PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Children with ADHD have higher risk of teenage obesity and physical inactivity

2014-03-04
(Press-News.org) Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to become obese and sedentary teenagers, according to new research.

Previous studies have suggested a link between ADHD and obesity, but whether one leads to the other is unclear. One way to better understand the link is to follow children through to adolescence.

The new study, which followed almost 7000 children in Finland, found that those who had ADHD symptoms at age eight had significantly higher odds of being obese at age 16. Children who had ADHD symptoms were also less physically active as teenagers. Researchers from Imperial College London reported the findings in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

ADHD affects two to five per cent of school-aged children and young people in the UK and is related to poor school performance. The main symptoms are inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsivity. ADHD is complex to diagnose, but screening questionnaires can give an indication of a probable diagnosis, based on a child's behaviour.

Conduct disorder, a condition related to ADHD and linked to tendencies towards delinquency, rulebreaking and violence, was also found to increase risk of obesity and physical inactivity among teens.

The nine per cent of children in the study who had positive results on an ADHD screener at age 8 were at higher risk of obesity at age 16. Senior author, visiting Professor Alina Rodriguez, from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said: "Obesity is a growing problem that we need to watch out for in all children and young people, but these findings suggest that it's particularly important for children with ADHD.

"It appears that lack of physical activity might be a key factor. We think encouraging children with ADHD to be more physically active could improve their behaviour problems as well as helping them to stay a healthy weight, and studies should be carried out to test this theory."

Furthermore, children who were less inclined to take part in physically active play as 8 year-olds were more likely to have inattention as teenagers. Binge eating, which was also investigated as a possible factor that could contribute to the link with obesity, was not more prevalent in children with ADHD.

According to Public Health England around 28% of children aged 2 to 15 are overweight or obese. Obesity in childhood and adolescence is linked to a wide variety of short- and long-term health risks, including type 2 diabetes, heart and circulatory disease, and mental health conditions. The study used questionnaires completed by parents and teachers to assess 6934 children for ADHD and conduct disorder symptoms at ages eight and 16.

Body mass index was calculated based on parents' reports of their children's height and weight at age seven. At age 16, the participants had health examinations that recorded their height, weight, waist and hip measurements.

INFORMATION: The research was conducted as a collaborative work between Imperial College London UK, Oulu University Finland, Oulu University Hospital Finland, Research Centre for Sports and Health Sciences Finland, and Mid Sweden University.

For more information please contact:

Franca Davenport
Research Media Officer
Imperial College London
Email: f.davenport@imperial.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0)20 7594 2198
Out of hours duty press officer: +44(0)7803 886 248

Notes to editors

1. Reference: N. Khalife et al, 'Childhood Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms are Risk Factors for Obesity and Physical Inactivity in Adolescence', Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (2014), doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2014.01.009.

2. About Imperial College London

Consistently rated amongst the world's best universities, Imperial College London is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research that attracts 14,000 students and 6,000 staff of the highest international quality. Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and business, delivering practical solutions that improve quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.

Since its foundation in 1907, Imperial's contributions to society have included the discovery of penicillin, the development of holography and the foundations of fibre optics. This commitment to the application of research for the benefit of all continues today, with current focuses including interdisciplinary collaborations to improve global health, tackle climate change, develop sustainable sources of energy and address security challenges.

In 2007, Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust formed the UK's first Academic Health Science Centre. This unique partnership aims to improve the quality of life of patients and populations by taking new discoveries and translating them into new therapies as quickly as possible.

Website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Physics in 3-D? That's nothing. Try 0-D

Physics in 3-D? Thats nothing. Try 0-D
2014-03-04
In physics, there's small, and then there's nullity – as in zero-dimensional. University of Cincinnati researchers have reached this threshold with a special structure that may someday lead to better ways of harnessing solar energy, stronger lasers or more sensitive medical diagnostic devices. These structures are semiconductor nanowires. UC doctoral student Teng Shi says she and a team of researchers have observed unique optical signatures indicating that electronic excitations within these nanowires can be confined to a zero-dimensional state called a "quantum dot." ...

How 19th century physics could change the future of nanotechnology

How 19th century physics could change the future of nanotechnology
2014-03-04
A new twist on a very old physics technique could have a profound impact on one of the most buzzed-about aspects of nanoscience. Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have found that their unique method of light-matter interaction analysis appears to be a good way of helping make better semiconductor nanowires. "Semiconductor nanowires are one of the hottest topics in the nanoscience research field in the recent decade," says Yuda Wang, a UC doctoral student. "Due to the unique geometry compared to conventional bulk semiconductors, nanowires have already shown ...

Next step in live-donor uterus transplant project

Next step in live-donor uterus transplant project
2014-03-04
In Sweden alone, an estimated 2 000 young women of fertile age cannot become pregnant either because they were born without a womb or lost it later due to disease. Professor Mats Brännström, researcher at the University of Gothenburg and chief physician, is leading a unique research project aiming to make it possible for these women to have a uterus transplant and then get pregnant. A decade of research After more than a decade of research that has been evaluated in almost 40 scientific articles, in May 2012 the research team received permission from the Regional Ethical ...

Dramatic drop in US IPO activity can't be blamed on tougher regulations

Dramatic drop in US IPO activity cant be blamed on tougher regulations
2014-03-04
Toronto – An extensive study of initial public offerings shows dramatic changes in the IPO landscape around the world over the past two decades, including a large decrease in the importance of IPOs in the United States while IPOs became more important in other countries. This drop in U.S. IPOs cannot be explained by stricter regulations enacted after the corporate and accounting scandals in the early part of the 2000s. "One of the main things people point fingers at is the Sarbanes Oxley Act. We show that U.S. IPO activity became abnormally low before the Sarbanes Oxley ...

Which interventions are most effective to promote exclusive breastfeeding?

Which interventions are most effective to promote exclusive breastfeeding?
2014-03-04
New Rochelle, NY, March 4, 2014—Only about 37% of babies around the world are exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). The benefits of breastfeeding for both infants and mothers are well-established. The effectiveness of different types of interventions for promoting exclusive breastfeeding in high-income countries is the focus of a Review article published in Breastfeeding Medicine, the official journal of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article ...

Predators delay pest resistance to Bt crops

2014-03-04
ITHACA, N.Y. – Crops genetically modified with the bacterium Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) produce proteins that kill pest insects. Steady exposure has prompted concern that pests will develop resistance to these proteins, making Bt plants ineffective. Cornell research shows that the combination of natural enemies, such as ladybeetles, with Bt crops delays a pest's ability to evolve resistance to these insecticidal proteins. "This is the first demonstrated example of a predator being able to delay the evolution of resistance in an insect pest to a Bt crop," said Anthony ...

Aggression, rule-breaking common among Taiwanese teenagers who have early sex

2014-03-04
Taiwanese teenagers – and especially females – who become sexually active at a very young age are more likely to be rule-breakers and be more aggressive than their peers. These are the findings of a national study of Taiwanese youth led by Wei J. Chen of the National Taiwan University, with Chia-Hua Chan as first author. It is published in Springer's journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. Nearly 19,000 sixteen- to nineteen-year-old Taiwanese adolescents took part in a national survey which was conducted through a self-administered web-based questionnaire. Sociodemographic ...

Study finds experiences of racism associated with weight gain in African American women

2014-03-04
(Boston)--A recent analysis conducted by investigators from the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University has found that frequent experiences of racism were associated with a higher risk of obesity among African American women. The findings, which currently appear online in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found the relationship between racism and obesity was strongest among women who reported consistently high experiences of racism over a 12-year period. The research was based on data from the Black Women's Health Study, a longitudinal study that enrolled 59,000 ...

IOF-IFCC study summarizes fracture prediction strength of reference bone turnover markers

2014-03-04
Nyon, Switzerland – March 4, 2014 A new study by an International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) and International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) scientific working group summarizes the clinical performance of serum procollagen type I N propeptide (s-PINP) and serum C-terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type I collagen (s-CTX) in fracture risk prediction in untreated individuals in prospective cohort studies. The current study follows a position paper published in 2011 by the IOF-IFCC Bone Marker Standards Working Group recommending ...

Fighting against HIV in the Central African Republic -- the importance of perseverance

2014-03-04
According to Pierre-Marie David of the University of Montreal's Faculty of Pharmacy, stock-outs of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in recent years in the Central African Republic have had a dramatic impact on the health of HIV-infected people. These shortages have also created mistrust among patients toward the political and medical actors responsible for the fight against HIV/AIDS. And their wariness is likely to reduce their chances of getting better. David lived in the Central African Republic from 2005 to 2008, where he worked as Access to Antiretroviral Treatment Coordinator ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

MIT Press’s Direct to Open reaches annual funding goal for 2025, opens access to 80 new monographs

New NCCN patient resource shares latest understanding of genetic testing to guide patient decision making

Synchronization in neural nets: Mathematical insight into neuron readout drives significant improvements in prediction accuracy

TLE6 identified as a protein associated with infertility in male mice

Thin lenses have a bright future

Volcanic eruption caused Neolithic people to sacrifice unique "sun stones"

Drug in clinical trials for breast cancer could also treat some blood cancers

Study identifies mechanism underlying increased osteoarthritis risk in postmenopausal females

The material revolution: How USA’s commodity appetite evolved from 1900 to present

Asteroid impact sulfur release less lethal in dinosaur extinction

Study shows seed impact mills clobber waterhemp seed viability

Study links rising suicidality among teen girls to increase in identifying as LGBQ

Mind’s eye: Pineal gland photoreceptor’s 2 genes help fish detect color

Nipah virus: epidemiology, pathogenesis, treatment, and prevention

FDA ban on Red Dye 3 and more are highlighted in Sylvester Cancer's January tip sheet

Mapping gene regulation

Exposure to air pollution before pregnancy linked to higher child body mass index, study finds

Neural partially linear additive model

Dung data: manure can help to improve global maps of herbivore distribution

Concerns over maternity provision for pregnant women in UK prisons

UK needs a national strategy to tackle harms of alcohol, argue experts

Aerobic exercise: a powerful ally in the fight against Alzheimer’s

Cambridge leads first phase of governmental project to understand impact of smartphones and social media on young people

AASM Foundation partners with Howard University Medical Alumni Association to provide scholarships

Protective actions need regulatory support to fully defend homeowners and coastal communities, study finds

On-chip light control of semiconductor optoelectronic devices using integrated metasurfaces

America’s political house can become less divided

A common antihistamine shows promise in treating liver complications of a rare disease complication

Trastuzumab emtansine improves long-term survival in HER2 breast cancer

Is eating more red meat bad for your brain?

[Press-News.org] Children with ADHD have higher risk of teenage obesity and physical inactivity