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In this issue
- Public Health Research Centres of Excellence: achievements and impacts
- Vacancy: Research Associates in physical activity and public health
- What makes young people GoActive? Study hosts discussion event
- Children from disadvantaged backgrounds and certain ethnic minorities do less vigorous physical activity
- Twenty times more English children could cycle to school with better transport planning
- Re-Visioning Transport and Health 2019 – slides available
- Podcast – Dr Jean Adams talks dietary public health
- Also in the news – keep active in older life, global diet and health, genetic and birth weight, and more…
- Seminars and talks
- Our latest publications
- Your information and preferences
Public Health Research Centres of Excellence: achievements and impacts
By building capacity and capability in public health research, a report published in March shows how the UK-wide network of centres of excellence that includes CEDAR, has helped fuel future public health and prevention research.
Since 2008, partners in the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) have invested £37 million in a network of six Public Health Research Centres of Excellence to increase infrastructure, build academic capacity in public health research in the UK and provide a platform to engage with policy and practice.
The report shows how 10-years of collaborative work by these centres – based in Edinburgh, Belfast, Newcastle, Nottingham, Cambridge and Cardiff – has exceeded expectations of what was thought possible back in 2008.
Vacancy: Research Associates in physical activity and public health
2 fixed-term positions for 2 years
We’re looking for two Research Associates to work in the physical activity and public health team. They will work on feasibility and process evaluations of environmental and policy interventions in new residential developments and around schools funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) School for Public Health Research (SPHR).
They will be working to assess the feasibility of implementing a randomised control trial of financial incentives and design and conduct quantitative and qualitative studies about how environmental and policy interventions to promote walking, cycling and public transport are used, viewed, experienced and interpreted. They will be responsible for collecting both qualitative and quantitative data and analysing existing quantitative data from intervention providers.
- Closing date: 6 August 2019
- Interviews: week beginning 12 August
- Full details: www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/22344/
What makes young people GoActive?
Study hosts discussion event
GoActive is an intervention designed to increase physical activity in young people, aged 13 to 14 through increased peer support, self-efficacy, self-esteem and friendship quality.
The GoActive study team hosted a discussion event at the Møller Centre, Cambridge on 10 June which attracted delegates from a variety of fields including researchers, policymakers and practitioners.
The aim of the event was to provide insights into best practice for future school-based research and health promotion more broadly.
The main take home message was that a one sized approach for all schools may not be realistic and there is a need to work with schools on an individual basis to plan how to make physical activity a priority within that school.
- Read the full story
- Find out more about GoActive
- Paper: Adolescents’ perspectives on a school-based physical activity intervention: a mixed method study
Children from disadvantaged backgrounds and certain ethnic minorities do less vigorous physical activity
Children from disadvantaged backgrounds and certain ethnic minority backgrounds have lower levels of vigorous physical activity, according to research from CEDAR.
The patterns mirror inequalities seen in levels of childhood obesity, suggesting a need for a greater focus on the promotion of vigorous physical activity, particularly for those children from more disadvantaged backgrounds.
The researchers say that there are many factors that might explain the differences, including access to or the cost of participating in sports activities, and a parent working longer, inconsistent work hours within a low-income job. There may also be differences in home and family support for physical activity between ethnic groups.
- Read the full story
- This research was reported in the Sun, Scotsman, Business Standard, Science Daily, and several other online news outlets.
- Full paper: Socio-economic and ethnic differences in children’s vigorous intensity physical activity: a cross-sectional analysis of the UK Millennium Cohort Study. BMJ Open; 28 May 2019 DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027627
Twenty times more English children could cycle to school with better transport planning
Rachel Aldred (University of Westminster), Anna Goodman (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine), James Woodcock (CEDAR / MRC Epidemiology Unit) and Robin Lovelace (University of Leeds) from the Propensity to Cycle team have written about we can get more children cycling to school.
Only 2% of pupils in England cycle to school, even less than the 3% of adults who cycle to work. Hostile cycling environments, where riders are expected to mix with buses and other large vehicles, are off-putting enough for commuters, let alone for children (or more accurately, the adults deciding whether or not their children can cycle).
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Indeed in the Netherlands, many more children cycle to school. Using the CEDAR-led Propensity to Cycle Tool (PCT) – www.pct.bike – together with data from the National School Census and the Dutch travel survey, researchers have shown that if children in England cycled to school at the same rates as Dutch children do (for trips of the same distance and hilliness), more than two in five children would do so. Realising the “Dutch” potential would mean a 22-fold increase from the current levels of one in 50 children cycling to school.
Go Cambridge
As well as the Go Dutch scenario, the PCT team have created a Go Cambridge scenario for schools, This gives the level of cycling if everywhere else in England had the same likelihood of cycling to school as children do in Cambridge, allowing for hilliness and distance. This is much more ambitious than the Government Target scenario but less than the Go Dutch scenario. So if children in Cambridge can do it, why not children in the rest of England.
- Find out more at www.pct.bike
Re-Visioning Transport and Health 2019
From Satellite to Street Level: Using computer vision of transport and the built environment to benefit population health
From 2 to 4 July, researchers from around the world gathered in Cambridge for a workshop and hackathon organised by members of the MRC Epidemiology Unit and Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, and funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund.
The event was held to assess the state of the computer vision field and discuss how developments can be made to provide the data that decision makers need to address questions of health and sustainability for transport systems and the built environment. It brought together experts in computer vision, earth observation, street level data collection, population health, cities, and transport studies.
Slides from the talks are now available, with audio and video from the workshop to follow soon.
Podcast – Dr Jean Adams talks dietary public health
The Confidence Interval is an occasional podcast from the MRC Epidemiology Unit and CEDAR – talking science, people and public health.
In the latest edition, Dr Jean Adams from the dietary public health team talks about how we might improve the nation’s diet, the politics of what we eat, moving from medicine to public health, and what motivates her scientific inquiry.
- Listen on the University of Cambridge streaming service.
- Subscribe on iTunes / Apple Podcasts
- Available on other podcast providers – search “The Confidence Interval”
You can still explore previous episodes on iTunes and the streaming service above, including Dr Felix Day talking genetics, puberty and unusual career trajectories, and a recording of the Festival of Ideas event Improving our Diets – More Freedom or More Control?
Also in the news
Other news of interest in health, obesity and diabetes research from the MRC Epidemiology Unit, which leads CEDAR.
For all Unit news visit www.mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk/news
- Keeping active or becoming more active in middle and older age linked to longer life. Meeting minimum public health recommendations could prevent nearly one in two deaths linked to physical inactivity.
- Type 2 diabetes: losing even a small amount of weight may lower heart disease risk. Reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, the most common complications of diabetes.
- Global diet and health: fresh evidence from huge global study. MRC Epidemiology Unit researchers explore the implications
- Patients with an ‘empathic’ GP at reduced risk of early death. Those diagnosed with diabetes at a lower risk of early death if they have a doctor who they describe as showing empathy towards them.
- How both mother and baby genes affect birth weight. The largest study of its kind leads to new insights into the complex relationships surrounding how mothers’ and babies’ genes influence birth weight.
- Discovery of genetic variants that protect against obesity and type 2 diabetes could lead to new weight loss medicines. Around four million people in the UK carry genetic variants that protect them from obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, suggests new research.
Seminar and talks
There are no talks currently advertised at CEDAR or the MRC Epidemiology Unit, but you can receive updates about future talks by managing your subscriptions at www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk/subscribe/
And look out for more talks and events at www.mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk/events and www.iph.cam.ac.uk/news/seminars
Previous CEDAR / MRC Epidemiology Unit events where slides, audio or video are available are listed at www.mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk/past-seminars/
Also of interest…
Behaviour Change by Design Annual Lecture 2019: Why Don’t We Stick with Behaviour Change?
Wendy Wood, Provost Professor of Psychology and Business, University of Southern California
26 September, 18.00, Howard Theatre, Downing College
Our latest publications
The following papers have been published since the last CEDAR Bulletin. All are Open Access.
General public health
- Global Effect Factors for Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter. Fantke P, McKone TE, Tainio M, Jolliet O, Apte JS, Stylianou KS, Illner N, Marshall JD, Choma EF, Evans JS. Environ Sci Technol.
- Increasing healthy life expectancy equitably in England by 5 years by 2035: could it be achieved? Marteau TM, White M, Rutter H, Petticrew M, Mytton OT, McGowan JG, Aldridge RW. Lancet.
- What helped and hindered implementation of an intervention package to reduce smoking in pregnancy: process evaluation guided by normalization process theory. Jones S, Hamilton S, Bell R, Araújo-Soares V, Glinianaia SV, Milne EMG, White M, Willmore M, Shucksmith J. BMC Health Serv Res.
- What is the evidence that differences in ‘control over destiny’ lead to socioeconomic inequalities in health? A theory-led systematic review of high-quality longitudinal studies on pathways in the living environment. Orton LC, Pennington A, Nayak S, Sowden A, Petticrew M, White M, Whitehead M. J Epidemiol Community Health.
Diet
- The Association between Perceived Adequacy and Capacity for School Food Policy Implementation with Food Availability and Policy Adherence in Nova Scotia, Canada. McIsaac JD, Penney TL, Mâsse L, Kirk SFL. Int J Environ Res Public Health.
- Behavioural intervention for weight loss maintenance versus standard weight advice in adults with obesity: A randomised controlled trial in the UK (NULevel Trial). Sniehotta FF, Evans EH, Sainsbury K, Adamson A, Batterham A, Becker F, Brown H, Dombrowski SU, Jackson D, Howell D, Ladha K, McColl E, Olivier P, Rothman AJ, Steel A, Vale L, Vieira R, White M, Wright P, Araújo-Soares V. PLoS Med.
- Childhood Obesity Prevention in Africa: A Systematic Review of Intervention Effectiveness and Implementation. Klingberg S, Draper CE, Micklesfield LK, Benjamin-Neelon SE, van Sluijs EMF. Int J Environ Res Public Health.
- Feasibility and acceptability of a Takeaway Masterclass aimed at encouraging healthier cooking practices and menu options in takeaway food outlets. Hillier-Brown F, Lloyd S, Muhammad L, Summerbell C, Goffe L, Hildred N, Adams J, Penn L, Wrieden W, White M, Lake A, Moore H, Abraham C, Adamson A, Araújo-Soares V. Public Health Nutr.
- Global benchmarking of children’s exposure to television advertising of unhealthy foods and beverages across 22 countries. Kelly B, Vandevijvere S, Ng S, Adams J, Allemandi L, Bahena-Espina L, Barquera S, Boyland E, Calleja P, Carmona-Garcés IC, Castronuovo L, Cauchi D, Correa T, Corvalán C, Cosenza-Quintana EL, Fernández-Escobar C, González-Zapata LI, Halford J, Jaichuen N, Jensen ML, Karupaiah T, Kaur A, Kroker-Lobos MF, Mchiza Z, Miklavec K, Parker WA, Potvin Kent M, Pravst I, Ramírez-Zea M, Reiff S, Reyes M, Royo-Bordonada MÁ, Rueangsom P, Scarborough P, Tiscornia MV, Tolentino-Mayo L, Wate J, White M, Zamora-Corrales I, Zeng L, Swinburn B. Obes Rev.
- How does local government use the planning system to regulate hot food takeaway outlets? A census of current practice in England using document review. Keeble M, Burgoine T, White M, Summerbell C, Cummins S, Adams J. Health Place.
- ‘It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle’: a longitudinal, data-prompted interview study of weight loss maintenance. Kwasnicka D, Dombrowski SU, White M, Sniehotta FF. Psychol Health.
- What principles should guide interactions between population health researchers and the food industry? Systematic scoping review of peer-reviewed and grey literature. Cullerton K, Adams J, Forouhi N, Francis O, White M. Obes Rev.
Physical Activity
- A closer look at the relationship among accelerometer-based physical activity metrics: ICAD pooled data. Kwon S, Andersen LB, Grøntved A, Kolle E, Cardon G, Davey R, Kriemler S, Northstone K, Page AS, Puder JJ, Reilly JJ, Sardinha LB, van Sluijs EMF, Janz KF. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act.
- A systematic review of just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs) to promote physical activity. Hardeman W, Houghton J, Lane K, Jones A, Naughton F. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act.
- Adolescents’ perspectives on a school-based physical activity intervention: a mixed method study. Jong ST, Croxson CHD, Guell C, Lawlor ER, Foubister C, Brown HE, Wells EK, Wilkinson P, Vignoles A, van Sluijs E, Corder K. J Sport Health Sci.
- Are school-based physical activity interventions effective and equitable? A meta-analysis of cluster randomized controlled trials with accelerometer-assessed activity. Love R, Adams J, van Sluijs EMF. Obes Rev.
- Determinants of change in accelerometer-assessed sedentary behaviour in children 0 to 6 years of age: A systematic review. Azevedo LB, van Sluijs EMF, Moore HJ, Hesketh K. Obes Rev.
- Impact of ambient air pollution on physical activity and sedentary behavior in China: A systematic review. An R, Shen J, Ying B, Tainio M, Andersen ZJ, de Nazelle A. Environ Res.
- Introducing physically active lessons in UK secondary schools: feasibility study and pilot cluster-randomised controlled trial. Gammon C, Morton K, Atkin A, Corder K, Daly-Smith A, Quarmby T, Suhrcke M, Turner D, van Sluijs E. BMJ Open.
- Safety-in-numbers: An updated meta-analysis of estimates. Elvik R, Goel R. Accid Anal Prev.
- Scenarios of cycling to school in England, and associated health and carbon impacts: Application of the ‘Propensity to Cycle Tool’. Goodman A, Fridman Rojas I, Woodcock J, Aldred R, Berkoff N, Morgan M, Abbas A, Lovelace R. J Transport & Health.
- Socioeconomic and ethnic differences in children’s vigorous intensity physical activity: a cross-sectional analysis of the UK Millennium Cohort Study. Love R, Adams J, Atkin A, van Sluijs E. BMJ Open.
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