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Background: Pregnancy mobile applications (apps) have grown in popularity over the past decade, with some being used to promote study recruitment or health behaviors. However, no app serves as an all-in-one solution for collecting general data for research purposes and providing women with useful and desirable features.Aim: To create and develop a Swiss pregnancy mobile app as an innovative means to collect research data and provide users with reliable information.Methods: Determining the key features of the app involved a review of the literature and assessment of popular apps in the Swiss AppStore. A team of engineers developed the app, which includes a pregnancy timeline, questionnaires for data collection, medical and psychological articles and a checklist with appointment reminders. The content was written and reviewed by healthcare providers considered experts in the topics adressed. The questionnaires are distributed based on the user’s gestational age, by a chatbot. The project was authorized by the ethics commission in the canton of Vaud. An online survey of ten questions, advertised on Datamama’s home screen, was conducted to assess the users’ use of the app (27.11- 19.12.2022).Results: A review of 84 articles and 25 popular apps showed the need for a comprehensive pregnancy app. The development of Datamama took 2 years and included the creation of 70 medical and psychological articles and 29 questionnaires covering 300 unique variables. Six months after the launch, there were 800 users with a 73% average participation rate in the questionnaires. Sixty-five women completed the survey, with 70.8% using the app once to multiple times per week. The primary reason for using the app was to help research by answering the questionnaires, followed by access to reliable medical information. The reason most frequently ranked first for using the app was to help research by answering the questionnaires (42/65, 67% of women rated it first), followed by access to reliable medical information (34/65, 54% women rated it second). Women rated the information as clear, understandable, and interesting with a trust rating in data handling at 98.5%. The average grade for recommending the app was 8/10, with suggestions for increasing the amount of medical content and tailoring it based on gestational age.Conclusion: Datamama is the first pregnancy app to address the needs of both patients and researchers. Initial feedback from users was positive, highlighting future challenges for success. Future work will consist in improving the app, validating the data and use it to answer specific pregnancy-related research questions.

Potential determinants. Detailed description of all potential determinants. (PDF 146Â kb)

Flow chart. Diagram describing the inclusion of participants in the present study. (PDF 54Â kb)

Sensitivity analysis. (PDF 194 kb)

Multiple imputation procedure. (PDF 70 kb)

The prevalence of obesity in preschool children has increased dramatically in the last 30 years. At the same time, children’s physical activity levels have decreased and sedentary behaviours have increased. These trends are of great concern for public health due to their immediate and long-term consequences for the health of affected individuals. The preschool years (age 3-5 years) are regarded as critical for the establishment of a healthy lifestyle and a healthy weight. Yet, little is known about this young population. The thesis at hand provided a better understanding of the relationship of physical activity and sedentary behaviour with adiposity and the influence of the childcare environment on these factors in preschool children. This research is based on the Swiss Preschoolers’ Health Study (SPLASHY), a multi- site prospective cohort study aimed at understanding the influence of stress and physical activity on preschool children’s psychological and physiological health. This thesis assessed and analysed cross-sectional and longitudinal measures of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and adiposity. Furthermore, it evaluated the influence of the child-care environment on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and adiposity. Cross-sectional results identified a number of relevant factors: more frequent child- initiated interactions with other children during childcare, mixing different ages within a childcare group, the presence of a written physical activity convention, and/or a larger childcare surface. These were related to children’s physical activity and sedentary behaviour during childcare days and mostly also to overall physical activity on both home and childcare days. Parental involvement in childcare physical activity projects correlated with reduced body fat. In addition, cross-sectional analyses showed that physical activity was positively associated with BMI and waist circumference in both the total population and in the normal weight group. Vigorous physical activity was negatively associated with body fat in the overweight and obese group, but not in the normal weight group. Longitudinal results showed that higher levels of total physical activity and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity predicted lower adiposity 1 year later. Sedentary behaviour did not predict adiposity 1 year later. Furthermore, adiposity did not predict physical activity nor sedentary behaviour. These findings contribute to the current understanding of the relationship of physical activity behaviours with adiposity and confirm the benefits of being active from early childhood. We have identified particular childcare correlates of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and adiposity that can be valuable targets for change in future interventions. Furthermore, encouraging children to engage in physical activity of at least moderate intensity may be more important to public health than reducing sedentary behaviour for preventing obesity in healthy preschool children.

Potential correlates. (PDF 139 kb)

Background. The childcare (CC) environment can influence young children’s physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior (SB), and adiposity. The aim of the study was to identify a broad range of CC correlates of PA, SB, and adiposity in a large sample of preschoolers. Methods. 476 preschool children (mean age 3.9 yrs; 47% girls) participated in the Swiss Preschoolers’ Health Study (SPLASHY). PA and SB were measured by accelerometry. Outcome measures included total PA (TPA), moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), SB, body mass index (BMI), and skinfold thickness (SF). PA measures consisted of both daily PA during CC attendance days and overall daily PA (CC and non-CC days). Results. We identified the following CC correlates for higher TPA and/or higher MVPA or lower SB during CC attendance days: older age, sex (boys), more frequent child-initiated interactions during CC, mixing different ages within a group, and the presence of a written PA policy in the CC (all p≤0.02). The CC correlates for overall TPA and/or MVPA or lower overall SB including both CC and non-CC days were the following: older age, sex (boys), more frequent child-initiated interactions during CC, mixing different ages within a group, less parental PA involvement in the CC, and having a larger surface area in CC (all p≤0.046). Correlates for lower SF were sex (boys) and parental PA involvement in the CC (all p≤0.02), and, for lower BMI, only increased age (p=0.001) was a correlate. Conclusions. More frequent child-initiated interactions and mixing different ages in CC, the presence of a written PA policy, and a larger CC surface are correlates of PA and SB during CC attendance days and/or of overall PA. Parental involvement in CC PA projects was a correlate for reduced body fat. These novel factors are mostly modifiable and can be tackled/addressed in future interventions.