RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To assess the validity and reproducibility of a self-reported questionnaire on physical activity and inactivity, developed for children aged 10-14 in Mexico City. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between May and December 1996, a self-reported physical activity and inactivity questionnaire was developed and applied twice to a sample of 114 students aged 10 to 14, from a low and middle income population of Mexico City. The children's mothers completed the same questionnaire, and two 24-hour recalls of physical activity were used for comparison. Statistical analysis consisted of central tendency and dispersion measures and Pearson's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Correlations between hours per day spent in physical activity and inactivity from the children's questionnaire and the 24-hour recall data, were 0.03 for moderate activity, 0.15 for vigorous activity, and 0.51 (p = 0.001) for watching television, adjusted by age, gender, town, and illness prior to the administration of the questionnaire. Compared to the 24-hour recall data, the questionnaire overestimated the time spent watching television, reading or participating in vigorous activity, and underestimated the time engaged in moderate activity. Statistically significant (p < 0.05) six-month reproducibility values were observed for watching television (r = 0.53), sleeping (r = 0.40), moderate (r = 0.38), and vigorous activity (r = 0.55). CONCLUSIONS: Among children of Mexico City aged 10-14, the questionnaire showed acceptable validity in estimating the time watching television, and acceptable reproducibility of the time watching television, vigorous and moderate activity.
Assuntos
Exercício Físico , Inquéritos e Questionários , Adolescente , Criança , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , México , Reprodutibilidade dos Testes , População UrbanaRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To assess the association of physical activity, television program viewing and other forms of video viewing with the prevalence of obesity among school children. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SUBJECTS: 712 children, 9-16 y old, from a low- and a middle-income town in the Mexico City area. MEASUREMENTS: Children completed a self administered questionnaire to assess time spent in physical activity and television viewing, and diet. Height weight and triceps skinfolds were measured. The outcome variable was obesity, and the covariates were hours of television programs and other video viewing, physical activity, energy intake, percentage of energy from fat, town of location of school, age, gender and perception of mother's weight status. RESULTS: Among 461 children with complete information, 24% were classified as obese. Children reported an average of 4.1 +/- 2.2 h/d watching television (2.4 +/- 1.5 h/d for TV programs and 1.7 +/- 1.5 h/d for video cassette recorder (VCR) or videogames), and 1.8 +/- 1.3 h/d in moderate and vigorous physical activities. Odds ratios (OR) of obesity were 12% higher for each hour of television program viewing per day (OR = 1.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02,-1.22), and 10% lower for each hour of moderate/vigorous physical activity per day (OR = 0.90, 95% CI 0.83-0.98), controlling for age, gender, town and perception of mother's weight status. Children in the middle-income town had higher adjusted odds of obesity (OR = 2.58, 95% CI 1.47-4.54). CONCLUSION: Physical activity and television viewing, but not VCR/videogames use, were related to obesity prevalence in Mexican children 9-16 y old.
Assuntos
Exercício Físico , Obesidade/epidemiologia , Televisão , Adolescente , Criança , Estudos Transversais , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , México/epidemiologia , Razão de Chances , Pobreza , Prevalência , Inquéritos e QuestionáriosRESUMO
Public health problems have been analyzed over time using different approaches involving a variety of methodological and theoretical models. The classical epidemiological model and the social epidemiological model are two examples of models used in public health research. Although each of these models covers a whole range of public research approaches, it is possible to identify the different theoretical and methodological criteria and the different ideological assumptions on which they are based. The objective of this article is to make a comparison of the criteria used by the classical and social epidemiological models in the study of public health problems, with special emphasis on the study of obesity. This comparison shows that the knowledge generated by studies carried out under each of these models is rather different, as an effect of the different theoretical, methodological and ideological criteria used by each model. However, far from being contradictory, the knowledge generated by each model can complement that generated by the other. Finally, the inclusion of social sciences as a tool for the analysis of public health problems, specifically the problem of obesity, is discussed.
Assuntos
Obesidade/epidemiologia , Saúde Pública , Métodos Epidemiológicos , Humanos , Ciências SociaisRESUMO
We examined the association between physical activity and reproductive factors with bone density among 313 Mexican women, aged 26-83 years. Bone mineral density (BMD) was measured with a HOLOGIC QRD 1000 w, DXA densitometer at the lumbar spine and femoral region. We explored the relation between BMD and parity, age, body mass index (BMI), type of menopause, and level of exercise. Multiple regression models examining determinants of bone density at the lumbar and femoral regions showed that increasing age and lack of exercise were statistically significant predictors of bone demineralization. The number of pregnancies also had a deletereous effect on bone density, especially for lumbar spine, as well as BMI <20 kg/m2. Our results suggest that physical activity, parity, and BMI are important determinants of bone density in this population.
Assuntos
Densidade Óssea/fisiologia , Exercício Físico/fisiologia , Osteoporose Pós-Menopausa/epidemiologia , Absorciometria de Fóton , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Envelhecimento/patologia , Índice de Massa Corporal , Estudos de Coortes , Estudos Transversais , Terapia de Reposição de Estrogênios , Feminino , Fêmur/fisiologia , Humanos , Estilo de Vida , Vértebras Lombares/fisiologia , Menopausa/fisiologia , México , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Osteoporose Pós-Menopausa/fisiopatologia , Gravidez/fisiologia , Análise de Regressão , Fatores de RiscoRESUMO
Certain nutrients serve as individual influences in the development or protection against chronic and/or degenerative diseases. Specifically, it has been observed that the abundant consumption of dietetic fiber is a protective factor against tumors of the digestive system. Many scientific articles have reported mechanisms by which dietetic fibers exert an important protective effect for colon cancer and in lesser degree against cancer of the stomach and rectum. In Mexico during 1990, neoplasms were the second cause of general mortality for the persons over the age of 65 years. The Fourth National Report of Cancer in Mexico revealed that tumors of the digestive tube were the third most frequent type of neoplasm in the country and that stomach cancer had the greatest incidence among cancers which affect this system. To date, we do not know how much the urban immigration and the consequent changes in food patterns have acted as cofactors for the increase in this type of tumors. During the seventies, a number of national and regional nutritional surveys showed that the Mexican population had a high consumption of fiber, as part of the traditional diet, comprised primarily of tortilla and beans. At the present time, the national dietary patterns have changed; the increasing consumption of high energy foods with a low nutritional value is associated with much less ingestion of dietary fiber. This article points out that the population may have additional digestive cancer risks, due to new food consumption patterns which have reduced the availability of dietary fiber.
Assuntos
Fibras na Dieta/administração & dosagem , Neoplasias Gastrointestinais/epidemiologia , Comportamento Alimentar , Neoplasias Gastrointestinais/prevenção & controle , Humanos , Incidência , México/epidemiologiaRESUMO
The training of health services administration professionals in Mexico has faced two main challenges. One the one hand, the need to have recognition as professionals, and on the other hand the difficulty to train individuals that are currently working as health care administrators. This article emphasizes a distance education strategy as an alternative to provide training to these type of personnel. A proposal developed as the second phase of the Advance Education Program on Health Administration (PROASA-II) is presented. It has the objective to strengthen local institutions to take responsibility for the future training of their professional administration staff. Once that this is started, we can begin to talk about the creation of a national system of manpower training in health administration and public health, that will support the decentralization and the appropriate training of the different levels of health administration in the country.