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Obesity, inactivity and screen time: how pioneering research is tackling the crisis in child health
Prof Liane Azevedo, from Sheffield Hallam’s School of Sport and Physical Activity, is leading this landmark study, which will start by observing 1,400 children aged between three and five, to better understand how their use of tablets and smartphones affects their development.
“Between zero and five, there is greater plasticity in the brain – this is the time when children are developing their behaviour, their social skills, and their communication skills,” says Azevedo of the potential for these technologies to have a positive or negative impact on childhood development.
Before embarking on the study, Azevedo consulted parents and early years practitioners. “They told us that in recent years, they’d seen a change in how children are able to control their behaviour and communicate, and in levels of school readiness [how ready children are to start formal schooling]. But until now, the evidence for that has been largely anecdotal, which is why we need this study.”
The project, which is a collaboration across several universities, is typical of Sheffield Hallam’s drive to be a global leader when it comes to children’s health. Prof Joanna Smith, who holds a joint role at both Sheffield Hallam and Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust as a leading researcher in nursing and child health, is proud of the way the region’s institutions are collaborating on genuinely innovative research.
From the local council and social services through to Sheffield’s universities and hospitals, Smith says everyone is committed to joined-up working. “It means our research is both world-leading and benefiting the local community – and it’s giving the city an exciting buzz.”
The newly launched South Yorkshire Children and Young People’s Health Research network is a prime example of that collaboration. It brings together health professionals and academic experts from the region to improve children’s health outcomes.
One of the biggest child health challenges facing all western countries is obesity, and on that front, Dr Catherine Homer, an associate professor of obesity and public health at Sheffield Hallam, is evaluating the current NHS services available to children living with obesity.
“It’s a £1.5m study, running over 32 months, looking at clinics that deal with the complications of excess weigh,” she says. “There are currently over 30 clinics based in hospitals across England and they have whole teams of specialists – from consultant paediatricians to psychologists and endocrinologists – to look at all the comorbidities that a child living with obesity might have. We want to know what’s working, in what circumstances and why, and our evaluation will help inform whether and how these clinics are funded in the future.”
Source: The Guardian, 17 June 2024
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Doctors call for English drink-drive limit to be cut to equivalent of a small drink
Doctors have called for England’s drink-driving limit to be reduced to the equivalent of a small glass of wine or beer, in a proposal supported by a number of medical and road safety organisations.
England’s legal limit for getting safely behind the wheel is one of the highest in Europe at 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, a law established in 1967.
The British Medical Association (BMA) said it would lobby the next government to reduce the limit by nearly half for most people, to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, or 0.05%, and to 20mg for new and commercial drivers.
Alcohol and drug-related deaths were at a record high in 2021 and 2022, the BMA said in a statement on Monday. The organisation said fatalities and collisions caused by driving under the influence of alcohol had not decreased in the last decade, with almost one-fifth of all road deaths caused by drink-drivers.
Carrie Reidinger, a population health policy advice and research officer at the BMA, said: “We think it’s really important to call on government to lower the legal [use of alcohol]. This is in line with the approach taken by many European countries such as Ireland and Greece.”
The BMA’s statement said: “Harm caused by alcohol and other drugs, including when driving under the influence, places an avoidable burden on individuals and our society, emergency services, the NHS, and the economy.
“Therefore, the BMA, in collaboration with a range of organisations representing medical professional bodies, alcohol and road safety charities and campaign groups, police and emergency services, and others, have developed this consensus statement setting out key actions that are needed to tackle this issue.”
Other recommendations in the BMA’s statement include mandatory labelling on all alcohol products to include health risk warnings, increasing alcohol and drug treatment capacity and improving the awareness of the effects of drinking on driving.
At least 17 organisations have endorsed the BMA’s recommendations including the Alcohol Health Alliance, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, Brake: The Road Safety Charity and IAM Roadsmart.
Source: The Guardian, 17 June 2024
See also: BMA - Alcohol, drugs and driving consensus statement
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US surgeon general wants social media warning labels
One of America's most senior health officials has called on the country to impose smoking-style warning labels on social media platforms.
Writing in the New York Times, external, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said social media increased the risk that children would experience symptoms of anxiety and depression.
He wants people who visit these platforms to be shown a message warning that they are "associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents". He said such a label would "regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe".
Warning labels were first added to cigarette packaging in the US in 1966, after then-Surgeon General Luther L Terry published a report linking tobacco to lung cancer. Other countries then followed, with the UK requiring a similar message to be printed on packets in 1971.
Mr Murthy said that the evidence showed adding these labels to tobacco packaging increased awareness of the risks associated with smoking.
And he believes that a similar warning applied to social media platforms would encourage parents to monitor their child's safety online.
It comes after Mr Murthy published a public health advisory in 2023 which found a link between teenage social media use and poor mental health. But he accepts that there is no academic consensus on the impact of these platforms, and is calling for more research to be done.
Source: BBC News, 17 June 2024
See also: The New York Times - Surgeon General: Why I’m Calling for a Warning Label on Social Media Platforms
The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory - Social Media and Youth Mental Health
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