, alcohol drinking, and physical activity, are associated with total, cancer, and cardiovascular disease mortality among the Chinese population.

Association between social health status and depressive symptoms among community-dwelling elderly adults in Zhejiang Province, China.

OBJECTIVE: Mental disorders of the elderly population in China deserve attention. Social health is significantly associated with depression. This study aimed to evaluate the rate of depressive symptoms and to test the relationships between social health and depressive symptoms among a large sample of community-dwelling elderly adults. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study among community-dwelling adults aged 60 years or above in Zhejiang Province, China. Face-to-face interviews were used to complete a structured questionnaire for all participants. We used the Social Health Scale for the Elderly (SHSE) to evaluate social health status and used the short form of the Geriatric Depression Scale to evaluate depressive symptoms. Multivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between social health status and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Of the total of 3757 participants included, 1887 (50.23%) were female, and the mean±standard deviation (SD) age was (70.0±8.3) years. The rate of depressive symptoms was 25.92%. The social health score was higher in non-depressed participants than in depressed participants (raw score 50.7 vs. 48.3, P<0.001). Participants with "moderate" or "good" social health had a significantly lower risk of depressive symptoms than those with "poor" social health (odds ratio (OR)=0.55, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.46-0.66 for moderate social health; OR=0.45, 95% CI: 0.35-0.60 for good social health). The association between social health and depressive symptoms was consistent across several subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: Social health is significantly inversely associated with depressive symptoms. The SHSE may serve as an efficient screener to identify those elderly adults with social health deficits, but systematic assessment to guide intervention merits further investigation.

Association between RASSF1A Promoter Hypermethylation and Oncogenic HPV Infection Status in Invasive Cervical Cancer: a Meta-analysis.

Cervical carcinoma is the main cause of cancer-related mortality in women and is correlated with more than 15 risk cofactors, including infection of cervical cells with high-risk types of HPV (hrHPV). Indeed, both aberrant methylation of the RASSF1A promoter and hrHPV infection are often observed in cervical carcinomas. The purpose of our meta-analysis was to evaluate the role of RASSF1A promoter methylation and hrHPV infection in cervical cancer. Our meta-analysis involved 895 cervical cancer patients and 454 control patients from 15 studies. Our results suggested that RASSF1A promoter hypermethylation increased the risk of cervical cancer (OR=9.77, 95%CI=[3.06, 31.26], P=0.0001, I2=78%). By grouping cases according to cancer subtypes, we found that HPV infection was higher in cervical squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) than in cervical adenocarcinomas/ adenosquamous cancers (ACs/ASCs) (OR=4.00, 95%CI=[1.41, 11.30], P=0.009, I2=55%). Interestingly, HPV infection tended to occur in cervical cancers with relatively low levels of RASSF1A promoter methylation (OR=0.59, 95%CI=[0.36, 0.99], P=0.05, I2=0%). Our study provides evidence of a possible interaction between HPV infection and RASSF1A promoter methylation in the development of cervical cancers.