Prevention and management of non-communicable disease: the IOC consensus statement, Lausanne 2013

A suggested universal protocol for dental examination in sports

The athletes of any sport and level submit their bodies to constant exercise. Any given pathology can increase the risk of injury, illness, or even reduced performance. The medical examination is valuable in diagnosing existing health problems and preventing medical issues that might compromise the athlete's overall health when exercising. The stomatognathic system is not an exemption, as oral pathologies, including dental caries and periodontal diseases, are found in high incidence in sports. The need for accurate and detailed dental examination in sports leaded dentists from the European Association for Sports Dentistry and the Academy for Sports Dentistry to elaborate a universal dental examination in sports protocol that can record the overall oral health of the athlete, including the teeth, periodontium, and musculoskeletal screening, for all athletes. The outcome of this stomatognathic examination allows sports physicians and professionals other than dentists to have a complete image of the individual oral health condition of any given athlete, and it allows the dentists to efficiently screen and prevent pathologies, as well as to advise on the eligibility to practice sports from the oral health perspective.

Are we levelling the playing field? A qualitative case study of the awareness, uptake and relevance of the IOC consensus statements in two countries

OBJECTIVES

Research evidence is commonly compiled into expert-informed consensus guidelines intended to consolidate and distribute sports medicine knowledge. Between 2003 and 2018, 27 International Olympic Committee (IOC) consensus statements were produced. This study explored the policy and practice impact of the IOC Statements on athlete health and medical team management in two economically and contextually diverse countries.

METHODS

A qualitative case study design was adopted. Fourteen face-to-face interviews were conducted with purposively selected interviewees, seven participants from Australia (higher economic equality) and seven from South Africa (lower economic equality), representing their national medical commissions (doctors and physiotherapists of Olympic, Paralympic and Youth teams). A framework method was used to analyse interview transcripts and identify key themes.

RESULTS

Differences across resource settings were found, particularly in the perceived usefulness of the IOC Statements and their accessibility. Both settings were unsure about the purpose of the IOC Statements and their intended audience. However, both valued the existence of evidence-informed guidelines. In the Australian setting, there was less reliance on the resources developed by the IOC, preferring to use locally contextualised documents that are readily available.

CONCLUSION

The IOC Statements are valuable evidence-informed resources that support translation of knowledge into clinical sports medicine practice. However, to be fully effective, they must be perceived as useful and relevant and should reach their target audiences with ready access. This study showed different contexts require different resources, levels of support and dissemination approaches. Future development and dissemination of IOC Statements should consider the perspectives and the diversity of contexts they are intended for.

Aerobic Exercise Training-Induced Changes on DNA Methylation in Mild Cognitively Impaired Elderly African Americans: Gene, Exercise, and Memory Study - GEMS-I

BACKGROUND

DNA methylation at CpG sites is a vital epigenetic modification of the human genome affecting gene expression, and potentially, health outcomes. However, evidence is just budding on the effects of aerobic exercise-induced adaptation on DNA methylation in older mild cognitively impaired (MCI) elderly African American (AAs). Therefore, we examined the effects of a 6-month aerobic exercise-intervention on genome-wide DNA methylation in elderly AA MCI volunteers.

DESIGN

Elderly AA volunteers confirmed MCI assigned into a 6-month program of aerobic exercise (eleven participants) underwent a 40-min supervised-training 3-times/week and controls (eight participants) performed stretch training. Participants had maximal oxygen consumption (VO₂max) test and Genome-wide methylation levels at CpG sites using the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip assay at baseline and after a 6-month exercise program. We computed false discovery rates (FDR) using Sidak to account for multiplicity of tests and performed quantitative real-time polymerase chain-reaction (qRT-PCR) to confirm the effects of DNA methylations on expression levels of the top 5 genes among the aerobic participants. CpG sites identified from aerobic-exercise participants were similarly analyzed by the stretch group to quantify the effects of exercise-induced methylation changes among the group of stretch participants.

RESULTS

Eleven MCI participants (aerobic: 73% females; mean age 72.3 ± 6.6 years) and eight MCI participants (stretch: 75% female; mean age 70.6 ± 6.7 years) completed the training. Aerobic exercise-training was associated with increases in VO₂max and with global hypo- and hypermethylation changes. The most notable finding was CpG hypomethylation within the body of the VPS52 gene (P = 5.4 × 10^-26), a Golgi-associated protein, involved in intracellular protein trafficking including amyloid precursor protein. qRT-PCR confirmed a nearly twofold increased expression of VPS52. Other top findings with FDR q-value < 10^-5, include hypomethylations of SCARB1 (8.8 × 10^-25), ARTN (6.1 × 10^-25), NR1H2 (2.1 × 10^-18) and PPP2R5D (9.8 × 10^-18).

CONCLUSION

We conclude that genome-wide DNA methylation patterns is associated with exercise training-induced methylation changes. Identification of methylation changes around genes previously shown to interact with amyloid biology, intracellular protein trafficking, and lipoprotein regulations provide further support to the likely protective effect of exercise in MCI. Future studies in larger samples are needed to confirm our findings.

The innovative role of Olympic sports and exercise in the promotion of health, gender equality and sustainability: past achievements and future challenges

Olympic sports represent, through their athletes, an iconic source of inspiration and ambition for everyone. During every Olympiad we are reminded of the astonishing achievements that can be reached through hard work and dedication. Nevertheless, these performances are very far from the reality of those being physically active to improve their health and fitness. The technological development that humanity has gone through in the last couple of centuries, has engineered physical activity out of our lives and dramatically altered our lifestyle, leading to the development of diseases that were not so prevalent. Exercise has become an integral part of our lives and it is now regarded as a medicine to prevent and counteract chronic conditions that are associated with a sedentary lifestyle. In this context Olympic sports can play a key role in attracting people to be physically active as well as leveraging on city governments to allow, not only sport participation, but a global active lifestyle. Therefore, International Sports Federations (ISF) have a central position in ensuring sports are in line with the changes occurring in society as well as fostering its natural evolution. Examples of this evolution are gender equality and sustainability, topics that finally are becoming central in ISFs as they have been in society for decades. Therefore, Olympic sports should acknowledge the prominent role they have in society and contribute to its further development by promoting socially relevant actions.

Implementation of a behavioural change intervention to enhance oral health behaviours in elite athletes: a feasibility study

Background

Poor oral health of elite athletes is common and is associated with negative performance impacts. There is a need for oral health promotion strategies that are effective within the elite sport environment.

Aim

To develop, implement and evaluate a pragmatic oral health promotion intervention that integrated the capability, opportunity, motivation and behaviour model of behavioural change into the knowledge transfer system for effective implementation of preventive interventions.

Methods

Repeated measures study. Athletes and support team together viewed one 10 min presentation and three 90 s information films. Athletes alone received oral health screening, personalised advice and an oral health toolkit. Outcome measures included: (1) oral health knowledge, athlete-reported performance impacts (Oslo Sports Trauma Research Centre, OSTRC score), use of oral hygiene aids, gingival inflammation (bleeding) score, recorded at baseline, 4-6 weeks and 12-16 weeks and (2) athlete feedback.

Results

We recruited 62 athletes; 44 (71%) male and 58 (93.5%) white British, 55 (88.7%) athletes completed the study. Mean knowledge score improved from 5.69 (1.59) to 6.93 (1.32) p<0.001. Mean OSTRC score reduced from 8.73 (14.54) to 2.73 (11.31) p<0.001. Athlete use of prescription strength fluoride toothpaste increased from 8 (12.9%) to 45 (80.4%) p<0.001. Athlete-reported use of interdental cleaning aids at least 2-3 x week increased from 10 (16.2%) to 21 (34%) p=0.013. Bleeding score remained unchanged.

Conclusion

This behavioural change intervention was successfully implemented within different elite sport environments. It was associated with an increase in athlete oral health knowledge, enhanced oral health behaviour, a reduction in self-reported performance impacts and high participant retention.

Sport Medicine Diagnostic Coding System (SMDCS) and the Orchard Sports Injury and Illness Classification System (OSIICS): revised 2020 consensus versions

Coding in sports medicine generally uses sports-specific coding systems rather than the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), because of superior applicability to the profile of injury and illness presentations in sport. New categories for coding were agreed on in the 'International Olympic Committee (IOC) consensus statement: Methods for recording and reporting of epidemiological data on injury and illness in sports 2020.' We explain the process for determining the new categories and update both the Sport Medicine Diagnostic Coding System (SMDCS) and the Orchard Sports Injury and Illness Classification System (OSIICS) with new versions that operationalise the new consensus categories. The author group included members from an expert group attending the IOC consensus conference. The primary authors of the SMDCS (WM) and OSIICS (JO) produced new versions that were then agreed on by the remaining authors using expert consensus methodology. The SMDCS and OSIICS systems have been adjusted and confirmed through a consensus process to align with the IOC consensus statement to facilitate translation between the two systems. Problematic areas for defining body part categories included the groin and ankle regions. For illness codes, in contrast to the ICD, we elected to have a taxonomy of 'organ system/region' (eg, cardiovascular and respiratory), followed by an 'aetiology/pathology' (eg, environmental, infectious disease and allergy). Companion data files have been produced that provide translations between the coding systems. The similar structure of coding underpinning the OSIICS and SMDCS systems aligns the new versions of these systems with the IOC consensus statement and also facilitates easier translation between the two systems. These coding systems are freely available to the sport and exercise research community.

The integrated health service model: the approach to restrain the vicious cycle to chronic diseases

BACKGROUND

In life time, nearly each person succumbs to some sort of chronic disease and many develop complicated chronic diseases. It is critical to focus on preventive services with a relatively high health impact and favorable cost effectiveness. During routine health facility visits, it is advisable to evaluate both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients for their needs of health promotion and disease prevention services. This necessitates the development of an integrated health service (IHS) approach that incorporates health promotion, disease prevention and curative services.

METHODS

There were two phases for the study. The first phase explored the degree of promotive and preventive health care delivery at the health centers and hospitals. Phase two, utilizing the Delphi strategy, centered on looking for agreement on the finding from phase 1 and on IHS approach. Delphi questions were created based on the results of phase 1, and the reply choices were tied to a five point Likert scale. Consensus was considered come to when 75% of the experts concurred on an issue. From that point, advance clarification and agreement was looked for by implies of a second-round assessment for scores between 50 and 75%. Agreement on proposed IHS model, application of case finding and Periodic Health Examination (PHE) approaches were also sought. This study focuses on finding from phase 2.

RESULT

Of the twenty experts, 90% (n = 18) agreed that the IHS framework shows the causal relationship of diseases and included plausible intervention approaches. Experts reached consensus (90%;n = 18) that case finding testing,screening patients for conditions other than the medical care they sought at a particular time, can be performed at health facilities. All experts (100%; n = 20) recommended conducting periodic health examinations in selected diseases for patients who are apparently not sick.

CONCLUSION

The Integrated Health Service (IHS) framework was agreed by experts to be a plausible method in describing the causal relationship of chronic non-communicable, communicable, and nutrition-related diseases. The framework can play a vital role by preventing the acquiring, progression, suffering or dying from diseases through restraining the vicious cycle of chronic diseases.

Evaluating Mobile Health Apps for Customized Dietary Recording for Young Adults and Seniors: Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND

The role of individual-tailored dietary recording in mobile phone health apps has become increasingly important in management of self-health care and population-based preventive service. The development of such mobile apps for user-centered designing is still challengeable and requires further scientific evidence.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to conduct a randomized trial to assess the accuracy and time efficiency of two prototypes for dietary recoding utilization related to the input method of food intake.

METHODS

We first present an innovative combinatorial concept for dietary recording to account for dish variation. One prototype was a self-chosen tab app that featured choosing each food ingredient to synthesize an individual dish, whereas the other was an autonomous exhaustive list app that provided one selection from a comprehensive list of dish items. The concept included commercially available choices that allowed users to more accurately account for their individual food selection. The two mobile apps were compared in a head-to-head parallel randomized trial evaluation. Young adults (n=70, aged 18-29) and older adults (n=35, aged 55-73) were recruited and randomized into two groups for accuracy and response time evaluation based on 12 types of food items in use of the developed self-chosen tab and autonomous exhaustive list apps, respectively.

RESULTS

For the trials based on the self-chosen tab (53 participants) and autonomous exhaustive list groups (52 participants), the two prototypes were found to be highly accurate (>98%). The self-chosen tab app was found to be more efficient, requiring significantly less time for input of 11 of 12 items (P<.05). The self-chosen tab users occasionally neglected to select food attributes, an issue which did not occur in the autonomous exhaustive list group.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study contributes through the scientific evaluation of the transformation step into prototype development to demonstrate that a self-chosen tab app has potentially better opportunity in effectiveness and efficiency. The combinatorial concept offers potential for dietary recording and planning which can account for high food item variability. Our findings on prototype development of diversified dietary recordings provide design consideration and user interaction for related further app development and improvement.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN86142301; http://www.isrctn.com/ ISRCTN86142301 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/74YLEPYnS).

Identifying opportunities to develop the science of implementation for community-based non-communicable disease prevention: A review of implementation trials

Implementation of interventions in community organisations such as schools, childcare centres, and sporting clubs are recommended to target a range of modifiable risks of non-communicable diseases. Poor implementation, however, is common and has contributed to the failure of non-communicable disease interventions globally. This study aimed to characterise experimental research regarding strategies to improve implementation of chronic disease prevention programs in community settings. The review used data collected in three comprehensive systematic reviews undertaken between August 2015 and July 2017. Randomised controlled trials, including cluster design, and non-randomised trials with a parallel control group were included. The data were extracted to describe trial characteristics, implementation strategies employed, implementation outcomes and study quality. Of the 40 implementation trials included in the study, unhealthy diet was the most common risk factor targeted (n = 20). The most commonly reported implementation strategies were educational meetings (n = 38, 95%), educational materials (n = 36, 90%) and educational outreach visits (n = 29, 73%). Few trials were conducted 'at-scale' (n = 8, 20%) or reported adverse effects (n = 5, 13%). The reporting of implementation related outcomes; intervention adoption (n = 13, 33%); appropriateness (n = 11, 28%); acceptability (n = 8, 20%); feasibility (n = 8, 20%); cost (n = 3, 8%); and sustainability (n = 2, 5%); was limited. For the majority of trials, risk of bias was high for blinding of study personnel/participants and outcome assessors. Testing of strategies to improve implementation of non-communicable disease prevention strategies in community settings, delivered 'at-scale', utilising implementation frameworks, including a comprehensive range of implementation outcomes should be priority areas for future research in implementation science.

The protocol of a population-based prospective cohort study in southwest of Iran to analyze common non-communicable diseases: Shahrekord cohort study

Background

Prospective cohort studies are considered ideal choices to study multiple outcomes and risk factors for Non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Our aim is to set-up the protocol and analyze risk factors, incidence rates, prevalence, trends, and the models of environmental and genetic determinants of NCDs and their outcomes as well as interaction among such determinants.

Methods

Shahrekord cohort study (SCS) that is a population-based prospective, study on a cohort consisting of people aged 35-70 years started in November 2015 in Iran. The sample size of the original cohort is at least 10,000 people. Annual follow-ups (200,000 person-year) of the cohort were designed to be conducted up to 2036. Exposures (a detailed demographic, socioeconomic, general health, quality of life, physical activity, anthropometric indexes, stress, health literacy, social capital, nutrition and eating habits, lifestyle, occupational history, living place, blindness, deafness, electrocardiography, lung capacities, blood pressure, sleep, smoking and alcohol, contact to animals, physical examinations and medical history, dental health, used drugs and supplements, glucose and lipid profiles) were measured by relevant standard methods and questionnaires. Incidence of common NCDs (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, gastrointestinal, respiratory, renal, hepatic, accidents, injury and neurological diseases), trend of risk factors, hospitalization, disability, and death were considered the outcomes of the cohort. The definition of disease was determined based on the International Classification of Diseases 10th version (ICD-10). Routine hematologic and biochemical tests were conducted and an all-inclusive biobank (blood, hair, nail, and urine specimens) of the cohort was stored for future studies. All steps of data collection and examinations are directly monitored by the quality control team.

Discussion

The SCS is a unique study conducted in southwest of Iran that is a notable work given the climate conditions and ethnicity population (especially in Bakhtiari) of this region. By providing high quality the protocol and introduce it, the SCS can serve as a solid foundation for management and researchers in southwest of Iran. The SCS provides prerequisites for collaboration and regional, national, and international studies on NCDs. Data are available at the modeling in health research center, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran, for any collaboration.

The combination of obesity and hypertension: a highly unfavorable phenotype requiring attention

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Body habitus is a key lifestyle characteristic whose current status and future projections are disconcerting. The percentage of the global population who are either overweight or obese has substantially increased, with no indication that any country has a solution to this issue. Hypertension is a key unfavorable health metric that, like obesity, has disastrous health implications if left uncontrolled. Poor lifestyle characteristics and health metrics often cluster together to create complex and difficult to treat phenotypes. Excess body mass is such an example, creating an obesity-hypertension phenotype, which is the focus of this review.

RECENT FINDINGS

An increased risk for hypertension is clearly linked to obesity, indicating that the two conditions are intimately linked. The cascade of obesity-induced pathophysiologic adaptations creates a clear path to hypertension. Adopting a healthy lifestyle is a primary intervention for the prevention as well as treatment of the obesity-hypertension phenotype.

SUMMARY

The obesity-hypertension phenotype is highly prevalent and has disastrous health implications. A primordial prevention strategy, focused on lifelong healthy lifestyle patterns, is the optimal approach for this condition. For those individuals already afflicted by the obesity-hypertension phenotype, interventions must aggressively focus on weight loss and blood pressure control.

Human-centred design in global health: A scoping review of applications and contexts

Health and wellbeing are determined by a number of complex, interrelated factors. The application of design thinking to questions around health may prove valuable and complement existing approaches. A number of public health projects utilizing human centered design (HCD), or design thinking, have recently emerged, but no synthesis of the literature around these exists. The results of a scoping review of current research on human centered design for health outcomes are presented. The review aimed to understand why and how HCD can be valuable in the contexts of health related research. Results identified pertinent literature as well as gaps in information on the use of HCD for public health research, design, implementation and evaluation. A variety of contexts were identified in which design has been used for health. Global health and design thinking have different underlying conceptual models and terminology, creating some inherent tensions, which could be overcome through clear communication and documentation in collaborative projects. The review concludes with lessons learned from the review on how future projects can better integrate design thinking with global health research.

Health promotion through sport: international sport federations’ priorities, actions and opportunities

Objective

To identify areas of priority and activity for international sportsfederations (IFs) with respect to athlete health and safety, and global health. Results serve to direct the work of the Association of Summer Olympic IF Medical and Scientific Consultative Group, the International Olympic Committee and to influence IFs’ planning and priorities.

Methods

The 28 IFs participating in the Summer Olympic Games (2016) were asked to rank the relative importance of 11 health-related topics and to report their activities or research initiatives on 27 identified topics using an electronic survey. A comparison with a similar survey (2012) was made.

Results

The response rate was 100%. In general, the ‘fight against doping’ had the highest priority followed by ‘image as a safe sport’. The topics with the lowest importance ratings were ‘increasing the number of elite athletes’, and ‘health of the general population’. Despite ranking ‘health of your athletes,’ as a top priority, IFs are not addressing all aspects of athlete health. In comparison with 2012, there was a significant decrease in priority for IFs is ‘health of the general population’.

Conclusion

Despite the widespread knowledge of the importance of the promotion of physical activity (sport) on global health, the decreasing priority and programming of the IFs on physical activity promotion is concerning. Although IFs have prioritised the protection of the health of elite athletes, there are gaps in programming demonstrating that IFs are missing important areas of athlete health. Improving recreational athlete health programming could also benefit population health as well as improve IF fan base and sport participation.

Towards an Obesity-Cancer Knowledge Base: Biomedical Entity Identification and Relation Detection

Obesity is associated with increased risks of various types of cancer, as well as a wide range of other chronic diseases. On the other hand, access to health information activates patient participation, and improve their health outcomes. However, existing online information on obesity and its relationship to cancer is heterogeneous ranging from pre-clinical models and case studies to mere hypothesis-based scientific arguments. A formal knowledge representation (i.e., a semantic knowledge base) would help better organizing and delivering quality health information related to obesity and cancer that consumers need. Nevertheless, current ontologies describing obesity, cancer and related entities are not designed to guide automatic knowledge base construction from heterogeneous information sources. Thus, in this paper, we present methods for named-entity recognition (NER) to extract biomedical entities from scholarly articles and for detecting if two biomedical entities are related, with the long term goal of building a obesity-cancer knowledge base. We leverage both linguistic and statistical approaches in the NER task, which supersedes the state-of-the-art results. Further, based on statistical features extracted from the sentences, our method for relation detection obtains an accuracy of 99.3% and a f-measure of 0.993.

Quality of life perception in type 2 diabetes

PURPOSE

Lifestyle analysis is often used for primary and secondary prevention in many chronic metabolic diseases, including diabetes. Questionnaires are simple and common methods for first investigation risk of factors related to the perception of quality of life (QoL). The present study evaluates the feasibility to use questionnaires for first investigation of risk factors, and ascertain whether the results of such questionnaires are associated with the perception of QoL.

METHODS

Validated questionnaires from the international ACSM guidelines were used to study a cohort of 142 consecutive type 2 diabetes patients (mean age: 66.1 years ± 10.9).

RESULTS

QoL perception was normal; BMI was compatible with overweight in 79.1% of subjects, and obesity in 20.9%. Cognitive abilities decreased with age and low consumption of dried fruit and legumes. There was evidence of a statistically significant association between BMI and QoL (rho = -0.18; p = 0.03).

CONCLUSIONS

Questionnaires are useful to assess lifestyle habits and highlight risks factors. Poor knowledge of patients' own chronic disease may contribute to a negative impact in diabetes.

Consensus statement: Oral health and elite sport performance

While the research base is limited, studies have consistently reported poor oral health in elite athletes since the first report from the 1968 Olympic Games. The finding is consistent both across selected samples attending dental clinics at major competitions and more representative sampling of teams and has led to calls from the International Olympic Committee for more accurate data on oral health. Poor oral health is an important issue directly as it can cause pain, negative effects on appearance and psychosocial effects on confidence and quality of life and may have long-term consequences for treatment burden. Self-reported evidence also suggests an impact on training and performance of athletes. There are many potential challenges to the oral health of athletes including nutritional, oral dehydration, exercise-induced immune suppression, lack of awareness, negative health behaviours and lack of prioritisation. However, in theory, oral diseases are preventable by simple interventions with good evidence of efficacy. The consensus statement aims to raise awareness of the issues of oral health in elite sport and recommends strategies for prevention and health promotion in addition to future research strategies.

Mobile and Web 2.0 interventions for weight management: an overview of review evidence and its methodological quality

BACKGROUND

The use of Internet and related technologies for promoting weight management (WM), physical activity (PA), or dietary-related behaviours has been examined in many articles and systematic reviews. This overview aims to summarize and assess the quality of the review evidence specifically focusing on mobile and Web 2.0 technologies, which are the most utilized, currently available technologies.

METHODS

Following a registered protocol (CRD42014010323), we searched 16 databases for articles published in English until 31 December 2014 discussing the use of either mobile or Web 2.0 technologies to promote WM or related behaviors, i.e. diet and physical activity (PA). Two reviewers independently selected reviews and assessed their methodological quality using the AMSTAR checklist. Citation matrices were used to determine the overlap among reviews.

RESULTS

Forty-four eligible reviews were identified, 39 of which evaluated the effects of interventions using mobile or Web 2.0 technologies. Methodological quality was generally low with only 7 reviews (16%) meeting the highest standards. Suggestive evidence exists for positive effects of mobile technologies on weight-related outcomes and, to a lesser extent, PA. Evidence is inconclusive regarding Web 2.0 technologies.

CONCLUSIONS

Reviews on mobile and Web 2.0 interventions for WM and related behaviors suggest that these technologies can, under certain circumstances, be effective, but conclusions are limited by poor review quality based on a heterogeneous evidence base.

The efficacy of a movement control exercise programme to reduce injuries in youth rugby: a cluster randomised controlled trial

Background

Injuries to youth rugby players have become an increasingly prominent health concern, highlighting the importance of developing and implementing appropriate preventive strategies. A growing body of evidence from other youth sports has demonstrated the efficacy of targeted exercise regimens to reduce injury risk. However, studies have yet to investigate the effect of such interventions in youth contact sport populations like rugby union.

Objective

To determine the efficacy of an evidence-based movement control exercise programme compared with a sham exercise programme to reduce injury risk in youth rugby players. Exercise programme compliance between trial arms and the effect of coach attitudes on compliance will also be evaluated.

Setting

School rugby coaches in England will be the target of the researcher intervention, with the effects of the injury prevention programmes being measured in male youth players aged 14–18 years in school rugby programmes over the 2015–2016 school winter term.

Methods

A cluster-randomised controlled trial with schools randomly allocated to either a movement control exercise programme or a sham exercise programme, both of which are coach-delivered. Injury measures will derive from field-based injury surveillance, with match and training exposure and compliance recorded. A questionnaire will be used to evaluate coach attitudes, knowledge, beliefs and behaviours both prior to and on the conclusion of the study period.

Outcome measures

Summary injury measures (incidence, severity and burden) will be compared between trial arms, as will the influence of coach attitudes on compliance and injury burden. Additionally, changes in these outcomes through using the exercise programmes will be evaluated.

Trial registration number

ISRTCNN13422001.

Mobile Phone and Web 2.0 Technologies for Weight Management: A Systematic Scoping Review

BACKGROUND

Widespread diffusion of mobile phone and Web 2.0 technologies make them potentially useful tools for promoting health and tackling public health issues, such as the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity. Research in this domain is growing rapidly but, to date, no review has comprehensively and systematically documented how mobile and Web 2.0 technologies are being deployed and evaluated in relation to weight management.

OBJECTIVE

To provide an up-to-date, comprehensive map of the literature discussing the use of mobile phone and Web 2.0 apps for influencing behaviors related to weight management (ie, diet, physical activity [PA], weight control, etc).

METHODS

A systematic scoping review of the literature was conducted based on a published protocol (registered at

PROSPERO

CRD42014010323). Using a comprehensive search strategy, we searched 16 multidisciplinary electronic databases for original research documents published in English between 2004 and 2014. We used duplicate study selection and data extraction. Using an inductively developed charting tool, selected articles were thematically categorized.

RESULTS

We identified 457 articles, mostly published between 2013 and 2014 in 157 different journals and 89 conference proceedings. Articles were categorized around two overarching themes, which described the use of technologies for either (1) promoting behavior change (309/457, 67.6%) or (2) measuring behavior (103/457, 22.5%). The remaining articles were overviews of apps and social media content (33/457, 7.2%) or covered a combination of these three themes (12/457, 2.6%). Within the two main overarching themes, we categorized articles as representing three phases of research development: (1) design and development, (2) feasibility studies, and (3) evaluations. Overall, articles mostly reported on evaluations of technologies for behavior change (211/457, 46.2%).

CONCLUSIONS

There is an extensive body of research on mobile phone and Web 2.0 technologies for weight management. Research has reported on (1) the development, feasibility, and efficacy of persuasive mobile technologies used in interventions for behavior change (PA and diet) and (2) the design, feasibility, and accuracy of mobile phone apps for behavioral assessment. Further research has focused exclusively on analyses of the content and quality of available apps. Limited evidence exists on the use of social media for behavior change, but a segment of studies deal with content analyses of social media. Future research should analyze mobile phone and Web 2.0 technologies together by combining the evaluation of content and design aspects with usability, feasibility, and efficacy/effectiveness for behavior change, or accuracy/validity for behavior assessment, in order to understand which technological components and features are likely to result in effective interventions.

Physical Activity Protects the Human Brain against Metabolic Stress Induced by a Postprandial and Chronic Inflammation

In recent years, it has become clear that chronic systemic low-grade inflammation is at the root of many, if not all, typically Western diseases associated with the metabolic syndrome. While much focus has been given to sedentary lifestyle as a cause of chronic inflammation, it is less often appreciated that chronic inflammation may also promote a sedentary lifestyle, which in turn causes chronic inflammation. Given that even minor increases in chronic inflammation reduce brain volume in otherwise healthy individuals, the bidirectional relationship between inflammation and sedentary behaviour may explain why humans have lost brain volume in the last 30,000 years and also intelligence in the last 30 years. We review evidence that lack of physical activity induces chronic low-grade inflammation and, consequently, an energy conflict between the selfish immune system and the selfish brain. Although the notion that increased physical activity would improve health in the modern world is widespread, here we provide a novel perspective on this truism by providing evidence that recovery of normal human behaviour, such as spontaneous physical activity, would calm proinflammatory activity, thereby allocating more energy to the brain and other organs, and by doing so would improve human health.

Leveraging human-centered design in chronic disease prevention

Bridging the knowing-doing gap in the prevention of chronic disease requires deep appreciation and understanding of the complexities inherent in behavioral change. Strategies that have relied exclusively on the implementation of evidence-based data have not yielded the desired progress. The tools of human-centered design, used in conjunction with evidence-based data, hold much promise in providing an optimal approach for advancing disease prevention efforts. Directing the focus toward wide-scale education and application of human-centered design techniques among healthcare professionals will rapidly multiply their effective ability to bring the kind of substantial results in disease prevention that have eluded the healthcare industry for decades. This, in turn, would increase the likelihood of prevention by design.

Oral health and elite sport performance

While the research base is limited, studies have consistently reported poor oral health in elite athletes since the first report from the 1968 Olympic Games. The finding is consistent both across selected samples attending dental clinics at major competitions and more representative sampling of teams and has led to calls from the International Olympic Committee for more accurate data on oral health. Poor oral health is an important issue directly as it can cause pain, negative effects on appearance and psychosocial effects on confidence and quality of life and may have long-term consequences for treatment burden. Self-reported evidence also suggests an impact on training and performance of athletes. There are many potential challenges to the oral health of athletes including nutritional, oral dehydration, exercise-induced immune suppression, lack of awareness, negative health behaviours and lack of prioritisation. However, in theory, oral diseases are preventable by simple interventions with good evidence of efficacy. The consensus statement aims to raise awareness of the issues of oral health in elite sport and recommends strategies for prevention and health promotion in addition to future research strategies.

Description and implementation of U-Turn Medical, a comprehensive lifestyle intervention programme for chronic disease in the sport and exercise medicine setting: pre-post observations in 210 consecutive patients

BACKGROUND

Non-communicable disease (NCD) is increasing, but management remains mostly curative, disease-centred and focused on single interventions. We describe the development and implementation of a patient-centred, comprehensive, multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention programme (LIP) for patients with NCD in the sport and exercise medicine (SEM) setting (part 1) and present preliminary observational data (part 2).

METHODS

Part 1 is a description of the programme development and implementation. In part 2, 210 participants with NCD underwent a 12-week LIP (U-Turn Medical). Physiological, functional and metabolic outcomes were assessed at baseline and at completion.

RESULTS

84% of patients had two or more comorbidities, requiring additional considerations for exercise rehabilitation. On completion, there were decreases in % body fat (29.8±6.7% vs 28.5±6.6%), waist (100.2±16.2 vs 97.3±14.8 cm) and hip circumference (105.4±13 vs 104±12 cm), resting heart rate (74.2±13.4 vs 71.4±11.9 bpm), resting systolic blood pressure (125.7±16.1 vs 120.1±13 mm Hg) and cholesterol (4.7±1.2 vs 4.3±0.9 mmol/L), low-density lipoprotein (3±0.9 vs 2.7±0.8 mmol/L) and triglyceride (1.4±0.7 vs 1.3±0.6 mmol/L), and increases in flexibility (12.1±11.6 vs 16.1±10.8 cm) and 6 min walk distance (559.4±156.6 vs 652.3±193.6 m; all p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

A 12-week comprehensive, patient-centred LIP can be implemented successfully in the SEM setting in patients with NCDs with multiple comorbidities. Observed results show improvements in the majority of outcome variables.

When longevity meets vitality

Alarmed by the sustainability of our health and social security systems, longevity has become a great societal challenge. In line with evolutionary logic we see a continuous increase of average life expectancy and maximal lifespan. Striving for a healthy old age, however, is an infelicitous expression as for human subjects the ageing process cannot be ultimately postponed. Not disregarding the huge variation in health trajectories, in old age we will all suffer from frailty and infirmity. As yet efforts of the biomedical arena are almost exclusively focused on stalling the ageing process and preventing dysfunction. Too little effort is spend on how to inspire and coach the great majority of people who still feel relatively well notwithstanding the presence of multiple age-related disorders. There is a strong rationale to separate the quest to live in good health for longer from actively and effectively negotiating the challenge of functional decline in old age. In particular, we emphasise a focus on adjusting the environment in order to correct the gene–environment mismatch that contributes to ill health. An additional strategy is to empower people to set ambitions and to realise appropriate goals, in spite of infirmity. Striving for vitality presents a striking opportunity to achieve subjective feelings of life satisfaction when ageing.

Football for life versus antidoping for the masses: ethical antidoping issues and solutions based on the extenuating experiences of an elite footballer competing while undergoing treatment for metastatic testicular cancer

It is thankfully rare for extenuating circumstances to fully test the processes and procedures enshrined in national and world antidoping authorities’ rules and laws. It is also thankfully very rare that a failed drugs test can have some positive implications. Antidoping laws are undoubtedly focused on ensuring fair competition, however, there are occasions when honest athletes discover medical diagnoses through failed antidoping tests. The purpose of this paper is to broadly discuss antidoping considerations encountered, based on the four principles of medical ethics and to propose simple solutions to these problems. Unfortunately, extreme medical circumstances will often test the limits of antidoping and medical processes and with open channels for feedback, these systems can improve. Performance enhancement seems an illogical concept if an athlete’s medical treatment and disease are more inherently performance harming than unintended potential doping, but needs to be carefully managed to maintain fair sport.

Exercise physiologists: essential players in interdisciplinary teams for noncommunicable chronic disease management

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus, are a growing public health challenge in Australia, accounting for a significant and increasing cost to the health care system. Management of these chronic conditions is aided by interprofessional practice, but models of care require updating to incorporate the latest evidence-based practice. Increasing research evidence reports the benefits of physical activity and exercise on health status and the risk of inactivity to chronic disease development, yet physical activity advice is often the least comprehensive component of care. An essential but as yet underutilized player in NCD prevention and management is the “accredited exercise physiologist,” a specialist in the delivery of clinical exercise prescriptions for the prevention or management of chronic and complex conditions. In this article, the existing role of accredited exercise physiologists in interprofessional practice is examined, and an extension of their role proposed in primary health care settings.