Unhealthy Dietary Habits Research Articles

Fit mothers for a healthy future: Breaking the intergenerational cycle of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with maternal exercise.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) emerges as significant health burden worldwide. Lifestyle changes, unhealthy dietary habits and physical inactivity, can trigger NAFLD development. Persisting on these habits during pregnancy affects in utero environment and prompts a specific metabolic response in foetus resulting in offspring metabolic maladjustments potentially critical for developing NAFLD later in life. The increasing prevalence of NAFLD, particularly in children, has shifted the research focus towards preventive and therapeutic strategies. Yet, designing effective approaches that can break the NAFLD intergenerational cycle becomes even more complicated. Regular physical exercise (PE) is a powerful non-pharmacological strategy known to counteract deleterious metabolic outcomes. In this narrative review, we aimed to briefly describe NAFLD pathogenesis focusing on maternal nutritional challenge and foetal programming, and to provide potential mechanisms behind the putative intergenerational effect of PE against metabolic diseases, including liver diseases. Following detailed electronic database search, recent existing evidence about NAFLD development, intergenerational programming and gestational exercise effects was critically analysed and discussed. PE during pregnancy could have a great potential to counteract intergenerational transmission of metabolic burden. The interplay between different PE roles-metabolic, endocrine and epigenetic-could offer a more stable in utero environment to the foetus, thus rescuing offspring vulnerability to metabolic disturbances. The better understanding of maternal PE beneficial consequences on offspring metabolism could reinforce the importance of PE during pregnancy as an indispensable strategy in improving offspring health.

Influence of pro-obesogenic dietary habits on stress-induced cognitive alterations in healthy adult volunteers

Stress is a fundamental biological response that can be associated with alterations in cognitive processes. Unhealthy dietary habits are proposed to modulate this effect, notably through their pro-inflammatory potential. This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the influence of an obesogenic dietary pattern with inflammatory potential on stress-induced cognitive alterations in healthy volunteers.Fifty healthy adult participants were stratified into two diet groups: obesogenic vs. non-obesogenic, based on their self-reported consumption of fat, sugar, and salt, assessed by the French National Program for Nutrition and Health questionnaire and a food frequency questionnaire. Serum high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) was measured as a marker of systemic inflammation using ELISA. Verbal memory and sustained attention were evaluated through the Verbal Recognition Memory (VRM) test and the Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVP) test respectively, from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery. Assessments were performed before and after exposure to the psychological stressor Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Stress response was evaluated by subjective stress perception, salivary cortisol, blood pressure, and heart rate.Twenty-two participants (44%) presented an obesogenic diet. Systemic inflammation was significantly higher in the obesogenic diet group (p=0.005). The TSST induced a significant stress response, regardless of dietary habits (Time effect p < 0.001). In the whole sample, exposure to TSST was associated with cognitive changes in the form of impaired performance on the VRM test and overall improved RVP scores. However, the obesogenic diet group exhibited an increased total number of false alarms (Time x Diet: p=0.014) on the RVP test after TSST exposure as well as a greater impairment in immediate verbal recognition on the VRM test (Time x Diet: p=0.002). This effect was not associated with the inflammatory component of the obesogenic diet.These results suggest that an obesogenic diet may sensitize healthy individuals to the detrimental effects of acute stress on cognitive performance.

Mediterranean Diet as an Antioxidant: The Impact on Metabolic Health and Overall Wellbeing.

It has been established, worldwide, that non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular events account for a high percentage of morbidity and mortality in contemporary societies. Several modifiable risk factors, such as sedentary activities, sleep deprivation, smoking, and unhealthy dietary habits have contributed to this increase. Healthy nutrition in terms of adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), rich in fruits, legumes, vegetables, olive oil, herbs, spices, and high fiber intake may contribute to the decrease in this pandemic. The beneficial effects of the MD can be mainly attributed to its numerous components rich in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Moreover, the MD may further contribute to the improvement of reproductive health, modify the risk for neurodegenerative diseases, and protect against depression and psychosocial maladjustment. There is also evidence highlighting the impact of healthy nutrition in female people on the composition of the gut microbiota and future metabolic and overall health of their offspring. It is therefore important to highlight the beneficial effects of the MD on metabolic, reproductive, and mental health, while shaping the overall health of future generations. The beneficial effects of MD can be further enhanced by increased physical activity in the context of a well-balanced healthy lifestyle.

Energy Drinks Consumption Associated with Emotional and Behavioural Problems via Lack of Sleep and Skipped Breakfast among Adolescents.

The aim of our study was to explore whether energy drink consumption is associated with both emotional and behavioural problems and whether this association might be mediated by amount of sleep and breakfast consumption among adolescents. The nationally representative Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, realised in 2018 in Slovakia in schools, was used to acquire needed data, with the research sample of 8405 adolescents from 11 to 15 years old (mean age = 13.43; 50.9% boys) who completed the questionnaires on their own in a presence of researchers and research assistants. Emotional and behavioural problems were assessed by a Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, while energy drinks consumption, breakfast consumption and sleep duration was assessed by questions in line with the HBSC study protocol. Linear regression models assessed the associations between energy drinks consumption and emotional and behavioural problems. Mediation by sleep duration and breakfast consumption was assessed with parallel mediation models. Energy drink consumption was significantly associated with emotional (p < 0.001) and behavioural problems (p < 0.001), with higher consumption of energy drinks leading to more emotional and behavioural problems. Results from a parallel mediation analysis indicated that energy drink consumption is indirectly related to both emotional and behavioural problems through its relationship with the amount of sleep and breakfast consumption. Parents and professionals working with adolescents should be aware that unhealthy dietary habits and lack of sleep might be related to emotional and behavioural problems.

Suggested Guidelines to Prevent Health Difficulties and Risk Behavior among Students of Secondary Schools in Governorate of Cairo

Background: Adolescence is a phase of exposure to several risk behaviors which lead to high morbidity ratesand different health issues. Study aim: To evaluate the communal health difficulties and risk behavior amongsecondary school students and to suggest health guidelines for students to minimize these risk behaviors.Subject and Methods: correlational design as descriptive was used in the current work. Setting: The currentwork pereformed at 2 secondary schools: El-Saneya secondary school for girls and El- Khedewey secondaryschool for boys – Governorate of Cairo . Sample: 180 students were randomly selected from first and secondsecondary grades from each school. Tools: three parts questionnaire sheet was prepared part I: demographicstudents characteristic, part II: communal health difficulties (social, physical, and psychological), part III:common risk behavior executed via secondary school students. Results: respiratory difficulties (25%), skindifficulties (45.8%). Regarding psychological difficulties (61.1%) of students reported that they complainof inability to communicate well with others, while (66.7%) complain of low self-esteem. Social healthdifficulties were having difficulties with parents at home and with their colleagues at school. The mostcommon risk behaviors were as follow: 25% of students smoke tobacco, 60% of them engaged in physicalviolence, while 42.2% have unhealthy dietary behavior. Smoking was positively correlated along age(p= 0.001). Conclusion: The mostly communal risk behavior found was smoking tobacco, engagementin physical violence, and having unhealthy dietary habits. There was significant relation among students’age &amp; gender and common risk factors as: drug use, smoking, violence involvement, eating fast foodand non-participation in activities. Recommendation: Dissemination of health guidelines for secondaryschool students to prevent health difficulties and application of health education programs to raise students’awareness regarding how to prevent risk behaviors.

Hidden Hunger of Vitamin E among Healthy College Students: A Cross- Sectional Study.

BackgroundCollege students may have a risk of fat-soluble vitamin deficiencies due to unhealthy dietary habits, especially for vitamin A and E. They are important members of the human antioxidant network; deficiencies of these vitamins may increase the risk of many critical diseases.ObjectiveThe current study was undertaken to determine the status of vitamin A and E in college students.MethodsHealthy college students were recruited, and fasting blood samples of them were collected and used for determining serum levels of retinol and α-tocopherol by the HPLC method.ResultsWe found that there was no vitamin A deficiency in college students. However, vitamin E deficiency existed in 34.5% of college students, especially in males. All the students had no vitamin E adequacy. In addition, our findings showed that BMI was inversely associated with serum α-tocopherol, but not serum retinol.ConclusionThese results suggest that vitamin E deficiency in college students should be given more attention, and it is necessary to consider using vitamin E supplements.

A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF CANCER DEATHS AND ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS IN MEDICAL BLOCK MATTAN, ANANTNAG KASHMIR

Background: Cancer is one of the signicant causes of mortality worldwide. Cancer has been found to increase with acquisition of unhealthy dietary habits, smoking, sedentary life style etc. Objective: (1) To determine the number of cancer deaths in Mattan Block, Anantnag in the ve year period of 2015 -2020. (2)To nd out the prevalence of risk factors of cancer among the studied cases Materials and Methods:It was a descriptive analysis of the cancer related deaths in Mattan area conducted from 2015 to 2020. Whenever a cancer death occurred, a team of health inspector and an ASHAworker went to the family of the deceased where upon socio-demographic details and the details about risk factors were collected. The data was entered and analysed by using Microsoft Word 2010. Results: A total of 197 deaths were recorded. Most of the deaths were in the age group of above 60 years (40%) with male preponderance (65%). Maximum proportion of deaths was due to Gastrointestinal cancers (42%) followed by respiratory cancers (25.4%). About 56% of participants consumed dried vegetables at least twice a week. Salt tea was consumed 3-4 times a day by 35% of subjects, 45.2% of the subjects ate spicy food. About 53% of subjects were smokers. Conclusion: In this study we found that there's high intake of salt tea, dried vegetables and spicy foods among family members of the deceased persons. Smoking is also a menace in the area. Awareness generation among the people in the area needs to be created about the healthy food and life style

The associations between adolescents’ sports club participation and dietary habits

For adolescent athletes, data on nutrition behaviors are limited. The present study aimed to evaluate the dietary habits of adolescent sports club participants (SPs) compared with those of non-participants (NPs). The cross-sectional study of 1917 adolescents aged 14-16 was based on data from the Finnish Health Promoting Sports Club (FHPSC) study. The health behavior surveys were conducted among SPs (n = 1093) and NPs (n = 824). Logistic regression was used to test statistical significance of the differences in dietary habits between SPs and NPs. SPs were more likely than NPs to eat breakfast on weekends [89% vs 79%, odds ratio (OR) 1.46, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07-2.01] and to report daily consumption of vegetables (46% vs 32%, OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.04-1.69) and fat-free or semi-skimmed milk (72% vs 55%, OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.04-1.68). Dietary habits regarded as unhealthy, such as sugared soft drink consumption, were similar between the groups. The aforementioned healthy dietary habits are more frequent in SPs than NPs, and unhealthy dietary habits are equally frequent in the groups. Both adolescent SPs’ and NPs’ dietary habits have deficiencies, like inadequate vegetable and fruit consumption. Sports clubs’ opportunities for adolescents’ healthy eating promotion should be examined.

An Observational Study on Glycemic Outcomes, Lifestyle and Psychosocial Health of Patients With Diabetes During Covid-19 Lockdown From Bangalore

Background and Aims: Lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic imposed many restrictions on the public. Loss of continuum of care along with improper lifestyle was expected to worsen glycemic control in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D). We aimed to identify the effects of lockdown on their glycemic status, lifestyle changes and psychosocial health.Methods: The pre- and post-lockdown data of 110 adults with T2D who were under regular follow up was collected by direct interview during their visit to the diabetes clinic. The variables analyzed included demographic data, HbA1c, body weight, lifestyle changes, psychosocial factors and use of technology.Result: The overall physical activity had dipped significantly accounting to lockdown restrictions and fear. Dietary adherence was better with participants exhibiting increased consumption of vegetables (80.9%), fruits (42.7%), and decreased unhealthy snacking (63%). 90% of them had access to medications during lockdown. There was significant change noted in the mean HbA1c (0.9- 1.45%) and body weight (1–3.5kgs) before and after lockdown. There was a great increase in Screen time attributing to Work from home and restrictions to move out. 63.6% of them spent time with their family members. Those with prior mental stress,poor sleep and unhealthy dietary habits had worsening glycemic control as seen in those with less physical activity and an unhealthy diet. An increasing trend of utilisation of health related mobile internet technology apps were noted.Conclusion: Lockdown did cause a major change in the overall glycemic control. Measures to promote healthy lifestyle practices along with ways to reduce psychosocial stress must be implemented for better T2D management during such restricted times. Telemedicine paved a greater way and scope of continuum of Diabetes care.

Prevalence of energy drink consumption and association with dietary habits among governmental university students in Riyadh.

To determine the prevalence of Energy Drinks (ED) consumption, and the adverse effects experienced by consumers among governmental university students in Riyadh, and to assess the relationship between ED consumption and dietary habits. This is a cross-sectional study carried out in 2020 in a random sample of students at government universities in Riyadh (King Saud University (KSU) and Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU). The study was conducted within a time frame of 3 months which included a total of 546 students. The data collection tool was an online self-administered questionnaire that included three sections. The first section addressed the characteristics of the students, the second section addressed ED consumption, and the third section addressed the dietary habits of ED consumers. A SPSS software-based analysis revealed that the percentage of ED consumers in our cohort was 29.3%. Moreover, we found a significant association between ED consumption and consumption of fewer than three meals, skipping breakfast, and fast food intake (χ2 = 0.002, P = 0.364; χ2 = 0.028, P = 0.341; and (χ2 = 0.010, P = 0.369, respectively), with moderate correlation. No association was found between the consumption of EDs and that of fruits, vegetables, and snacks. Moreover, 36% of the consumers experienced jolt-and-crash symptoms and signs after ED consumption, with 84.5% of them exhibiting increased consumption of salty snacks, sweets, and fast food during the episodes. Our findings showed that ED consumption is not a common practice among governmental university students in Riyadh. Furthermore, the consumption of EDs was correlated with unhealthy dietary habits. Creating educational programs for school going students and providing healthy alternative options to the students is highly recommend. Future research should be conducted using a larger sample and including universities from the private sector, to compare the results.

RIPK1 targeting protects against obesity and atherosclerosis

Unhealthy lifestyles and dietary habits often lead to diet-associated inflammatory diseases such as obesity and atherosclerosis. Recent studies have provided novel insight into the role of RIPK1 in inflammation and metabolism. RIPK1 silencing can reduce diet-induced obesity, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and atherosclerosis by reducing inflammation, lipid synthesis, and inflammasome activation. Targeting RIPK1 may therefore attenuate chronic metabolic disease and would likely be therapeutic.

Awareness On Healthy Dietary Habits Among Prospective Teachers In Tirunelveli District

Unhealthy dietary habits are related to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and increased obesity risk over the past decades. It’s mainly due to the dietary factors and lack of physical activities among students. Unhealthy food eating habits and lack of food knowledge and health products leads to severe health problems in the young generation. They prefer food based on their taste, look especially in their psychological point of view not based on their healthy aspects. They often prefer outside foods especially from hotels and local food shops this may affect their immunity and increase the risk of various disease. The main objective of the present study was to find out the awareness on healthy dietary habits among prospective teachers in Tirunelveli district. Survey method was adopted by the investigators to conduct this study. The sample consists of 250 prospective teachers in Tirunelveli District. Healthy Dietary Habits Awareness Scale was developed by Maria Saroja, M and Michael Jeya Priya, E (2020) has been used for collecting data. Mean, SD, ‘t’- test and ꭓ2 was used for analysis the data. The investigators found that i) there is significant difference between rural and urban, nuclear and joint family prospective teachers in their awareness on the healthy dietary habits (ii) there is no significant difference between girls and co-education prospective teachers in their awareness on the healthy dietary habits (iii) there is no significant association between prospective teachers in their awareness on the healthy dietary habits with reference to the father’s educational qualification and mothers educational qualification.

Prevalence Of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour And Unhealthy Dietary Habits Among Moroccan Adolescents

Adolescence represents a very crucial phase in the human life cycle. During this period adolescents develop individual lifestyle habits. as a result, and in the absence of data concerning the above characteristics, in the Beni Mellal-Khénifra region, we leaded a cross-sectional survey of growth ,food and hygiene behaviour conducted among a sample of 812 adolescents, including 404 boys attending school aged 13 to18 years, Furthermore, the objective of this study was also to verify among college students of the region the prevalence of moderate physical activity levels, unhealthy dietary habits and sedentary behaviour, in order to determine the risk factors related to the physical inactivity. The prevalence of physical activity was 36.08% (50.0% among boys and 22.06% among girls). Nearly 40% of these adolescents spend more than 2 hours a day in front of the screens. Unhealthy dietary habits are more frequent among adolescents and the majority of them consume Fried potatoes (fries and chips) Doughnuts/cake, Sugary drinks more than three times a week. These results show significant associations between physical activity, sedentary habits and some unhealthy dietary habits.

Prevalence of early-onset androgenetic alopecia and its relationship with lifestyle and dietary habits.

Early-onset androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most common cause of alopecia in men under 30 years of age; however, its prevalence and non-genetic risk factors are not well documented. The aim of our study was to determine the early-onset AGA prevalence and to evaluate its relationship with lifestyle and dietary habits. This study was conducted on 1507 male university students aged 18-30 years. Students with AGA were grouped as mild and moderate-severe according to the Hamilton-Norwood classification. They were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding information about lifestyle and dietary habits including the Adolescent Food Habits Checklist (AFHC) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) short form. The prevalence of early-onset AGA was 19.2% in the students. Each year over the 18 years age, positive family history, unhealthy vegetable-fruit and red meat consumption, presence of a hair disease apart from AGA and smoking were associated with increased risk for early-onset AGA. The median score of AFHC was lower than those without early-onset AGA which reflects the unhealthy dietary habit. Students with moderate-severe AGA had a higher body mass index and waist circumference than those with mild AGA (P<0.05). In addition to family history, lifestyle and dietary habits have roles in early-onset AGA. Therefore, regulation of lifestyle and dietary habits may have a possible contribution in the prevention of early-onset AGA.

Chronic health conditions, healthcare experience and life satisfaction among immigrant and native-born women in Canada

PurposeTo compare chronic health status, utilization of healthcare services and life satisfaction among immigrant women and their Canadian counterparts.Design/methodology/approachA secondary analysis of national data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), 2015–2016 was conducted. The survey data included 109,659 cases. Given the research question, only female cases were selected, which resulted in a final sample of 52,560 cases. Data analysis was conducted using multiple methods, including logistic regression and linear regression.FindingsRecent and established immigrant women were healthier than native-born Canadian women. While the Healthy Immigrant Effect (HIE) was evident among immigrant women, some characteristics related to ethnic origin and/or unhealthy dietary habits may deteriorate immigrant women's health in the long term. Immigrant women and non-immigrant women with chronic illnesses were both more likely to increase their use of the healthcare system. Notably, the present study did not find evidence that immigrant women under-utilized Canada's healthcare system. However, the findings showed that chronic health issues were more likely to decrease women's life satisfaction.Originality/valueThis analysis contributes to the understanding of immigrant women's acculturation by comparing types of chronic illnesses, healthcare visits, and life satisfaction between immigrant women and their Canadian counterparts.

Epidemiological Profile of Diabetes Mellitus Patients in Diabetes Center in King Salman Specialist Hospital Hail Region Saudi Arabia

Objective: To investigate the degree of association between the specific epidemiologic factors of diabetes in the Hail Region of Saudi Arabia.&#x0D; Methodology: The research is considered a case study using information from the King Salman Specialist Hospital in Hail Saudi Arabia. 5000 Medical reports and records were used in the retrospective cross-sectional study. Data analysis was done using SPSS statistical software.&#x0D; Results: The Chi-square results indicated an insignificant association between gender and follow-up status (P &gt; 0.05). Both males and females sought treatment equally, whether follow-up or new treatments (P &gt; 0.05). There was a significant association between gender and diabetes type.&#x0D; The t-test results had varied results for the differences in age, BMI, and diabetes treatment. Age differences had no significant impact on the prevalence of diabetes among males and females (t (4998) = -0.63, P &gt; 0.05. Men had lower glycohemoglobin levels (8.11) differed significantly from that of women (8.58) t (4786) = -10.62, p &lt; 0.05. also, the creatine levels were higher in females than males. There were significant differences in low-density lipoprotein, hemoglobin, and BMI between men and women.&#x0D; Conclusions: The findings indicated differences in treatment such as unawareness of insulin injection, ignorance of health practices and unhealthy dietary habits, gender-related disparities, the inheritance of genes through which the disorder manifests, and exposure to environmental factors triggering and exacerbating the condition. Future studies should consider the genetic dimension Diabetes.

Associations of lifestyle risk factors with overweight or obesity among adolescents: a multicountry analysis

About 35% of the global burden of disease has roots in adolescence. Health in adolescence is an important determinant of health in adulthood. This study aimed to generate risk scores for lifestyle behaviors among adolescents and to estimate the country-specific prevalence of these risk scores. The study also examined the relations of lifestyle risk scores with overweight or obesity among adolescents. We used the most recent data available from 20 nationally representative Global School-based Student Health Surveys. Our analytical sample size was 51,597. The outcome of interest was overweight or obesity. We developed 4 lifestyle risk scores (dietary habits, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and tobacco use), which were used as the exposure variables in this study. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to estimate adjusted ORs with 95% CIs. In total, 18.2% of the participants were overweight or obese. Across countries, the percentage of adolescents with unhealthy dietary habits ranged from 76.7% (the Cook Islands) to 94.2% (Timor-Leste), physical inactivity ranged from 47.5% (Bangladesh) to 90.1% (the Philippines), and sedentary behavior ranged from 34.5% (Nepal) to 88.2% (Kuwait). Girls engaged in less physical activity than did boys. Increased odds of overweight or obesity were found among participants with high risk scores for physical inactivity (OR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.27) and for unhealthy sedentary behavior (OR: 1.25; 95% CI: 1.16, 1.35) compared with participants with low risk scores. Girls with high tobacco risk scores had higher odds (OR: 1.30; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.65) of overweight or obesity than did girls with low risk scores for tobacco use, whereas there were no significant differences in risk in boys. Unhealthy lifestyle behaviors were quite prevalent among adolescents, and higher lifestyle risk scores increased the risk of overweight or obesity.

Evaluation of olive oil effects on human stress response by measuring cerebral blood flow.

In this paper, we evaluated the effects of olive oil on human's stress level. In recent years, mental stress from harsh working environment have been causing serious problems to human health, both mentally and physically. Symptoms of stress may include feelings of worthlessness, agitation, anxiety, lethargy, insomnia, and behavioral changes. Additionally, the harsh working environments may cause the workers to adopt unhealthy dietary habits, contributing to the health issue. On the other hand, olive oil has been known to provide stress‐relieving effects both by ingestion and by inhaling the scent. Here, we examined the effects of extravirgin olive oil ingestion for mitigating stress from deskwork. Three best‐selling extravirgin olive oil in Japan were tested, and typing task was selected to emulate deskwork situation. Near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is utilized in this study to visualize the response in brain via cerebral blood flow analysis and to measure participants’ stress level. Statistical analysis showed that the stress levels were lower during the olive oil ingestion experiment compared to no‐oil experiment, even when measured one hour after the ingestion.

Socio- Demographic, Clinical and Lifestyle Determinants of Low Response Rate on a Self- Reported Psychological Multi-Item Instrument Assessing the Adults’ Hostility and its Direction: ATTICA Epidemiological Study (2002-2012)

Background: Missing data constitutes a common phenomenon, especially, in questionnaire-based, population surveys or epidemiological studies, with the statistical power, the efficiency and the validity of the conducted analyses being significantly affected by the missing information. The aim of the present work was to investigate the socio-demographic, lifestyle and clinical determinants of low response rate in a self- rating multi-item scale, estimating the individuals’ hostility and direction of hostility. Methods: 3042 apparently healthy volunteers residing in the Athens metropolitan area participated in the ATTICA epidemiological study [1514 (49.8%) were men [46 years old (SD= 13 years)] and 1528 (50.2%) were women [45 years old (SD= 14 years)]]. Hostility and Direction of Hostility was assessed with the Hostility and Direction of Hostility (HDHQ) scale. Binary logistic regression with backward model selection was used in order to identify the key demographic, clinical and lifestyle determinants of higher non-response rate in the HDHQ scale. Results: The vast majority of the participants (87.0%) had missing information in the HDHQ scale. Older age, lower educational level, poorer health status and unhealthy dietary habits, were found to be significant determinants of high nonresponse rate, while female participants were found to be more likely to have missing data in the items of the HDHQ scale. Conclusions: The present work augments prior evidence that higher non-response to health surveys is significantly affected by responders’ background characteristics, while it gives rise to research towards unrevealed paths behind this claim.

A cross-sectional study of the association between frequency of telecommuting and unhealthy dietary habits among Japanese workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

ObjectiveDue to the COVID‐19 pandemic, telecommuting has become a new way of working that has not only changed individuals’ work, but also their health and lifestyle. We examined the relationship between telecommuting frequency and unhealthy dietary habits among Japanese workers.MethodsA total of 33,302 workers completed an Internet survey about telecommuting and dietary habits. Data from 13,468 office workers who telecommuted were analyzed. Telecommuting frequency during the COVID‐19 pandemic was extracted from a questionnaire. The odds ratios (ORs) of four types of dietary habits, namely, skipping breakfast, solitary eating, lower meal frequency, and meal substitution associated with telecommuting frequency were estimated using multilevel logistic regression nested in the prefecture of residence to control for differences in residential area.ResultsThe multivariate OR of skipping breakfast was 1.15 (95% CI: 1.03–1.29, p = .013) for participants who telecommuted in excess of four days per week compared to those who rarely telecommuted. Similarly, the OR of solitary eating, lower meal frequency and meal substitution were 1.44 (95% CI: 1.28–1.63, p < .001), 2.39 (95% CI: 1.66–3.44, p < .001), and 1.26 (95% CI: 1.04–1.51, p = .015) for those who telecommuted in excess of four days per week compared to those who rarely telecommuted. There was a statistically significant increase in the dose‐response trend in ORs of solitary eating (p for trend <.001), lower meal frequency (p for trend <.001), and meal substitution (p for trend = .001) with increasing telecommuting frequency.ConclusionTelecommuters may develop unhealthy dietary habits, indicating the need for strategies to help telecommuters manage their nutrition and diet.