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Visceral adipose tissue accumulation is strongly linked with numerous chronic diseases; however, the accessibility for visceral adipose tissue measurement is limited. This study employed a cross-sectional design to determine the optimal strongest predictor of high visceral adipose tissue in each sex and identified the optimal cutoff value thereof. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 94 men and 326 women aged ≥40 years in southern Taiwan. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to explore the optimal predictor of high visceral adipose tissue (defined as ≥135 cm 2 for men and ≥100 cm 2 for women) in each sex. The waist-to-hip ratio was the strongest predictor for men, with a cutoff value of 0.96 yielding the maximum sensitivity (94.29%) and specificity (93.22%). By contrast, body mass index was the strongest predictor for women, with a cutoff value of 25.45 kg/m 2 yielding the maximum sensitivity (87.18%) and specificity (87.55%). The results may serve as a reference for health policy-makers in screening for high visceral adipose tissue to identify individuals at high risk of developing chronic diseases for health promotion., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

Adequate physical activity is associated with improved sleep in adults. Such associations, however, vary greatly across studies in pediatric populations, with no studies involving infants found in the literature. This prospective observational study was designed, therefore, to examine the association between physical activity and sleep patterns in infants. A total of 183 healthy infants aged 6 months wore an actigraph for 7 days to measure physical activity and sleep. Parents and caregivers completed a sleep‐activity diary over the same period documenting the different types of infant activities. Daily mean time spent in screen‐time‐or‐limited physical activity, including screen‐based (e.g., watching television or other electronic devices) and non‐screen based activity (e.g., quiet play or restricted infant movement when carried by caregivers or seated in high chairs, swings, or bouncer seats), was 6.68 hr (SD = 1.99), which represented 47.50% of daytime waking hours (SD = 13.73). We found that 65 (35.5%) infants engaged in some screen time during the study, with 10 (5.5%) infants having an average daily screen time >30 min. In our multivariate linear regression model, more hours of screen‐time‐or‐limited physical activity per day were significantly associated with a decrease in total daily 24 hr sleep duration (p < 0.01). Findings from our study suggest that reducing screen‐time‐or‐limited physical activity might be an approach for promoting adequate sleep and lengthening infant daily sleep duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the relationship between daily physical activity (DPA) and memory capacity, as well as the association between daily activity and attention capacity, in college students in Taiwan. Participants (mean age = 20.79) wore wearable trackers for 106 days in order to collect DPA. These data were analyzed in association with their memory and attention capacities, as assessed using the spatial span test (SST) and the trail making test (TMT). The study showed significant negative correlations between memory capacity, time spent on the attention test (TSAT), calories burnt, and very active time duration (VATD) on the day before testing (r=−0.272, r=−0.176, r=0.289, r=0.254, resp.) and during the week prior to testing (r=−0.364, r=−0.395, r=0.268, r=0.241, resp.). The calories burnt and the VATD per day thresholds, which at best discriminated between normal-to-good and low attention capacity, were ≥2283 calories day−1, ≥20 minutes day−1 of very high activity (VHA) on the day before testing, or ≥13,640 calories week−1, ≥76 minutes week−1 of VHA during the week prior to testing. Findings indicated the short-term effects that VATD and calories burnt on the day before or during the week before testing significantly and negatively associated with memory and attention capacities of college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity is an independent risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). However, 'obesity paradox' is observed in patients with coronary artery disease while defining obesity by body mass index (BMI). The purpose of this study is to identify a better anthropometric parameter to predict cardiovascular events in patients with ASCVD. The study was conducted using the Taiwanese Secondary Prevention for patients with AtheRosCLErotic disease (T-SPARCLE) Registry. A total of 6,920 adult patients with stable ASCVD, enrolled from January 2010 to November 2014, were included, with a mean age of 65.9 years, 73.9% males, and a mean BMI of 26.3 kg/m 2 at baseline. These patients were followed up for a median of 2.5 years. The study endpoint was the composite major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE), defined as cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction or stroke, or cardiac arrest with resuscitation. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression showed a significant positive association between waist-to-BMI ratio and MACE (adjusted hazard ratio 1.69 per cm‧m 2 /kg increase in waist-to-BMI ratio, 95% CI 1.12-2.49, p = 0.01) after adjusting for potential risk factors and confounders. Traditional anthropometric parameters, such as BMI, weight, waist and waist-hip ratio, or newer waist-based indices, such as body roundness index and a body shape index, did not show any significant linear associations (p = 0.09, 0.30, 0.89, 0.54, 0.79 and 0.06, respectively). In the restricted cubic spline regression analysis, the positive dose-response association between waist-to-BMI ratio and MACE persisted across all the range of waist-to-BMI ratio. The positive dose-response association was non-linear with a much steeper increase in the risk of MACE for waist-to-BMI ratio > 3.6 cm‧m 2 /kg. In conclusion, waist-to-BMI ratio may function as a positive predictor for the risk of MACE in established ASCVD patients., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Actigraphy plus single-channel electroencephalography (EEG) has a high agreement with polysomnography and is considered a simple method for monitoring sleep at home. No studies, however, have evaluated its agreement with sleep logs. Purpose: A sleep log was compared to a single-channel EEG in adults with sleep disturbances. The determinants of the agreement between the two recording methods were explored. Method: This prospective comparison substudy included 71 participants aged 22–67 years sampled from a previous study of nonpharmacological therapy for sleep disturbances. The participants concurrently used a sleep log and a single-channel EEG machine for 6 days to measure their sleep at home. Total sleep time (TST) and sleep onset latency (SOL) were compared. Results: Correlations between measurements were .43 for TST (p < .001) and .30 (p < .01) for SOL. Bland–Altman analysis revealed that the mean bias between methods was 81.54 min (standard deviation [SD] = 66.72 min) for TST and 5.58 min (SD = 25.38 min) for SOL. SDs for both TST and SOL were higher for the sleep log than for EEG. A multivariate linear regression model demonstrated that age (standardized coefficient β = .42, p = .001) was a significant predictor of the mean difference in SOL measurements, accounting for 13.7% of the total variance in the mean difference. Conclusion: Sleep log and single-channel EEG sleep measures are distinct from one another, and age predicts the mean level of disagreement between the two measures in adults with sleep disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging causes various changes in body composition, which are critical implications for health and physical functioning in aging adults. The aim of this study was to explore the body composition outcomes of a qigong intervention among community-dwelling aging adults. This was a quasi-experimental study in which 90 participants were recruited. Forty-eight participants (experimental group) attended a 30-min qigong program 3 times per week for 12 weeks, whereas 42 participants (control group) continued performing their usual daily activities. The experimental group achieved a greater reduction in the fat mass percentage at the posttest, and exhibited increased fat-free mass, lean body mass percentage, and lean body mass to fat mass ratio compared with the controls. No difference between the two groups in body mass index, fat mass, and lean body mass was observed. These results indicated that the qigong intervention showed beneficial outcomes of body composition among community-dwelling aging adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined associations between four health-related physical fitness measures and obesity in Taiwanese youth aged 10–18 years. Data from 13,500 school-aged youth were randomly selected from the “School Physical Fitness Database” of Taiwan by sex and age. Variables examined were height, body mass and performance on modified sit-and-reach (flexibility), bent-leg sit-up (abdominal muscular strength/endurance), standing long jump (lower body explosive strength) and distance run/walk (cardiorespiratory endurance). Adjusted logistic regression analyses were performed. Increased odds of being obese with decreased fitness levels were observed for lower body explosive strength and cardiorespiratory endurance in both sexes. The highest odds of being obese was found in the least fit quintile of cardiorespiratory endurance compared with the most fit quintile both in boys (Odds ratio, OR = 10.44; 95% confidence interval (CI), 7.94–13.73) and girls (OR = 5.40; 95% CI, 3.90–7.47). These findings suggest that in addition to cardiorespiratory fitness, lower body explosive strength is also associated with childhood and adolescent obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]