Exploring targeted preventive health check interventions - a realist synthesis

BACKGROUND

Preventive health checks are assumed to reduce the risk of the development of cardio-metabolic disease in the long term. Although no solid evidence of effect is shown on health checks targeting the general population, studies suggest positive effects if health checks target people or groups identified at risk of disease. The aim of this study is to explore why and how targeted preventive health checks work, for whom they work, and under which circumstances they can be expected to work.

METHODS

The study is designed as a realist synthesis that consists of four phases, each including collection and analysis of empirical data: 1) Literature search of systematic reviews and meta-analysis, 2) Interviews with key-stakeholders, 3) Literature search of qualitative studies and grey literature, and 4) Workshops with key stakeholders and end-users. Through the iterative analysis we identified the interrelationship between contexts, mechanisms, and outcomes to develop a program theory encompassing hypotheses about targeted preventive health checks.

RESULTS

Based on an iterative analysis of the data material, we developed a final program theory consisting of seven themes; Target group; Recruitment and participation; The encounter between professional and participants; Follow-up activities; Implementation and operation; Shared understanding of the intervention; and Unintended side effects. Overall, the data material showed that targeted preventive health checks need to be accessible, recognizable, and relevant for the participants' everyday lives as well as meaningful to the professionals involved. The results showed that identifying a target group, that both benefit from attending and have the resources to participate pose a challenge for targeted preventive health check interventions. This challenge illustrates the importance of designing the recruitment and intervention activities according to the target groups particular life situation.

CONCLUSION

The results indicate that a one-size-fits-all model of targeted preventive health checks should be abandoned, and that intervention activities and implementation depend on for whom and under which circumstances the intervention is initiated. Based on the results we suggest that future initiatives conduct thorough needs assessment as the basis for decisions about where and how the preventive health checks are implemented.

Does attendance in outdoor kindergartens reduce the use of antibiotics in children?

AIM

The aim of this study was to determine whether children enrolled in rural outdoor kindergartens had a lower risk of redeeming at least one prescription for antibiotics compared with children enrolled in urban conventional kindergartens, and if type of antibiotics prescribed differed according to kindergarten type.

METHODS

Two Danish municipalities provided data including civil registration numbers from children enrolled in a rural outdoor kindergarten in 2011-2019, and a subsample of all children enrolled in urban conventional kindergartens in the same period. Civil registration numbers were linked to individual-level information on redeemed prescriptions for antibiotics from the Danish National Prescription Registry. Regression models were performed on 2132 children enrolled in outdoor kindergartens, and 2208 children enrolled in conventional kindergartens.

RESULTS

There was no difference between groups in risk of redeeming at least one prescription for all types of antibiotics (adjusted risk ratio: 0.97 [95% confidence intervals 0.93, 1.02, p = 0.26]). Similarly, there were no differences between kindergarten type and risk of redeeming at least one prescription for systemic, narrow-spectrum systemic antibacterial, broad-spectrum systemic antibacterial or topical antibiotics.

CONCLUSION

Compared with children who were enrolled in conventional kindergartens, children who were enrolled in outdoor kindergartens did not have a lower risk of redeeming prescriptions for any type of antibiotics.

Participatory System Dynamics Approach Targeting Childhood Health in a Small Danish Community (Children's Cooperation Denmark): Protocol for a Feasibility Study Design

BACKGROUND

Improving childhood health is complex due to the multifactorial nature and interaction of determinants. Complex problems call for complex intervention thinking, and simple one-size-fits-all solutions do not work to improve childhood health. Early awareness is important, as behavior in childhood often is manifested across adolescence and into adulthood. To facilitate shared understanding of the complex structures and relationships that determine children's health behavior, participatory system approaches in, for example, local communities have shown promising potential. However, such approaches are not used systematically within public health in Denmark, and before being rolled out, they should be tested for their feasibility within this context.

OBJECTIVE

This paper describes the study design for Children's Cooperation Denmark (Child-COOP) feasibility study that is aiming to examine the feasibility and acceptability of the participatory system approach and the study procedures for a future scale-up controlled trial.

METHODS

The feasibility study is designed as a process evaluation of the intervention with the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods. A local childhood health profile will provide data for childhood health issues, for example, daily physical activity behavior, sleep patterns, anthropometry, mental health, screen use, parental support, and leisure-time activities. Data at system level are collected to assess development in the community, for example, readiness to change, analysis of social networks with stakeholders, rippled effects mapping, and changes in system map. The setting is a small rural town in Denmark, Havndal, with children as the primary target group. Group model building, a participatory system dynamics method, will be used to engage the community, create consensus on the drivers of childhood health, identify local opportunities, and develop context-specific actions.

RESULTS

The Child-COOP feasibility study will test the participatory system dynamics approach for intervention and evaluation design and survey objective measures of childhood health behavior and well-being among the ~100 children (6-13 years) attending the local primary school. Community-level data will also be collected. We will assess the contextual factors, implementation of interventions, and mechanisms of impact as part of a process evaluation. Data will be collected at baseline, at 2 years, and 4 years of follow-up. Ethical approval for this study was sought and granted from the Danish Scientific Ethical Committee (1-10-72-283-21).

CONCLUSIONS

s: The potential of this participatory system dynamics approach includes opportunities for community engagement and local capacity building to improve children's health and health behavior, and this feasibility study holds the potential to prepare an upscaling of the intervention for effectiveness testing.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)

DERR1-10.2196/43949.

Comparison of Motor Difficulties Measured in the First Year of School among Children Who Attended Rural Outdoor or Urban Conventional Kindergartens

BACKGROUND

Kindergartens can potentially contribute substantially to the daily level of physical activity and development of motor skills and might be an ideal setting for improving these as a public health initiative. We aimed to examine whether children from rural outdoor kindergartens had a lower risk of motor difficulties than children from urban conventional kindergartens.

METHODS

Motor test results were measured during the first school year by school health nurses using a six-item test of gross- and fine motor skills (jumping, handle a writing tool, cutting with a scissor following a line, one-leg stand on each leg, throwing and grabbing). Register-based information was available on potential confounding factors.

RESULTS

We included 901 children from outdoor kindergartens and 993 from conventional kindergartens with a mean (SD) age of 6.5 years (0.4). The children from the two types of kindergarten differed according to demographic information, with outdoor kindergarten children more often being from more affluent families (long maternal education level: 47.5% vs. 31.0%, p < 0.0001) and fewer girls attending the outdoor kindergartens (42.7% vs. 49.5%, p = 0.003). In the adjusted models, we found no evidence of differences in the risk of motor difficulties between children attending either type of kindergarten (OR: 0.95, 95%CI: 0.71; 1.27, p = 0.72).

CONCLUSION

Our results do not support outdoor kindergartens as a potential intervention to improve motor abilities among children. Randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm these findings.

S03-2 The Child-COOP Denmark study: using physical literacy to guide and evaluate a systemic approach to health promotion

Background

Children’s health is generally considered a complex interplay between multiple factors. Interventions building on community-based participatory research and system dynamics have shown promising potential in improving children's health behavior and well-being. This presentation aims to present how physical literacy can be used to guide and evaluate a systemic approach to health promotion.

Methods

System dynamics techniques such as group model building, is used to engage a whole community in a rural area of Denmark and develop local actions for enhancing among other physical activity. A central health outcome in The Child-COOP Denmark study is physical literacy, which is measured by using DAPL (the Danish version of CAPL). Physical literacy will be used as a central element to guide and evaluate the project. The evaluation design includes repeated measures of childhood health behavior, physical literacy and well-being among 100 children (6-13 y) attending the local primary school. With data collection at baseline and at 2 and 4 years of follow up.

Results

Furthermore, physical literacy results throughout the project period will also be used to guide new local actions in the environment aiming to enhance the local children’s health, well-being and physical activity.

Discussion

The potential of using physical literacy measures to guide and evaluate a participatory systems approach in order to solve complex health problems, is discussed and debated with the audience.

Physical activity and all-cause mortality across levels of overall and abdominal adiposity in European men and women: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Study (EPIC)

BACKGROUND

The higher risk of death resulting from excess adiposity may be attenuated by physical activity (PA). However, the theoretical number of deaths reduced by eliminating physical inactivity compared with overall and abdominal obesity remains unclear.

OBJECTIVE

We examined whether overall and abdominal adiposity modified the association between PA and all-cause mortality and estimated the population attributable fraction (PAF) and the years of life gained for these exposures.

DESIGN

This was a cohort study in 334,161 European men and women. The mean follow-up time was 12.4 y, corresponding to 4,154,915 person-years. Height, weight, and waist circumference (WC) were measured in the clinic. PA was assessed with a validated self-report instrument. The combined associations between PA, BMI, and WC with mortality were examined with Cox proportional hazards models, stratified by center and age group, and adjusted for sex, education, smoking, and alcohol intake. Center-specific PAF associated with inactivity, body mass index (BMI; in kg/m²) (>30), and WC (≥102 cm for men, ≥88 cm for women) were calculated and combined in random-effects meta-analysis. Life-tables analyses were used to estimate gains in life expectancy for the exposures.

RESULTS

Significant interactions (PA × BMI and PA × WC) were observed, so HRs were estimated within BMI and WC strata. The hazards of all-cause mortality were reduced by 16-30% in moderately inactive individuals compared with those categorized as inactive in different strata of BMI and WC. Avoiding all inactivity would theoretically reduce all-cause mortality by 7.35% (95% CI: 5.88%, 8.83%). Corresponding estimates for avoiding obesity (BMI >30) were 3.66% (95% CI: 2.30%, 5.01%). The estimates for avoiding high WC were similar to those for physical inactivity.

CONCLUSION

The greatest reductions in mortality risk were observed between the 2 lowest activity groups across levels of general and abdominal adiposity, which suggests that efforts to encourage even small increases in activity in inactive individuals may be beneficial to public health.

Thyroid-stimulating hormone, thyroglobulin, and thyroid hormones and risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma: the EPIC study

BACKGROUND

Increased levels of thyroglobulin (Tg) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) are associated with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (TC) risk, but strong epidemiological evidence is lacking.

METHODS

Three hundred fifty-seven incident TC case patients (n = 300 women and 57 men; mean age at blood collection = 51.5 years) were identified in the EPIC cohort study and matched with 2 (women) or 3 (men) control subjects using incidence density sampling. Matching included study center, sex, age, date, time, and fasting status at blood collection. Levels of total and free (f) thyroxine (T4) and triiodo-thyronine (T3), TSH, Tg, and anti-Tg antibodies (TgAb) were measured by commercially available immunoassays. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed using conditional logistic regression. All statistical tests were two-sided.

RESULTS

TC risk was positively associated with Tg (OR for the highest vs lowest quartile = 9.15; 95% CI = 5.28 to 15.90; P < .001) and negatively associated with TSH level (OR = 0.56; 95% CI = 0.38 to 0.81; P = .001). Odds ratios were not modified by adjustment for weight and height and were consistent across sexes, age groups, and countries. The association with Tg was stronger in follicular than papillary TC. The odds ratio for TgAb-positivity was 1.50 (95% CI = 1.05 to 2.15; P = .03). Among case patients, TSH level was stable over time, whereas Tg level was higher in proximity to TC diagnosis. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve were 57% and 74% for TSH and Tg level, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

High Tg levels precede by up to 8 years the detection of TC, pointing to a long sojourn time of the disease. Low TSH levels may predispose to TC onset. Neither marker has sufficient accuracy to be a screening test.

Cross-sectional associations of objectively measured physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness and anthropometry in European adults

OBJECTIVE

To quantify the independent associations between objectively measured physical activity (PA), cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), and anthropometry in European men and women.

METHODS

2,056 volunteers from 12 centers across Europe were fitted with a heart rate and movement sensor at 2 visits 4 months apart for a total of 8 days. CRF (ml/kg/min) was estimated from an 8 minute ramped step test. A cross-sectional analysis of the independent associations between objectively measured PA (m/s(2)/d), moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) (%time/d), sedentary time (%time/d), CRF, and anthropometry using sex stratified multiple linear regression was performed.

RESULTS

In mutually adjusted models, CRF, PA, and MVPA were inversely associated with all anthropometric markers in women. In men, CRF, PA, and MVPA were inversely associated with BMI, whereas only CRF was significantly associated with the other anthropometric markers. Sedentary time was positively associated with all anthropometric markers, however, after adjustment for CRF significant in women only.

CONCLUSION

CRF, PA, MVPA, and sedentary time are differently associated with anthropometric markers in men and women. CRF appears to attenuate associations between PA, MVPA, and sedentary time. These observations may have implications for prevention of obesity.

Physical activity, sex steroid, and growth factor concentrations in pre- and post-menopausal women: a cross-sectional study within the EPIC cohort

PURPOSE

Increased physical activity (PA) is associated with a reduced risk of several cancers. PA may reduce cancer risk by changing endogenous hormones levels, but relatively little research has focused on this topic. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the relation between PA and endogenous hormone concentrations.

METHODS

A cross-sectional analysis of 798 pre- and 1,360 post-menopausal women included as controls in case-control studies on endogenous hormones (steroids, progesterone, sex-hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), and growth factors) levels, and cancer risk nested within European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort was performed. Multivariate regression analyses were performed to compare geometric mean levels of hormones and SHBG by categories of PA.

RESULTS

In pre-menopausal women, active women had 19 % significantly lower concentrations of androstenedione, 14 % lower testosterone, and 20 % lower free testosterone than inactive women, while no differences were observed for estrogens, progesterone, SHBG, and growth factors. In post-menopausal women, active women had 18 % significantly lower estradiol and 20 % lower free estradiol concentrations than inactive women, while no differences were observed for the other hormones and SHBG. More vigorous forms of physical activity were associated with higher insulin-like growth factor-I concentrations. Adjustment for body mass index did not alter the associations. Overall, the percentage of variance in hormone concentrations explained by PA levels was <2 %.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results support the hypothesis of an influence, although small in magnitude, of PA on sex hormone levels in blood, independent of body size.

Combined influence of leisure-time physical activity and hip circumference on all-cause mortality

Hip circumference has been shown to be inversely associated with mortality. Muscle atrophy in the gluteofemoral region may be a possible explanation and thus physical activity is likely to play an important role.

OBJECTIVE

To estimate the combined effects of hip circumference and physical activity on mortality.

DESIGN AND METHODS

From the Copenhagen City Heart Study, 3,358 men and 4,350 women aged 21 to 93 years without pre-existing diagnosis of diabetes, stroke, ischemic heart disease, or cancer in 1991-1994 and with complete information on the variables of interest were included in the analyses. The participants were followed to 2009 in the Danish Civil Registration System, with 1.3% loss to follow-up and 2,513 deaths. Hazard ratios (HR) were estimated for combinations of physical activity and hip circumference.

RESULTS

Hip circumference was inversely associated with mortality irrespective of being physically active or not. However, being physically active seemed to counterbalance some of the adverse health effects of a small hip circumference; when comparing inactive to active, the excess mortality at the 25th percentile of hip circumference is 40% in men (HR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.14-1.72) and 33% in women (HR = 1.33, CI: 1.10-1.62). These associations were observed after adjustment for waist circumference and weight change in the 6 months before the examination.

CONCLUSION

Less effects of physical activity were found in individuals with greater hip circumferences. A small hip circumference appears hazardous to survival. However, being physically active may counterbalance some of the hazardous effects of a small hip circumference.

A risk model for lung cancer incidence

Risk models for lung cancer incidence would be useful for prioritizing individuals for screening and participation in clinical trials of chemoprevention. We present a risk model for lung cancer built using prospective cohort data from a general population which predicts individual incidence in a given time period. We build separate risk models for current and former smokers using 169,035 ever smokers from the multicenter European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) and considered a model for never smokers. The data set was split into independent training and test sets. Lung cancer incidence was modeled using survival analysis, stratifying by age started smoking, and for former smokers, also smoking duration. Other risk factors considered were smoking intensity, 10 occupational/environmental exposures previously implicated with lung cancer, and single-nucleotide polymorphisms at two loci identified by genome-wide association studies of lung cancer. Individual risk in the test set was measured by the predicted probability of lung cancer incidence in the year preceding last follow-up time, predictive accuracy was measured by the area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC). Using smoking information alone gave good predictive accuracy: the AUC and 95% confidence interval in ever smokers was 0.843 (0.810-0.875), the Bach model applied to the same data gave an AUC of 0.775 (0.737-0.813). Other risk factors had negligible effect on the AUC, including never smokers for whom prediction was poor. Our model is generalizable and straightforward to implement. Its accuracy can be attributed to its modeling of lifetime exposure to smoking.

Genetic variability of the forkhead box O3 and prostate cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation on Cancer

Forkhead box O3 (FOXO3) has a wide range of functions: it promotes tumor suppression, cell cycle arrest, repair of damaged DNA, detoxification of reactive oxygen species, apoptosis and plays a pivotal role in promoting longevity. FOXO3 is a key downstream target of the PI3K-Akt pathway in response to cellular stimulation by growth factors or insulin and has been proposed as a bridge between ageing and tumor suppression. Three SNPs in the FOXO3 gene (rs3800231, rs9400239 and rs479744) that have been shown to be strongly and consistently associated with longevity, were examined in relation to PC risk in a case control study of 1571 incident PC cases and 1840 controls nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). There was no statistically significant association between the SNPs and PC risk regardless of the model of inheritance (dominant, codominant and recessive). The associations were not modified by disease aggressiveness, circulating levels of steroid sex hormones, or IGFs or BMI. We conclude that polymorphisms in the FOXO3 gene that are associated with longevity are not major risk factors for PC risk, in this population of Caucasian men.

Metabolic syndrome and risks of colon and rectal cancer: the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition study

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is purportedly related to risk of developing colorectal cancer; however, the association of MetS, as defined according to recent international criteria, and colorectal cancer has not been yet evaluated. In particular, it remains unclear to what extent the MetS components individually account for such an association. We addressed these issues in a nested case-control study that included 1,093 incident cases matched (1:1) to controls by using incidence density sampling. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate relative risks (RR) and 95% CIs. MetS was defined according to the criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Program/Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP/ATPIII), the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), and the 2009 harmonized definition. Among individual components, abdominal obesity (RR = 1.51; 95% CI: 1.16-1.96) was associated with colon cancer, whereas abnormal glucose metabolism was associated with both colon (RR = 2.05; 95% CI: 1.57-2.68) and rectal cancer (RR = 2.07; 95% CI: 1.45-2.96). MetS, as defined by each of the definitions, was similarly associated with colon cancer (e.g., RR = 1.91; 95% CI: 1.47-2.42 for MetS by NCEP/ATPIII), whereas MetS by NCEP/ATPIII, but not IDF or harmonized definition, was associated with rectal cancer (RR = 1.45; 95% CI: 1.02-2.06). Overall, these associations were stronger in women than in men. However, the association between MetS and colorectal cancer was accounted for by abdominal obesity and abnormal glucose metabolism such that MetS did not provide risk information beyond these components (likelihood ratio test P = 0.10 for MetS by NCEP/ATPIII). These data suggest that simple assessment of abnormal glucose metabolism and/or abdominal obesity to identify individuals at colorectal cancer risk may have higher clinical utility than applying more complex MetS definitions.

Genetic variability of the mTOR pathway and prostate cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation on Cancer (EPIC)

The mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) signal transduction pathway integrates various signals, regulating ribosome biogenesis and protein synthesis as a function of available energy and amino acids, and assuring an appropriate coupling of cellular proliferation with increases in cell size. In addition, recent evidence has pointed to an interplay between the mTOR and p53 pathways. We investigated the genetic variability of 67 key genes in the mTOR pathway and in genes of the p53 pathway which interact with mTOR. We tested the association of 1,084 tagging SNPs with prostate cancer risk in a study of 815 prostate cancer cases and 1,266 controls nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). We chose the SNPs (n = 11) with the strongest association with risk (p<0.01) and sought to replicate their association in an additional series of 838 prostate cancer cases and 943 controls from EPIC. In the joint analysis of first and second phase two SNPs of the PRKCI gene showed an association with risk of prostate cancer (OR_allele = 0.85, 95% CI 0.78–0.94, p = 1.3×10⁻³ for rs546950 and OR_allele = 0.84, 95% CI 0.76–0.93, p = 5.6×10⁻⁴ for rs4955720). We confirmed this in a meta-analysis using as replication set the data from the second phase of our study jointly with the first phase of the Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS) project. In conclusion, we found an association with prostate cancer risk for two SNPs belonging to PRKCI, a gene which is frequently overexpressed in various neoplasms, including prostate cancer.