How mother-youth emotional climate helps adolescents cope with stress

June 10, 2022

Science Daily/University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences

Transition to middle school can be a stressful time for adolescents. They must adjust to a new peer group and social environment while going through the developmental changes of puberty. A recent University of Illinois study looks at how emotional aspects of parenting can help youth better cope with peer stressors during this transitional period.

The researchers evaluated emotional closeness between fifth-graders and their mothers, gauging how it predicted the youths' ability to deal with social challenges when they started middle school the following year. They combined observations of mother-youth interactions with measures of the youths' biological stress response capacity.

The study is part of a larger, ongoing project in the research lab of Kelly Tu, examining the mental health and wellbeing of adolescents and the role of parental involvement. Tu is an associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) at U of I, and co-author on the paper.

"Adolescents often turn to their mothers to discuss peer problems. As mothers give advice, it's not just what they tell adolescents that matter, but also how they are conveying those messages. Therefore, moving beyond mothers' specific suggestions for coping, here we focus on the emotional climate of these conversations," explains Xiaomei Li, doctoral candidate in HDFS and the paper's lead author.

The researchers invited mothers and adolescents in the last semester of fifth grade to the research lab, asking them to spend five minutes talking about a peer problem the youth was facing. The youth also filled out questionnaires reporting on how they typically cope with peer stress, once during fifth grade and again after they started sixth grade the following school year. Being able to engage in active forms of coping -- attempting to resolve the problem and managing one's reactions -- is typically considered more beneficial for youths' successful adaptation to new environments, the researchers say.

During the five-minute conversation, trained observers rated maternal affect (such as smiles, physical and verbal affection, frustration or tension) and dyadic connection or cohesiveness (such as taking turns and communicating smoothly). The researchers also measured youths' biological response in the form of their respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), gauging the baseline RSA at rest while they watched a slide show of nature images. RSA measures the variations in heart rate, and higher baseline RSA indicates greater capacity to respond to stressful situations by regulating the heart rate.

"Stress response is a multi-level mechanism which includes behavioral strategies and biological reactions. We wanted to observe how some common biological markers of the stress response system might inform how youth engage in behavioral strategies to cope with stress, in addition to how their mothers may support them," Li says.

Youth who experienced more positive affect and greater cohesiveness during their conversations with mothers reported more active coping and advice seeking from parents in middle school. In comparison, youth whose mothers displayed less positive affect (or more criticism and lack of interest) and who were less cohesive with their children during the conversation were less able to actively cope with social stress when starting middle school. This was particularly noticeable for kids with lower baseline RSA.

"For some youth who may be biologically dispositioned to be vulnerable to stress, such as displaying lower baseline RSA, the mother's positive, warm affect and a cohesive, collaborative conversation atmosphere appear to be especially important for the development and use of active coping," Li says.

One takeaway from these findings is for parents to think about how to create a positive and supportive space to talk with their children about their problems, Tu explains.

"As a parent, you could be giving great advice. But what our study shows is that how parents talk with their children matters for how adolescents cope with stress. Conversations that are less warm and supportive could undermine parents' efforts to help. And youth are less likely to seek parents' advice in the future," she adds.

Tu and Li say there may also be cultural differences in parental emotional closeness and how much it matters to youth. Study participants included a diverse sample of 57% White, 10% Black, 13% Hispanic/Latino, 6% Asian, and 14% other/mixed race. While the ethnic groups were too small to analyze separately, the researchers recognize the need to better understand cultural factors in future studies.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220610120205.htm

Microbiome discovery could help save kids’ hearing

November 9, 2021

Science Daily/University of Queensland

Bacteria found in children's upper respiratory systems could help fight chronic middle ear infections, the leading cause of preventable hearing loss and deafness in Indigenous communities.

The University of Queensland's Dr Seweryn Bialasiewicz said this discovery helped explain a long-held mystery, while providing hope for potential treatments.

"We've been puzzled for years now, trying to work out why some children never develop chronic ear disease, despite being in a high-risk category for contracting it," Dr Bialasiewicz said.

"By focusing on the microbiomes in the upper respiratory tracts of disease-resistant kids, we could investigate the ecological networks of bacterial interactions that seemed to be working together to protect against the condition.

"It was clear that these two groups of bacteria needed to not only be present, but to be interacting with each other, to provide protection from middle ear infections."

Dr Bialasiewicz said they were hoping to use this information to figure out what the exact mechanism of protection is, and then mimic it in the very young children, as a therapy or a preventative measure.

"This could take the form of a molecule that can be used as a drug for treatment, or as a protective probiotic so that these 'good' bacteria can be seeded in the nose early enough to offer protection against the incoming 'bad' bacteria," he said.

Dr Andrea Coleman, who completed her PhD work on the project this year, said the research provided a new perspective on how middle ear infections develop and could pave the way for new treatments.

"Chronic middle ear infections can affect between one third to one half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, which is far above the four per cent threshold that the World Health Organisation considers as a disease needing urgent public health action," Dr Coleman said.

"This disease can cause hearing loss and can have life-long impacts on speech and language development, education, and future employment prospects, and in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations contributes to the wide gap in educational and employment outcomes."

The study investigated the microbiomes of 103 children aged two to seven from two north Queensland communities.

Dr Bialasiewicz said chronic middle ear infections resulting in hearing loss was a major problem with Indigenous and other disadvantaged populations globally.

"Our discovery could be applied across the world, helping improve health and reducing the disadvantage gap for a wide range of people," he said.

The team has acknowledged the support of the Deadly Ears team, the Queensland Health's statewide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ear Health Program doing on-the-ground treatment and education, as well as the generous assistance of parents and children within the participating communities.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211109095341.htm

When bad things happen in childhood, what's the toll on your health?

November 5, 2021

Science Daily/University of Auckland

New research from the University of Auckland shows the lifelong toll that adverse events in childhood can take on your health. Poor mental health is almost three times more prevalent among people in New Zealand who experienced four or more "adverse childhood events" compared with people who experienced none, the research suggests.

The study covered eight types of childhood adversity: Emotional, physical or sexual abuse, and growing up in a household where there was violence, substance abuse, mental illness, divorce, or a household member behind bars. "Toxic stressors in childhood can take a lifelong toll on many aspects of our health," says Associate Professor Janet Fanslow, of the School of Population Health in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. "The effects ripple across society to create a huge burden on family and wh?nau, our health service and the economy."

Experiencing even just one type of childhood adversity -- such as having a household member in jail or witnessing interpersonal violence in the home -- is associated with an increased risk of poor mental health, the study suggests. Experiencing two or more is associated with higher odds of disability, and four or more with chronic physical health problems.

Increased risks of health problems such as heart disease or asthma can be linked to specific types of adverse events, according to researchers led by Dr Ladan Hashemi, also of the School of Population Health. The scientists analysed 2,888 responses to the 2019 New Zealand Family Violence Survey, which was carried out in Waikato, Northland, and Auckland.

The odds of heart disease rose for people who had experienced emotional or sexual abuse, witnessed interpersonal violence, or lived in a household where there was substance abuse. The odds of asthma increased for those from a household with substance abuse, mental illness or divorce.

International research shows how adversity in childhood can affect neurological and hormonal development, inflammation pathways, cognitive, social, and emotional competencies, and propensity for risky behaviours such as smoking or substance abuse. Socio-economic factors didn't fully explain the associations in the New Zealand study. "Policy and programmes to address child poverty are important in their own right, but will not fully mitigate the effect of adverse childhood experiences," write Dr Fanslow, Dr Hashemi, Dr Pauline Gulliver, and Professor Tracey McIntosh in the research paper.

About 45 percent of the people in the study reported no adverse childhood events. A majority experienced at least one, and one-in-three reported more than one. In the study, a person's mental health was described as poor if they had been diagnosed with a long-term condition or had recently taken anti-depressants or sleeping medication. The paper, "Exploring the health burden of cumulative and specific adverse childhood experiences in New Zealand: Results from a population-based study," was published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect. The findings "should provide impetus to establish widespread prevention and intervention initiatives," the academics write. "Strategies that address socioeconomic inequities are needed, but will not, of themselves, fully mitigate the consequences of adverse childhood experiences."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211105103757.htm

New insights into how the infant microbiome impacts early childhood behavior in boys and girls

November 4, 2021

Science Daily/The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

A new Dartmouth-led study published in Pediatric Research has found a direct and sex-specific association between the composition of infant microbiome and early childhood behavioral health.

Previous studies have established a link between the gut microbiome -- the overall communities of microbes that colonize the intestinal tract and play an important role in immune system development and health outcomes -- and behaviors like depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. But until now, there has been little to no human data from which to characterize the role of the microbiome during infancy in relation to these outcomes in children, and how they may differ in boys and girls.

"A lot of the prior research has looked at participants who are already exhibiting depressive or anxious symptoms," explains Hannah Laue, ScD, a research associate at Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine and first author on the study. "We wanted to look very early on, before these behaviors were expressed, to see if we could establish if the microbiome was influencing the neurobehavior or if it was the other way around."

Focusing in on infancy also allowed the investigators to study a critical window of time, says Laue, when the microbiome and the brain are going through their most rapid periods of development, and when the brain may be particularly susceptible to changes in the microbiome.

To determine whether differences in the infant microbiome were related to neurobehavior, and whether that behavior varied in boys and girls -- the study team leveraged the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study, which was established in 2009 to investigate the role of environmental factors on pregnancy and newborn outcomes. Through initiatives led by Dartmouth's Drs. Juliette Madan and Margaret Karagas, the cohort involves longitudinal follow-up of the developing microbiome beginning at birth to understand its influence on the health and well-being of children.

For the study, the researchers analyzed stool samples (collected by the caregivers) from 260 infants at multiple timepoints -- six weeks, one year, and two years. This allowed them to characterize the species of microbes present in each participant's gut and their functions. They then used the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, an instrument that measures a wide range of clinical and adaptive behaviors in children and young adults, to assess their behavioral development.

The study team was able to establish that microbiome changes occur before behavioral changes. They also found that infant and early-childhood microbiomes were related to neurobehaviors such as anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, and social behaviors in a time- and sex-specific manner.

"For example, we found that increased diversity in the gut was better for boys, meaning it was associated with fewer behaviors like anxiety and depression, but not among girls," says Laue. "We saw differences in social behaviors with microbiomes measured at later stages, where there was evidence that diversity, again, could be beneficial for boys but not for girls. And we found there were differences in certain species of bacteria and the essential functions they perform -- such as the synthesis of vitamin B -- that were related to these outcomes, as well."

While their findings don't identify a microbial species that can immediately be used to help prevent children from developing neurobehaviors such as anxiety or depression, "We think the results do inform future studies that can look a little more deeply at some of our specific findings and clarify whether they could be developed as probiotics or other types of interventions such as the promotion of breastfeeding," says Laue.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211104140826.htm

Many new college students report pet separation anxiety

October 26, 2021

Science Daily/Washington State University

A survey of a sample of new first-year college students leaving pets at home and found that 75% experienced some level of pet separation anxiety -- with one in four reporting moderate to severe symptoms. The students who had higher anxiety tended to be those who treated their pets more like people, identifying them as friends, sleeping in the same room and generally spending a lot of time with them. Students who had dogs at home also tended to report more attachment to their pets -- and more separation anxiety -- than those with cats and other types of pets.

Pets are not the only ones who experience separation anxiety; their people do too.

Washington State University researchers surveyed a sample of new first-year college students leaving pets at home and found that 75% experienced some level of pet separation anxiety -- with one in four reporting moderate to severe symptoms.

"Students who are struggling with missing their pets should know that they're not alone," said Alexa Carr, the lead author of the study which is part of her WSU doctoral dissertation. "There's nothing necessarily wrong with them if they are experiencing a lot of distress from leaving their pets. It can be an isolating experience to lose that coping resource."

The students who had higher anxiety tended to be those who treated their pets more like people, identifying them as friends, sleeping in the same room and generally spending a lot of time with them. Interestingly, students who had dogs at home also tended to report more attachment to their pets -- and more separation anxiety -- than those with cats and other types of pets.

While there are many anecdotal accounts of students missing their pets, the study published in Anthrozoos, is the first known research investigating this kind of pet separation anxiety in humans.

Carr and co-author Patricia Pendry, a WSU associate professor of human development, surveyed a sample of about 150 incoming first-year students who had pets at home. The vast majority of respondents, 81%, were women -- which is a limitation of the study but also consistent with trends in college enrollment. In 2020, 60% of enrolled college students were women, according to National Center for Education Statistics.

The researchers surveyed the group before they arrived on campus and after their first two weeks of the semester in fall 2019 before the pandemic forced many universities online. The students answered questions related to their mental health, attachment to their pets and feelings about leaving them behind.

Even after controlling for pre-existing mental health issues, the researchers found that pet-related separation anxiety was very strong in the group during the transition to college, especially among students who were closely attached to their pets.

The findings indicate this is an issue for many students and should be taken seriously by campus counselors, Carr said. It also has implications for pet visitation programs now popular at many U.S. universities which bring animals to campus to help stressed students. A previous WSU study found that petting dogs or cats for just 10 minutes lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

The authors said more research is needed to understand the implications of pet separation anxiety. For example, whether students' symptoms are stable or become less severe over the course of the semester; or whether pet visitation programs might have some unintended effects, such as potentially exacerbating separation anxiety for students missing their specific pets back home.

The researchers also cautioned that this study should not be used as justification for students to bring their pets with them when they go to college, particularly if they would be their sole caregivers.

"It's a big responsibility to take care of an animal, and would a student then able to balance their school responsibilities, social lives and jobs?" Carr said. "There are more things to take into consideration and explore before we could advocate for more pets on campus."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211026085415.htm

Spending time in nature promotes early childhood development

October 21, 2021

Science Daily/University of British Columbia

Want to ensure your child hits their expected developmental milestones? New UBC research suggests living in areas with high exposure to greenspace can help set them up for success.

For the study, researchers at the UBC faculty of forestry and faculty of medicine analyzed the developmental scores of 27,372 children in Metro Vancouver who attended kindergarten between 2005 and 2011. They estimated the amount of greenspace around each child's residence from birth to age five. They also assessed levels of traffic-related air pollution and community noise.

The results highlight the fundamental importance of natural green spaces like street trees, parks and community gardens, authors say.

"Most of the children were doing well in their development, in terms of language skills, cognitive capacity, socialization and other outcomes," says study author Ingrid Jarvis (she/her), a PhD candidate in the department of forest and conservation sciences at UBC. "But what's interesting is that those children living in a residential location with more vegetation and richer natural environments showed better overall development than their peers with less greenspace."

According to the researchers, the reason for this is partly greenspaces' ability to reduce the harmful effects of air pollution and noise -- environmental challenges that have been shown to adversely affect children's health and development through increased stress, sleep disturbances and central nervous system damage.

"Few studies have investigated this pathway linking greenspace and developmental outcomes among children, and we believe this is the first Canadian study to do so," adds Jarvis.

The researchers assessed early childhood development using the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a survey completed by kindergarten teachers for each child. The tool measures a child's ability to meet age-appropriate developmental expectations.

"More research is needed, but our findings suggest that urban planning efforts to increase greenspace in residential neighbourhoods and around schools are beneficial for early childhood development, with potential health benefits throughout life," says the study's senior author and UBC research associate, Matilda van den Bosch (she/her).

"Time in nature can benefit everyone, but if we want our children to have a good head start, it's important to provide an enriching environment through nature contact. Access to greenspace from a very young age can help ensure good social, emotional and mental development among children."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211021121016.htm

Lack of sleep affecting students’ mental health especially women

Daytime tiredness and sleep deprivation put students at risk of depression and high stress

November 2, 2021

Science Daily/Taylor & Francis Group

More than two thirds (65.5%) of students are experiencing poor sleep quality and this is linked to mental health problems, new research published in the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Human Biologysuggests.

The findings, based on more than 1,000 (1,113) men and women attending university full-time, also show those reporting depressive symptoms were almost four times as likely to suffer from inadequate sleep habits.

Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) was a problem among over half (55%) the students -- they were almost twice as likely to have depression or experience moderate to high stress levels. In addition, the study highlights a gender divide, with poor quality sleep and EDS more prevalent among females.

The authors warn stressors, such as course demands, make college students vulnerable to sleep disorders which in turn affect academic performance and health. They're calling on universities to do more to promote positive sleep habits and good mental health.

"Sleep disorders are especially harmful for college students because they're associated with several negative effects on academic life," says lead author Dr Paulo Rodrigues from the Faculty of Nutrition, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Brazil.

"These include failures in attention and perception, high absenteeism rate, and sometimes dropping out of the course.

"The university environment offers greater exposure to factors that may compromise sleep habits such as academic stress and social life. It's crucial to evaluate and monitor sleep habits, mental health, and the quality of life of students to reduce the risk of developing other chronic diseases.

"University managers should plan the implementation of institutional actions and policies. This is to stimulate the development of activities that promote good sleep habits and benefit students' mental health."

Living away from home for the first time, using stimulants that impair sleep and keeping erratic bedtimes are all factors that make students vulnerable to a lack of quality rest at night. An average of seven hours sleep has been reported by those attending college when nine hours is considered the ideal for young adults.

Poor sleep and EDS in those attending university has already been identified by studies, but few have investigated any link with stress/depression. This new research is part of the Longitudinal Study on the Lifestyle and Health of University Students (ELESEU) and used data from 2016 and 2017.

The authors surveyed 1,113 undergraduates and post-graduates aged from 16 to 25 years who were enrolled in a range of studies at the Federal University of Mato Grosso in Brazil. Participants were asked about their sleep quality, EDS, socioeconomic status, and their body mass index (BMI) was also assessed.

The data was used to estimate the level of association between poor sleep quality/EDS, and depressive symptoms and perceived stress levels. Results showed a significant link between these factors, and depressive issues and moderate to high stress levels.

In addition to the findings on gender, a link was identified between poor sleep quality and the degree course discipline. Students studying biological and health sciences were more likely to be affected as were those enrolled in social and human sciences.

The mechanism behind sleep disturbance and depression is not unclear, as is whether mental health issues trigger poor quality sleep (or vice versa). Hence, the authors suggest that more research is needed to understand this interaction better.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211102111148.htm

Breastfeeding may help prevent cognitive decline

October 23, 2021

Science Daily/University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences

A new study led by researchers at UCLA Health has found that women over the age of 50 who had breastfed their babies performed better on cognitive tests compared to women who had never breastfed. The findings, published in Evolution, Medicine and Public Health, suggest that breastfeeding may have a positive impact on postmenopausal women's cognitive performance and could have long-term benefits for the mother's brain.

"While many studies have found that breastfeeding improves a child's long-term health and well-being, our study is one of very few that has looked at the long-term health effects for women who had breastfed their babies," said Molly Fox, PhD, lead author of the study and an Assistant Professor in the UCLA Department of Anthropology and the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. "Our findings, which show superior cognitive performance among women over 50 who had breastfed, suggest that breastfeeding may be 'neuroprotective' later in life."

Cognitive health is critical for wellbeing in aging adults. Yet, when cognition becomes impaired after the age of 50, it can be a strong predictor of Alzheimer's Disease (AD), the leading form of dementia and cause of disability among the elderly -- with women comprising nearly two-thirds of Americans living with the disease.

Many studies also show that phases of a woman's reproductive life-history, such as menstruation, pregnancy, breastfeeding and menopause can be linked to a higher or lower risk for developing various health conditions like depression or breast cancer, yet few studies have examined breastfeeding and its impact on women's long-term cognition. Of those that have, there has been conflicting evidence as to whether breastfeeding might be linked to better cognitive performance or Alzheimer's risk among post-menopausal women.

"What we do know is that there is a positive correlation between breastfeeding and a lower risk of other diseases such as type-2 diabetes and heart disease, and that these conditions are strongly connected to a higher risk for AD," said Helen Lavretsky, MD, the senior author of the study and a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.

"Because breastfeeding has also been found to help regulate stress, promote infant bonding and lower the risk of post-partum depression, which suggest acute neurocognitive benefits for the mother, we suspected that it could also be associated with long-term superior cognitive performance for the mother as well," added Dr. Fox.

To find out, the researchers analyzed data collected from women participating in two cross-sectional randomized controlled 12-week clinical trials at UCLA Health: 1) The "Brain Connectivity and Response to Tai Chi in Geriatric Depression and Cognitive Decline," included depressed participants. 2) The "Reducing Risk for Alzheimer's Disease in High-Risk Women through Yoga or Memory Training that included non-depressed participants with some subjective memory complaints and a risk for heart disease.

Among the two trials, 115 women chose to participate, with 64 identified as depressed and 51 non-depressed. All participants completed a comprehensive battery of psychological tests measuring learning, delayed recall, executive functioning and processing speed. They also answered a questionnaire about their reproductive life-history that included questions about the age they began menstruating, number of complete and incomplete pregnancies, the length of time they breastfed for each child and their age of menopause.

Importantly, none of the participants had been diagnosed with dementia, or other psychiatric diagnoses such as bipolar disorder, alcohol or drug dependence, neurological disorders or had other disabilities preventing their participation or taking any psychoactive medications. There was also no significant difference in age, race, education or other cognitive measures between the depressed and non-depressed participants.

Key findings from the researchers' analysis of the data collected from questionnaires on the women's reproductive history revealed that about 65% of non-depressed women reported having breastfed, compared to 44% of the depressed women. All non-depressed participants reported at least one completed pregnancy compared to 57.8% of the depressed participants.

Results from the cognitive tests also revealed that those who had breastfed, regardless of whether they were depressed or not, performed better in all four of the cognitive tests measuring for learning, delayed recall, executive functioning and processing compared to women who had not breastfed.

Separate analyses of the data for the depressed and non-depressed groups also revealed that all four cognitive domain scores were significantly associated with breastfeeding in the women who were not depressed. But in the women who were depressed, only two of the cognitive domains -- executive functioning and processing speed -- were significantly associated with breastfeeding.

Interestingly, the researchers also found that longer time spent breastfeeding was associated with better cognitive performance. When they added up all the time a woman spent breastfeeding in her life, they found that women who did not breastfeed had significantly lower cognitive scores in three out of four domains compared to women who had breastfed for 1-12 months, and in all four domains compared to the women who had breastfed for more than 12 months. Women who had breastfed the longest had the highest cognitive test scores.

"Future studies will be needed to explore the relationship between women's history of breastfeeding and cognitive performance in larger, more geographically diverse groups of women. It is important to better understand the health implications of breastfeeding for women, given that women today breastfeed less frequently and for shorter time periods than was practiced historically," said Dr. Fox.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211023122141.htm

Exposure to childhood adversity is linked to early mortality and associated with nearly half a million annual U.S. deaths

October 12, 2021

Science Daily/Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health

The findings of a new study suggest that childhood adversity is a major contributor to early and preventable causes of mortality and a powerful determinant of long term physical and mental health. Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Harvard University found that childhood adversity is associated with elevated risk for chronic disease including heart disease and cancer. Until now the degree to which childhood adversity contributed to mortality as a preventable driver of ill-health and death was unknown. The findings are published in JAMA Pediatrics.

"Childhood adversity has consistently been identified as a powerful determinant of physical and mental health," said Katherine M. Keyes, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School, and a study senior author. "Our research is a novel synthesis of evidence to estimate the scope of health burden and preventable mortality. Incorporating a life-course perspective, the findings indicates that childhood adversity is closely linked to morbidity and mortality in the U.S. and a preventable determinant of mortality."

Using the databases PsycINFO and MEDLINE the researchers reviewed metanalyses in publications through mid-November 2019 to investigate associations between childhood adversity and morbidity outcomes. The prevalence of childhood adversity was extracted from the National Comorbidity Survey Adolescent Supplement, a population-representative survey of children and their caregivers.

A total of 19 meta-analyses with 20,?654,?832 participants were reviewed. Childhood adversity accounted for approximately 439,072 deaths annually in the U.S. through associations with leading causes of death including heart disease, cancer, and suicide, or 15 percent of the 2,854,838 total number of U.S. mortalities in 2019. In addition, CA was associated with millions of cases of unhealthy behaviors and disease markers, including more than 22 million cases of sexually transmitted infections, 21 million cases of illicit drug use, 19 million cases of elevated inflammation, and more than 10 million cases each of smoking and physical inactivity.

Exposure to one or more experiences of adversity before the age of 18 years was considered and also included abuse, neglect, family violence, and economic adversity. The greatest proportion of outcomes attributable to CA were for suicide attempts and sexually transmitted infections, for which adversity accounted for up to 38 percent and 33 percent, respectively.

"These findings give greater urgency to recent efforts to screen for early adversity in pediatric primary care as a way of identifying children at risk for poor health and delivering early interventions ," said said Keyes. "Considering CA as a preventable contributing factor to early mor tality may help to shift action and funding into prevention of adversity."

Our study adds to a growing literature demonstrating that social determinants of health are important to consider as preventable causes of death. By reframing how we think about the causes of death, the resources available to address population health may be allocated more effectively."

"The prevention of childhood adversity and the intervention on pathways that tie these experiences to elevated disease risk should be considered a critical public health priority."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211012154800.htm

Smoggier skies, lower scores? A Brazilian study examines the effects of air pollution on students’ cognitive performance

October 6, 2021

Science Daily/University of Chicago Press Journals

A new study published in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists looks at the causal relationship between outdoor air pollution levels on nationwide university entry examination day and students' cognitive performance in Brazil.

In "The Effects of Air Pollution on Students' Cognitive Performance: Evidence from Brazilian University Entrance Tests," authors Juliana Carneiro, Matthew A. Cole, and Eric Strobl use Brazilian data on concentrations of ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM10) and a data set of students' scores to examine the impact of air pollution on academic performance in national examinations. The air pollution data focuses on Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo -- Brazil's most industrialized states -- using air pollution and weather monitoring station data to build a unique data panel from 2015-17.

The authors constructed individual-level panel data for the two days of exams across three years and applied student fixed effects to address potential endogeneity concerns. "In addition," they note, "We take advantage of plausibly exogenous spatial and temporal variation in PM10 across municipalities in the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and utilize an instrumental variable approach based on wind direction."

The findings suggest that an increase of 10 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m3) of PM10 on the day of the examination decreases students' scores by 6.1 points (8% SD). "Even when including a more flexible measure of our treatment that is utilizing a dummy variable to account for the days in which PM10 exceeded the WHO's acceptable threshold, our findings still point to negative effects of air pollution on cognitive performance during examinations," they note. Placebo tests, sensitivity checks, and falsifications tests reinforced the main findings: evidence of a link between air pollution and exam performance.

Consistent with previous studies, the authors also find evidence that the effect of air pollution on exam performance appears to affect males more adversely than females. "Our results also suggest that poorer students may be more susceptible to air pollution than wealthier exam takers," they write, adding, "Our findings provide plausible evidence to suggest that cognitive performance may be hindered by poor air quality, but unequally so."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211006170717.htm

Aerobic exercise after a sport-related concussion speeds recovery in adolescent athletes

Daily aerobic exercise significantly reduced the risk of prolonged recovery

September 30, 2021

Science Daily/University at Buffalo

Adolescents can speed their recovery after a sport-related concussion and reduce their risk of experiencing protracted recovery if they engage in aerobic exercise within 10 days of getting injured, according to a new University at Buffalo study.

Published Sept. 30 in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, the randomized controlled trial conducted by researchers at UB's Concussion Management Clinic reproduces and expands on the team's 2019 study published in JAMA Pediatrics.

The new study shows for the first time that sub-symptom threshold aerobic exercise -- meaning exercise that doesn't exacerbate symptoms -- when initiated within 10 days reduced a participant's risk of persistent post-concussion symptoms by 48%.

"The study clearly demonstrates that strict physical rest until symptoms spontaneously resolve is no longer an acceptable way to treat sport-related concussion in adolescents," said John J. Leddy, MD, first author, clinical professor of orthopaedics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, and director of the UB Concussion Management Clinic at UBMD Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine.

Prescribing physical activity

"Our findings show that to accelerate recovery and reduce the risk of delayed recovery, physicians should not only permit, but they should consider prescribing sub-symptom threshold physical activity early after sport-related concussion," he said.

Adolescents are the most vulnerable age group for concussions, and they take the longest time to recover.

The new findings are the result of a large body of work by Leddy and colleague Barry S. Willer, PhD, professor of psychiatry in UB's Jacobs School, research director in the Concussion Management Clinic and senior author on the paper. Leddy and Willer have spent years investigating how concussions impact young athletes.

Their research, which is internationally known, has played a key role in the evolution of guidelines that no longer state that athletes recovering from concussions should be prescribed complete rest.

They began this line of research in 2000 after working together to develop guidelines for return to play after concussion for the International Olympics. They were interested in developing a safe and systematic assessment of exercise tolerance, since this was a known problem after concussion.

"We based our approach on how patients with heart disease are prescribed exercise, by identifying a safe threshold below which the patient can exercise," said Leddy. "We developed our Buffalo Concussion Treadmill Test by adapting a cardiac treadmill test to stress the brain instead of the heart. Since we know that regular aerobic exercise is good for brain health, the goal was to use sub-symptom threshold exercise to see if it could help the concussed brain recover."

Non-pharmacological, safe and effective

"As the current study shows, this approach is non-pharmacological, safe and effective," said Leddy, adding that no adverse events were reported.

Study participants were adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 who had sustained a concussion while playing a sport. A total of 118 adolescents were included, with 61 receiving the aerobic exercise treatment and 57 receiving the placebo treatment of stretching exercises that did not elevate their heart rate.

Those who participated in the aerobic exercise group took a median of 14 days to recover from concussion versus 19 days for those in the stretching exercise group.

The current study differed from the team's 2019 study in the following ways:

• Two new sites were added. It was conducted with participants seen at UB-affiliated community sports medicine clinics, as well as two hospital-affiliated clinics: one at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (connected with the University of Pennsylvania) and Boston Children's Hospital (connected to Harvard Medical School), which tend to see patients with more significant injuries.

• Whereas the previous study relied on participants self-reporting the amount and intensity of exercise they underwent, in the current trial all participants were provided with heart rate monitors to wear while exercising. This allowed the researchers to confirm that the participants actually followed the doctor's prescription for aerobic exercise.

• The study used a different research design called "intent to treat" and included all participants, even those who dropped out before completing the study, an approach that makes it more difficult to obtain positive findings, but which is more reflective of real-world concussion treatment.

The use of heart rate monitors, in particular, revealed to the UB researchers a more robust picture of the aerobic exercise sessions the participants were pursuing at home.

"What we discovered is that participants were quite diligent in following their prescription and further, that those who followed the prescription or may even have exceeded the exercise prescription of 20 minutes per day recovered much faster than those that did not follow the prescription," Willer said. "This finding is important because delayed recovery comes with substantial cost to adolescents, including academic difficulties, risk for depression and reduced quality of life."

Leddy and Willer said there are a number of possible reasons why this approach is effective, related to the physiological and neurological benefits that stem from aerobic exercise, including enhancements to neuroplasticity (i.e. neuron repair).

"We are very pleased that the results of this second study provide much stronger evidence that the Buffalo Protocol is not only effective, but it is effective whoever provides the treatment and with all adolescent athletes who experience a concussion," said Willer. "Importantly, the benefits of prescribed aerobic exercise were experienced by both genders equally."

The UB research focused exclusively on adolescents recovering from sport-related concussion. Other investigations, focused on adults who have sustained a concussion in a non-sport setting, have found that such an approach can be effective but it doesn't work as rapidly or effectively as it does for athletes. In adults, the aerobic exercise approach can work but, Leddy said, it usually has to be combined with other therapies.

"By contrast, this kind of sub-symptom aerobic exercise approach is often the only treatment that adolescent athletes need," he noted.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210930213654.htm

Study links air pollution to nearly 6 million preterm births around the world

Data on indoor and outdoor pollution comes from all inhabited continents

September 28, 2021

Science Daily/University of California - San Francisco

Air pollution likely contributed to almost 6 million premature births and almost 3 million underweight babies in 2019, according to a UC San Francisco and University of Washington global burden of disease study and meta-analysis that quantifies the effects of indoor and outdoor pollution around the world.

The analysis, published September 28, 2021, in PLOS Medicine, is the most in-depth look yet at how air pollution affects several key indicators of pregnancy, including gestational age at birth, reduction in birth weight, low birth weight, and preterm birth. And it is the first global burden of disease study of these indicators to include the effects of indoor air pollution, mostly from cook stoves, which accounted for two-thirds of the measured effects.

A growing body of evidence points to air pollution as a major cause of preterm birth and low birthweight. Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal mortality worldwide, affecting more than 15 million infants every year. Children with low birthweight or who are born premature have higher rates of major illness throughout their lives.

The World Health Organization estimates that more than 90 percent of the world's population lives with polluted outdoor air, and half the global population is also exposed to indoor air pollution from burning coal, dung and wood inside the home.

"The air pollution-attributable burden is enormous, yet with sufficient effort, it could be largely mitigated," said lead author Rakesh Ghosh, PhD, a prevention and public health specialist at the Institute for Global Health Sciences at UCSF.

The analysis, which was conducted with researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, quantified preterm birth and low birthweight risks based on total indoor and outdoor pollution exposure, while also accounting for the likelihood that the negative effects taper off at higher levels.

The study concluded that the global incidence of preterm birth and low birthweight could be reduced by almost 78 percent if air pollution were minimized in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where indoor pollution is common and preterm birth rates are the highest in the world.

But it also found significant risks from ambient air pollution in more developed parts of the world. In the United States, for example, outdoor air pollution is estimated to have contributed to almost 12,000 preterm births in 2019.

Previously, the same research team quantified the effects of air pollution on early life mortality, concluding that it contributed to the deaths of 500,000 newborns in 2019.

"With this new, global and more rigorously generated evidence, air pollution should now be considered a major driver of infant morbidity and mortality, not just of chronic adult diseases," Ghosh said. "Our study suggests that taking measures to mitigate climate change and reduce air pollution levels will have significant health co-benefit for newborns."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210928141834.htm

Children who eat more fruit and veggies have better mental health

September 28, 2021

Science Daily/University of East Anglia

Children who eat a better diet, packed with fruit and vegetables, have better mental wellbeing -- according to new research from the University of East Anglia.

A new study published today is the first to investigate the association between fruit and vegetable intakes, breakfast and lunch choices, and mental wellbeing in UK school children.

It shows how eating more fruit and veg is linked with better wellbeing among secondary school pupils in particular. And children who consumed five or more portions of fruit and veg a day had the highest scores for mental wellbeing.

The study was led by UEA Health and Social Care Partners in collaboration with Norfolk County Council.

The research team say that public health strategies and school policies should be developed to ensure that good quality nutrition is available to all children before and during school to optimise mental wellbeing and empower children to fulfil their full potential.

Lead researcher Prof Ailsa Welch, from UEA's Norwich Medical School, said: "We know that poor mental wellbeing is a major issue for young people and is likely to have long-term negative consequences.

"The pressures of social media and modern school culture have been touted as potential reasons for a rising prevalence of low mental wellbeing in children and young people.

"And there is a growing recognition of the importance of mental health and wellbeing in early life -- not least because adolescent mental health problems often persist into adulthood, leading to poorer life outcomes and achievement.

"While the links between nutrition and physical health are well understood, until now, not much has been known about whether nutrition plays a part in children's emotional wellbeing. So, we set out to investigate the association between dietary choices and mental wellbeing among schoolchildren."

The research team studied data from almost 9,000 children in 50 schools across Norfolk (7,570 secondary and 1,253 primary school children) taken from the Norfolk children and Young People's Health and wellbeing Survey.

This survey was commissioned by the Public Health department of Norfolk County Council and the Norfolk Safeguarding Children Board. It was open to all Norfolk schools during October 2017.

Children involved in the study self-reported their dietary choices and took part in age-appropriate tests of mental wellbeing that covered cheerfulness, relaxation, and having good interpersonal relationships.

Prof Welch said: "In terms of nutrition, we found that only around a quarter of secondary-school children and 28 per cent of primary-school children reported eating the recommended five-a-day fruits and vegetables. And just under one in ten children were not eating any fruits or vegetables.

"More than one in five secondary school children and one in 10 primary children didn't eat breakfast. And more than one in 10 secondary school children didn't eat lunch.

The team looked at the association between nutritional factors and mental wellbeing and took into account other factors that might have an impact -- such as adverse childhood experiences and home situations.

Dr Richard Hayhoe, also from UEA's Norwich Medical School, said: "We found that eating well was associated with better mental wellbeing in children. And that among secondary school children in particular, there was a really strong link between eating a nutritious diet, packed with fruit and vegetables, and having better mental wellbeing.

"We also found that the types of breakfast and lunch eaten by both primary and secondary school pupils were also significantly associated with wellbeing.

"Children who ate a traditional breakfast experienced better wellbeing than those who only had a snack or drink. But secondary school children who drank energy drinks for breakfast had particularly low mental wellbeing scores, even lower than for those children consuming no breakfast at all.

"According to our data, in a class of 30 secondary school pupils, around 21 will have consumed a conventional-type breakfast, and at least four will have had nothing to eat or drink before starting classes in the morning.

"Similarly, at least three pupils will go into afternoon classes without eating any lunch. This is of concern, and likely to affect not only academic performance at school but also physical growth and development.

"Another interesting thing that we found was that nutrition had as much or more of an impact on wellbeing as factors such as witnessing regular arguing or violence at home.

Prof Welch said: "As a potentially modifiable factor at an individual and societal level, nutrition represents an important public health target for strategies to address childhood mental wellbeing.

"Public health strategies and school policies should be developed to ensure that good quality nutrition is available to all children both before and during school in order to optimise mental wellbeing and empower children to fulfil their full potential."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210928075004.htm

Study finds body mass index for children greatest in Midwest, least in West

September 1, 2021

Science Daily/University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

A study examining the body mass index (BMI) of over 14,000 children from birth to age 15 shows those in the Midwest have the highest BMI levels while kids in the West have the lowest, suggesting regional influences may play a role in the development of childhood obesity.

The study, published today in the journal Obesity, also showed a higher birthweight and lower levels of formal education among mothers was associated with higher BMI in children. Black and Hispanic children had a higher BMI than non-Hispanic white children in some, but not all, parts of the country.

"We know that home and school environments are important drivers of children's nutritional status," said the study's lead author Traci Bekelman, PhD, MPH, a research assistant professor in the Lifecourse Epidemiology of Adiposity and Diabetes (LEAD) Center at the Colorado School of Public Health at CU Anschutz. "But we don't know as much about regional influences."

Obesity is a persistent problem in adults and increasingly in children. At least 35% of children are overweight or suffer from obesity. Interventions often fail so investigators in this study wanted to see if regional differenchttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210903132656.htmes could account for varying BMI levels.

"If we know the factors that affect children's body size, we can help prevent them from becoming overweight or obese," said the study's senior author Dana Dabelea, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health and director of the LEAD Center. "This study looked at factors related to children's body size, like where children live, how much they weighed at birth, and their ethnic background."

The study population was drawn from the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program. ECHO investigates the effects of environmental exposures on child health. In this study, that included a large sample of children from 25 community and clinic-based cohorts with longitudinal data across the US.

Researchers studied the Northeast, Midwest, South and the West. Children of differing racial groups were included and about half were girls. They measured children's height and weight between the years 2000 and 2018, then calculated BMI based on this data. The researchers also had information on race, ethnicity, neighborhood and the mother's level of education.

Overall, they found that children in the Midwest had the highest BMI followed by the Northeast, the South and the West. These differences mostly remained even after researchers took into consideration the type of people living in each region.

Bekelman said the features of the environment in each area could impact BMI. She said the team was surprised that they only found racial and ethnic differences in BMI in certain areas.

"This finding and future studies could help researchers understand the causes of health disparities," she said.

According to the study, the connection between geographical regions and BMI are not well understood, especially BMI in children. Adult data show diet quality and time doing moderate-to-vigorous exercise are higher in the West and Northeast compared to the South and Midwest, suggesting lifestyle behaviors play a role. But other studies show no regional variation in physical activity.

Then there are environmental factors including density of fast food restaurants, supermarkets and recreation facilities that have all been linked to childhood BMI. State and regional regulations for the kinds of food and drinks offered at schools and in childcare also vary widely and have been linked to BMI. But there is little evidence of regional variation.

The findings set the stage for additional studies to determine why BMI varies from place to place.

"For example, researchers could study whether children's eating habits and their physical activity levels also vary based on the area they live in," Bekelman said. "Another next step is to find out why there are racial and ethnic differences in BMI in some areas but not others."

Understanding regional influences on BMI, she said, may boost efforts to head off health disparities among populations.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210901142710.htm

Breast milk proven to enhance heart performance in premature babies

August 30, 2021

Science Daily/RCSI

New research from RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences demonstrates the beneficial effect of breast milk consumption on cardiovascular health and early cardiovascular development in premature infants.

Published in JAMA Network Open, the study of 80 preterm infants is the first of its kind to show that preterm infants with higher exposure their mother's own milk had enhanced cardiac function at age one year, with values approaching those of healthy full-term infants.

The research was led by Professor Afif EL-Khuffash, Clinical Professor of Paediatrics at RCSI and Consultant Neonatologist at the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, in collaboration with researchers at University of Oxford; Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto; Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; Washington University School of Medicine; and, Harvard Medical School.

Children and adults who are born preterm are at increased risk of cardiovascular disorders, including ischemic heart disease, heart failure, systemic and pulmonary hypertension, and are more likely to die as a result of cardiovascular disease. The hearts of young people born early are known to have unique traits such as reduced biventricular volume, shorter length, lower systolic and diastolic function and a disproportionate increase in muscle mass. This results in impaired heart function, which is significantly lower than that of healthy infants who are born at term. This dysfunction is detectable at hospital discharge and persists throughout their adolescence.

This study shows that exclusive breast milk consumption in the first months after birth is associated with a normalisation of some of these traits. Premature infants exposed to a high proportion of their mother's own milk during the first few week after delivery had greater left and right heart function and structure with lower lung pressures and enhanced right heart response to stress at one year of age compared to preterm infants who had a higher intake of formula, with all measures approaching those seen in term-born healthy children.

These findings were apparent before discharge from the hospital and persisted up to a year of age (the duration of follow up).

Professor EL-Khuffash said: "This study provides the first evidence of an association between early postnatal nutrition in preterm-born infants and heart function over the first year of age, and adds to the already known benefits of breast milk for infants born prematurely."

"Preterm infants have abnormal heart function. However, those who are fed their mother's own milk demonstrate recovery of their heart function to levels comparable to healthy term born infants. Preterm infants fed formula do not demonstrate this recovery."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210830140234.htm

Young athletes with history of concussions may have more changes to their brains

Study finds changes in brain blood flow and microstructure

August 25, 2021

Science Daily/American Academy of Neurology

A new study suggests athletes with a history of concussion may show more brain injury from a later concussion, particularly in middle regions of the brain that are more susceptible to damage, when compared to athletes with no history of concussion. The research is published in the August 25, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The athletes participated in sports like football, volleyball and soccer.

"We know concussions may have long-term effects on the brain that last beyond getting a doctor's clearance to return to play," said study author Tom A. Schweizer, PhD, of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Canada. "It is unclear, however, to what extent the effects of repeated concussion can be detected among young, otherwise healthy adults. We found even though there was no difference in symptoms or the amount of recovery time, athletes with a history of concussion showed subtle and chronic changes in their brains."

This study focused on changes within two areas in the middle of the brain that are especially vulnerable to concussion. Researchers focused on blood flow in the cingulate cortex and white matter microstructure in the corpus callosum. Changes in blood flow and microstructure that show up on brain scans can indicate underlying brain injury. The cingulate cortex is a layer of gray matter that coordinates sensory and motor skills. Below it is the corpus callosum, a broad band of nerve fibers linking the two hemispheres of the brain.

The study looked at 228 athletes with an average age of 20. This included 61 with a recent concussion and 167 without. Within the first group, 36 had a history of concussion. Within the second group, 73 had a history of concussion.

Researchers took up to five brain scans of each recently concussed athlete, from time of injury to one year after returning to play.

Researchers found that one year after a recent concussion, athletes with a history of concussion had sharper declines in blood flow within one area of the cingulate compared to those without a history of concussions. Those with a history of concussion had an average cerebral blood flow of 40 milliliters (mL) per minute, per 100 grams (g) of brain tissue. Those without a history of concussion had an average cerebral blood flow of 53 mL per minute, per 100g of brain tissue.

In athletes with a history of concussion, in the weeks after a new concussion, researchers also found microstructural changes in a region of the brain called the splenium, which is part of the corpus callosum.

"Our findings suggest that an athlete with a history of concussion should be watched closely, as these subtle brain changes may be worsened by repeated injury," said Schweizer. "Additionally, our results should raise concern about the cumulative effects of repeated head injuries later in life."

A limitation of the study is that athletes reported their own histories of concussion and could be inaccurate. Further research is needed that would follow athletes over time.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210825163648.htm

Stressed teens benefit from coping online, but a little goes a long way

August 24, 2021

Science Daily/Association for Psychological Science

An adolescent's day can be filled with a dizzying array of digital technologies. For many teenagers, being online is a way to pass the time and communicate with friends. Cell phones and social media can also help teens cope with stressful events -- as long as they strike the right balance between spending time online and pursuing other coping activities.

New research published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science reveals that teenagers (ages 13-17) in low socioeconomic settings who spend a moderate amount of time online after a stressful experience deal with adversity far better than those who spend many hours online or avoid digital technology altogether.

"Adolescents are smart, and they make use of technology to their own advantage. Because adolescents in disadvantaged settings tend to have fewer local supports, the study sought to find out whether online engagement helped reduce their stress,'' said lead author Kathryn Modecki with Griffith University's Menzies Health Institute and School of Applied Psychology. "There has been a tendency to assume that technology use by teens is negative and harmful, but such a broad assumption isn't borne out by what we know about the developmental stage of adolescence."

To gather firsthand data on teens and technology, the researchers provided iPhones to more than 200 adolescents living in low socioeconomic settings. The teens were instructed to report on their technology use, stressors, and emotions five times a day for a week while using the iPhones exactly as they would use personal smartphones. The data were used to compare the emotional states of adolescents who used technology moderately, excessively, or not at all when coping with stress.

The results revealed that adolescents who engaged with technology in moderation in the hours after a stressful situation bounced back more readily and experienced smaller surges in negative emotions, like sadness and worry, compared to adolescents who didn't use technology or who routinely used technology as a coping mechanism.

"We found a just-right 'Goldilocks' effect in which moderate amounts of online coping helped mitigate surges in negative emotions and dips in happiness," said Modecki. "In the face of daily stressors, when adolescents engaged in emotional support seeking, they experienced better short-term stress relief."

According to the researchers, the online space serves not just as a short-term distraction but as a resource for adolescents to find support and information about what is troubling them. By leveling the playing field for accessing that information and support, this coping strategy may be especially pertinent for teens in low-income settings.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210824135308.htm

Weight gain isn’t inevitable when you start college

Freshmen gain 3 pounds on average over their first semester

August 24, 2021

Science Daily/University of Georgia

Everyone's heard about the so-called freshman 15, but new research from the University of Georgia suggests that counteracting this weight gain might be more complicated than just taking a walk around the quad.

The freshman 15 is actually a bit of a misnomer, with students typically only putting on around 8 pounds over their first year. But that's a substantial amount of weight to gain, particularly for students who are already overweight. In the study, UGA researchers found that first-years do pack on pounds, about 3 on average over the course of the semester. But implementing healthy patterns early can help stave off that weight gain.

A contributing factor to weight gain

Published in the Journal of American College Health, the study found that vigorous physical activity, the kind of exercise that gets your heart rate up and makes you sweat, was almost nonexistent among the first-year students at a public university in the South. The American Heart Association recommends all adults participate in 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of intense exercise (or a combination of the two). At the start of the study, only two out of five students met the recommended level of activity.

That's not to say none of the students were exercising. In fact, their moderate physical activity, such as walking across campus or biking at a casual pace, didn't actually change much from when they were in high school. Some freshmen even upped their moderate activity.

But by the end of the study -- which followed students during their first semester at school -- almost 70% of the students reported no vigorous physical activity at all. At the beginning of the study, students reported higher levels of activity, with only 40% saying they weren't exercising hard enough to start panting at the beginning of the study.

"You have to be really motivated to engage in that level of activity," said Yangyang Deng, lead author of the study and a graduate student in the Mary Frances Early College of Education. "In high school, there are many opportunities to be involved in sports, but those disappear for many students in college."

The transition to college

As a result, the students in the study saw modest but significant increases in body mass index, or BMI, a screening tool that divides a person's weight by their height to determine whether they're a healthy size. (A normal or healthy BMI value should fall between 18.5 and 24.9.) The students also added an average of a little over 3 pounds by the end of the semester, which sounds small but easily adds up as the college years go by.

Despite meal plans and 24/7 access to some campus dining options, the study showed that neither meal plan status nor whether the student lived on campus or off significantly predicted weight gain. But lack of vigorous activity did.

"The life transition from high school is a big one, and we know from research that life transitions are a big factor in changing our health behaviors," said Sami Yli-Piipari, author of the study, associate professor in the College of Education and director of the Children's Physical Activity and Fitness Lab. "And other studies have previously reported that the more academically challenging the university is, the more weight students gain."

The students who were highly active in their lives before college, though, remained highly active at university, emphasizing the importance of teaching children that exercising and eating a healthy diet is important for your future.

"The message of this study is that we have to do a better job of helping young people be active because that affects how active they are later in life as well," Yli-Piipari said.

Establish healthy habits early

The study tracked over 100 students, measuring things like physical activity, BMI, motivation (or lack thereof) to exercise and how their friends and family viewed their exercise habits. The researchers also examined the role university services played in students' activity levels.

For example, university health centers often have programming to teach students how to cook healthier meals and fit more activity into their lives, but the researchers found that most of the students in the study weren't aware these services were available. And that awareness didn't improve over the course of the semester.

The students' increased BMI is obviously a concern, but we should really focus on a more holistic view of health, especially increasing moderate and vigorous activity for students. Establishing these good exercise habits now can have lifelong benefits." -- Yangyang Deng, lead author of the study,

They were, however, aware of recreational activities at the student fitness center, and intramural sports and fitness classes had a positive effect on students' physical activity levels. Having friends who exercised and supported their classmates' efforts to work out also boosted vigorous activity levels.

"Vigorous physical activity most often occurs because of something like playing on a sports team, or if you're really motivated, to achieve a goal, like running a marathon," said Yli-Piipari. "You have to be really motivated to push yourself to that limit where you really are working hard to get those health benefits that come from that level of activity."

From an institutional perspective, heavily promoting healthy cooking classes, exercise courses or other university resources could have a big effect on student health. On a more personal level, students who want to boost their fitness should consider signing up for intramural sports teams, group exercise classes or sessions with a personal trainer, which are often available from university rec centers for discounted rates.

"The students' increased BMI is obviously a concern, but we should really focus on a more holistic view of health, especially increasing moderate and vigorous activity for students," Deng said. "Establishing these good exercise habits now can have lifelong benefits."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210824121043.htm

Teens who use cannabis frequently more likely to have premature baby

August 19, 2021

Science Daily/University of Bristol

Teenagers who use cannabis frequently may be more likely to have children born preterm, when they become parents up to twenty years later, finds a new University of Bristol-led study. The research, published in Scientific Reports, repeatedly assessed 665 participants in a general population cohort on their tobacco and cannabis use between ages 14 to 29 years, before pregnancy.

The study, led by academics at the University of Bristol in collaboration with the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Australia, is the first to identify that frequent adolescent cannabis use may also carry intergenerational risks

Maternal tobacco or cannabis use in pregnancy is linked to babies being born preterm and having low birth weight, raising the risks for health problems in these babies. Substance use in pregnancy tends to be a continuation of use that started before pregnancy, raising a question of whether use in pregnancy or before could be associated with a baby's early growth. The collaborative research team used the prospective cohort from the Australian Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort Study (VAHCS) and Victorian Intergenerational Health Cohort Study (VIHCS), with parents recruited to the study when they were in secondary school and followed up until they started having children in their late 20s and 30s; their children were then recruited into a new study.

The researchers found babies born to parents (aged 29 and over) who had used cannabis every day for a period of time between the ages of 15-17 were estimated to be considerably more likely to be born preterm or to have a low birth weight, when compared to babies born to parents who hadn't used cannabis as teenagers. This effect was limited to people using cannabis at the highest levels of frequency.

The findings are the results of a 20-year prospective study, following parents from their teenage years into their 30s, which found that 20 per cent of all preterm births to study participants occurred in parents who had used cannabis daily during their teenage years.

Dr Lindsey Hines, Research Fellow in Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences (PHS) at the University of Bristol, said: "Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug amongst teenagers. There is already evidence that frequent adolescent cannabis use increases the risks for poor mental health, but our results indicate there may be further effects that individuals may not anticipate.

"As regulations around legal use liberalise, there is a possibility that adolescent use may increase in some countries. These findings provide additional motivation for ensuring that policy changes do not lead to greater adolescent use."

George Patton, Professorial Fellow in Adolescent Health Research with the University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children's Research Institute, added: "The more we study heavy cannabis use in the teens, the more problematic it looks. Given growing political and industry drivers for legalisation of use, there is a pressing need for bigger and better research into understanding harms arising from heavy adolescent use."

This is the first study to use a prospective cohort to explore associations between pre-conception substance use and birth outcomes, and the findings need to be tested in other samples. Given the study's participants were both mothers or fathers of the babies and that heavy teenage use is most common in boys, these findings are particularly important for males.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210819102752.htm

Just 10% of kids with ADHD outgrow it

Researchers said that attention deficit hyperactive disorder waxes and wanes over a lifetime

August 13, 2021

Science Daily/University of Washington School of Medicine/UW Medicine

Most children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) don't outgrow the disorder, as widely thought. It manifests itself in adulthood in different ways and waxes and wanes over a lifetime, according to a study published Aug.13 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

"It's important for people diagnosed with ADHD to understand that it's normal to have times in your life where things maybe more unmanageable and other times when things feel more under control," said lead researcher Margaret Sibley, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a researcher at Seattle Children's Research Institute.

Study authors from 16 institutions in the United States, Canada, and Brazil said decades of research characterize ADHD as a neurobiological disorder typically first detected in childhood that persists into adulthood in approximately 50% of cases. But this study found just 10% of children completely outgrow it.

"Although intermittent periods of remission can be expected in most cases, 90% of children with ADHD in the Multimodal Treatment Study of ADHD continued to experience residual symptoms into young adulthood," they wrote.

ADHD is characterized by two main cluster of symptoms, according to researchers. The inattentive symptoms look like disorganization, forgetfulness, and having trouble staying on task. Then there are also the hyperactive, impulsive symptoms. In children, those symptoms look like having a lot of energy, such as running around and climbing on things. In adults, it manifests more as verbal impulsivity, difficulty with decision-making, and not thinking before acting. The disorder affects people differently and looks different depending on what phase of life someone's in.

Some people with ADHD also report a unique ability to hyper-focus. Olympic athletes Michael Phelps and Simone Biles have been open about their ADHD diagnosis.

While many people may experience symptoms similar to ADHD, it is estimated the disorder roughly affects 5% to 10% of the population, said Sibley.

16 years of research

This study followed a group of 558 children with ADHD for 16 years -- from 8-years old to 25 years-old. The cohort had eight assessments, every two years, to determine whether they had symptoms of ADHD. The researchers also asked their family members and teachers about their symptoms.

Sibley said the belief that 50% of children outgrow ADHD was first put forward in the mid-1990s. Most studies, she said, only re-connected with the kids one time in adulthood. So, researchers didn't get to see that the ADHD that they thought had gone away actually does come back.

Coping with ADHD

Researchers have yet to find what causes ADHD to flare. Sibley said it could be stress, the wrong environment, and not having a healthy lifestyle of proper sleep, healthy eating, and regular exercise. Also, if a person is not taking the time to manage symptoms and really understand what works best for them, then the symptoms are probably going to get more out of control, she said.

Medication and therapy are the two main treatment for ADHD. But, Sibley said, people can pursue their own healthy coping skills as well.

Researchers found that most people who technically no longer meet criteria for ADHD in adulthood still have some traces of ADHD, but they were managing well on their own.

"The key is finding a job or a life passion that ADHD does not interfere with," Sibley said. "You are going to see a lot of creative people have ADHD because they're able to be successful in their creative endeavors despite having ADHD, whereas people who might be required to do very detail-oriented work at a computer all day -- that could be a really hard combination for a person with ADHD."

Sibley said the time to seek professional help is when the symptoms are causing a problem in your life. This includes not performing your best, problems with other people, having a hard time getting along, difficulty maintaining healthy, long-term relationships with loved ones and friends, and inability to complete basic daily tasks -- whether that's parenting, staying on top of your finances, or just keeping an organized household.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210813100258.htm