Search

Background: Insufficient sleep is potentially an important modifiable risk factor for obesity and poor physical activity and sedentary behaviours among children. However, inconsistencies across studies highlight the need for more objective measures. This paper examines the relationship between sleep duration and objectively measured physical activity, sedentary time and weight status, among a sample of Victorian Primary School children.Methods: A sub-sample of 298 grades four (n = 157) and six (n = 132) Victorian primary school children (aged 9.2-13.2 years) with complete accelerometry and anthropometry data, from 39 schools, were taken from a pilot study of a larger state based cluster randomized control trial in 2013. Data comprised: researcher measured height and weight; accelerometry derived physical activity and sedentary time; and self-reported sleep duration and hypothesised confounding factors (e.g. age, gender and environmental factors).Results: Compared with sufficient sleepers (67 %), those with insufficient sleep (<10 hrs/day) were significantly more likely to be overweight (OR 1.97, 95 % CI:1.11-3.48) or obese (OR 2.43, 95 % CI:1.26-4.71). No association between sleep and objectively measured physical activity levels or sedentary time was found.Conclusion: The strong positive relationship between weight status and sleep deprivation merits further research though PA and sedentary time do not seem to be involved in the relationship. Strategies to improve sleep duration may help obesity prevention initiatives in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Community-based interventions have shown promise in addressing the childhood obesity epidemic. Such efforts rely on the knowledge of key community members and their engagement with the drivers of obesity in their community. This paper presents the protocol for the measurement and evaluation of knowledge and engagement among community leaders within a whole-of-community systems intervention across 10 large intervention communities in Australia.Methods: We will investigate the role of stakeholder knowledge and engagement in the implementation and effectiveness of the stepped wedge cluster randomised trial in ten communities in Victoria, Australia. Data will be collected using the Stakeholder-driven Community Diffusion Survey (SDCD) to measure levels of knowledge and engagement prior to commencement (2019), across the three separate levels of governance within the intervention at five time points. Primary outcomes will be baseline overall knowledge and engagement scores across the three levels of governance and change in overall knowledge and engagement over time.Discussion: We hypothesise there will be heterogeneity between intervention sites on levels of knowledge and engagement and that these differences will be associated with variability in implementation success.Trial Registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12618001986268 . Registered on 11 December 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]