Adolescents Emotional State and Behavioral and Dietary Habit Changes during Isolation Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Monitoring Caffeine Intake: The Relevance of Adequate Assessment in the Population

The present letter to editor comments on the manuscript "Bulczak EM, Chmurzyńska AU. Caffeine Consumption in Polish Adults: Development and Validation of a Polish Questionnaire for Assessing Caffeine Intake. J Am Nutr Assoc. 2023 Feb 1:1-7. doi:10.1080/27697061.2023.2172749. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36725370." regarding adequate monitoring of the consumption of caffeine.

Racial disparities in lifestyle habits and dietary patterns in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objectives

To evaluate lifestyle habits and dietary patterns among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic and their association with skin color.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted with 1315 undergraduate students from a public higher education institution. Sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle habits, and food consumption were collected. Factor analysis was used to identify dietary patterns and multivariate logistic regression was conducted to estimate the associations between race/skin color and outcomes.

Results

Black individuals were less likely to show behaviors associated with the use of cigarettes or tobacco products (OR = 0.61; 95% CI 0.42-0.89). However, black individuals with higher income (greater than, or equal to one minimum wage per person) were less likely to show behaviors associated with illicit drug use (OR = 0.54; 95% CI 0.31-0.96), use of cigarettes or tobacco products (OR = 0.46; 95% CI 0.24-0.87) and alcohol consumption (OR = 0.64; CI 95% 0.42-0.98). In addition, individuals of race/skin color black with lower income (less than one minimum wage per person) showed decreased consumption of vegetables (OR = 0.68; CI 95% 0.48-0.96).

Conclusions

Black college students with higher income were less likely to show undesirable behaviors related to the use of psychoactive substances. In contrast, individuals with lower income had lower consumption of foods from the vegetable group, which can be considered an unfavorable health-related behavior.

Prevalence of mental health symptoms in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: A meta-analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying infection control measures introduced sudden and significant disruptions to the lives of children and adolescents around the world. Given the potential for negative impacts on the mental health of youths as a result of these changes, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and sleep disturbances in children and adolescents during the pandemic. We searched major literature databases for relevant cross-sectional or longitudinal studies that included primary and secondary school students or children and adolescents ≤18 years of age. Prevalence values were extracted, logit-transformed, and pooled. Based on 191 included studies with 1,389,447 children and adolescents, we found the pooled prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and sleep disturbances to be 31%, 31%, and 42%, respectively. Age, grade levels, education levels, gender, geographical regions, and electronics use were correlated with the prevalence of mental health symptoms. The prevalence of mental health symptoms also increased with time, although signs of recovery and stabilization were also observed. Overall, the results from this review demonstrate the need for increased mental health research, monitoring, and intervention for children and adolescents during the current and future pandemics.

Eating habits of children and adolescents during the COVID-19 era: A systematic review

The COVID19 pandemic has affected all aspects of people's lives. Eating habit plays a crucial role in children and adolescents' physical and mental development and the impacts might last until adulthood. This systematic review aimed to summarize a comprehensive and updated overview of eating habits changes due to COVID19 confinements among children and adolescents. A systematic literature search was performed in three databases for all the English studies published from the start of the confinements until April 2022. Two researchers screened articles independently and included observational studies which evaluated children's and adolescents' eating habits before and during confinements. The quality of the included studies was assessed by Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment checklists for cross-sectional and cohort studies. Among 2,436 studies, 39 final full-text articles were included. The total participants of this systematic review consist of 157,900 children and adolescents. Seven categories were identified: daily eating patterns, junk food, beverage, fruits and vegetables, milk and dairy, protein-rich foods, and legumes and cereals. In summary, most of the included studies reported a significant increase in consumption of home-cooked meals, amount of food, snack, french fries, sweets, fruits, vegetables, legumes, bread, and bakery products. On the other hand, studies demonstrated significantly lower intake of fast food and soft drink. The studies reported controversial results about breakfast consumption, sugar-added drinks, caffeinated drinks, milk and dairy products, protein-rich foods (including meat, fish, egg and chicken, and poultry), rice, and cereal. Changes in children's and adolescents' eating habits during the COVID-19 era were both positive and negative, for example, a decrease in fast food, fruit, and vegetable consumption vs. an increase in snacking and sweet consumption. Both changes have significant short-term and long-term impacts on population health. This study could provide us with insight into the changes in eating habits in children and adolescents in the COVID-19 era which we can use to limit the negative consequences on health.

Changes and correlates of screen time in adults and children during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

Screen time has increased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and several correlates have been associated with these increases. These changes, however, have not been aggregated. It was the aim of this review to (a) aggregate changes in screen time in adults and children, and (b) report on variables in relation to screen time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

A systematic review of major databases was undertaken for studies published from inception to 06/12/2021, using a pre-published protocol (PROSPERO ID: CRD42021261422). Studies reporting (a) screen time pre-versus-during the pandemic, (b) screen time percentage change, or (c) correlates of screen time during the pandemic were included. A random effects meta-analysis was undertaken with subgroup analysis by age group and type of screen time.

Findings

After review, 89 studies (n = 204,734; median age=20·6; median female=53·3%) were included. The majority of studies were cross-sectional. With regards to total screen time, primary aged children (6-10 years) reported largest increases (1·4 hrs/day; 95%CI 1·1-1·7), followed by adults (>18 years; 1·0 hrs/day; 95%CI 0·7-1·2), adolescents (11-17 years; 0·9 hrs/day; 95%CI 0·3-1·5), and young children (0-5 years; 0·6 hrs/day 95%CI 0·3-0·9 hrs/day). For leisure screen time (non-work/non-academic), primary aged children reported largest increases (1·0 hrs/day 95%CI 0·8-1·3), followed by adults (0·7hr/day 95%CI 0·3-1·2), young children (0·6 hrs/day; 95%CI 0·4-0·8), with adolescents reporting the lowest increase (0·5 hrs/day 95%CI 0·3-0·7). Several correlates were associated with reported increases in screen time, including adverse dietary behaviours, sleep, mental health, parental health, and eye health.

Interpretation

Pooled evidence suggest that primary aged children reported the highest increase in both total and leisure screen time during COVID-19. It is recommended that screen time should be reduced in favour of non-sedentary activities. This study has the potential to inform public health policy and future guidance regarding screen time, and to inform future research in this area.

Funding

No funding was received for this study.