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Author

Marieke De Craemer

Other affiliations: Research Foundation - Flanders
Bio: Marieke De Craemer is an academic researcher from Ghent University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Medicine & Childhood obesity. The author has an hindex of 22, co-authored 59 publications receiving 2002 citations. Previous affiliations of Marieke De Craemer include Research Foundation - Flanders.

Papers published on a yearly basis

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The current framework provides a preliminary overview of factors which may account for PA behaviour across the life course and are most relevant to the European community.
Abstract: A large proportion of European children, adults and older adults do not engage in sufficient physical activity (PA). Understanding individual and contextual factors associated with PA behaviours is essential for the identification and implementation of effective preventative environments, policies, and programmes that can promote an active lifestyle across life course and can potentially improve health. The current paper intends to provide 1) a multi-disciplinary, Pan-European and life course view of key determinants of PA behaviours and 2) a proposal of how these factors may cluster. After gathering a list of 183 potential PA behaviours-associated factors and a consensus meeting to unify/consolidate terminology, a concept mapping software was used to collate European experts’ views of 106 identified factors for youth (<19 years), adults (19–64 years), and older adults (≥65 years). The analysis evaluated common trends in the clustering of factors and the ratings of the distinct factors’ expected modifiability and population-level impact on PA behaviours across the life course. Priority for research was also assessed for each cluster. The concept mapping resulted in six distinct clusters, broadly merged in two themes: 1) the ‘Person’, which included clusters ‘Intra-Personal Context and Wellbeing’ and ‘Family and Social Economic Status’ (42 % of all factors) and 2) the ‘Society’, which included the remaining four clusters ‘Policy and Provision’, ‘Cultural Context and Media’, ‘Social Support and Modelling’, and ‘Supportive Environment’ (58 % of all factors). Overall, 25 factors were rated as the most impactful on PA behaviours across the life course and being the most modifiable. They were mostly situated in the ‘Intra-Personal Context and Wellbeing’ cluster. Furthermore, 16 of them were rated as top priority for research. The current framework provides a preliminary overview of factors which may account for PA behaviour across the life course and are most relevant to the European community. These insights could potentially be a foundation for future Pan-European research on how these factors might interact with each other, and assist policy makers to identify appropriate interventions to maximize PA behaviours and thus the health of European citizens.

303 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The ToyBox-intervention had no effect on objectively and subjectively measured sedentary time in the total sample and a longer period to implement the intervention and a more active involvement of parents/caregivers might enhance intervention effects.
Abstract: In preschoolers, high levels of sedentary behaviour are associated with several adverse health outcomes. The purpose of this study is to report the effects of the ToyBox-intervention (a European 24-week cluster randomised controlled trial) on sedentary behaviour in preschoolers. In Belgium, 859 preschoolers from 27 kindergartens (15 intervention and 12 control) wore an accelerometer to objectively measure their sedentary time and 1715 parents/caregivers completed a questionnaire to assess sedentary activities in which preschoolers participate at home. Main outcomes were objectively measured sedentary time, time spent watching TV, using the computer and time spent in quiet play. Multilevel repeated measures analyses were conducted to take clustering into account. Intention to treat analysis was used to handle missing data. A sample of 859 (29.5 % of all contacted children) preschoolers (4.4 ± 0.6 years, 54.4 % boys) provided valid accelerometer data at either baseline or follow-up and parents of 1715 (58.9 % of all contacted children) preschoolers (4.4 ± 0.5 years, 52.5 % boys) completed a questionnaire at either baseline or follow-up. No intervention effects were found on objectively and subjectively measured total sedentary time in the total sample. However, some effects on objectively and subjectively measured sedentary time were found in specific subgroups. Preschoolers from the intervention group from high SES kindergartens and preschoolers with high levels of sedentary time at baseline decreased their sedentary time, while preschoolers from the control group increased their sedentary time. Girls in the intervention group decreased their TV viewing time during weekend days (-5.83 min/day), while girls’ &TV viewing in the control group increased (+4.15 min/day). In low SES kindergartens, a smaller increase for computer time during weekend days was found in preschoolers in intervention kindergartens (+6.06 min/day) than in control kindergartens (+12.49 min/day). While some small positive effects were found in some sub-groups, the ToyBox-intervention had no effect on objectively and subjectively measured sedentary time in the total sample. A longer period to implement the intervention and a more active involvement of parents/caregivers might enhance intervention effects. The ToyBox-study is registered with the clinical trials registry clinicaltrials.gov, ID: NCT02116296.

248 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Light-intensity physical activity could play a role in improving adult cardiometabolic health and reducing mortality risk and the modest volume of the prospective epidemiological evidence base and the moderate consistency between observational and laboratory evidence inhibits definitive conclusions.
Abstract: Aim To assess the relationship between time spent in light physical activity and cardiometabolic health and mortality in adults. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources Searches in Medline, Embase, PsycInfo, CINAHL and three rounds of hand searches. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Experimental (including acute mechanistic studies and physical activity intervention programme) and observational studies (excluding case and case–control studies) conducted in adults (aged ≥18 years) published in English before February 2018 and reporting on the relationship between light physical activity ( Study appraisal and synthesis Study quality appraisal with QUALSYST tool and random effects inverse variance meta-analysis. Results Seventy-two studies were eligible including 27 experimental studies (and 45 observational studies). Mechanistic experimental studies showed that short but frequent bouts of light-intensity activity throughout the day reduced postprandial glucose (−17.5%; 95% CI −26.2 to −8.7) and insulin (−25.1%; 95% CI −31.8 to –18.3) levels compared with continuous sitting, but there was very limited evidence for it affecting other cardiometabolic markers. Three light physical activity programme intervention studies (n ranging from 12 to 58) reduced adiposity, improved blood pressure and lipidaemia; the programmes consisted of activity of >150 min/week for at least 12 weeks. Six out of eight prospective observational studies that were entered in the meta-analysis reported that more time spent in daily light activity reduced risk of all-cause mortality (pooled HR 0.71; 95% CI 0.62 to 0.83). Conclusions Light-intensity physical activity could play a role in improving adult cardiometabolic health and reducing mortality risk. Frequent short bouts of light activity improve glycaemic control. Nevertheless, the modest volume of the prospective epidemiological evidence base and the moderate consistency between observational and laboratory evidence inhibits definitive conclusions.

237 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
19 Jan 2018-PLOS ONE
TL;DR: Findings suggest that for adults, convincing evidence supports a relationship between PA and socioeconomic status (SES), especially in relation to leisure time (positive relationship) and occupational PA (negative relationship).
Abstract: Background To date, the scientific literature on socioeconomic correlates and determinants of physical activity behaviours has been dispersed throughout a number of systematic reviews, often focusing on one factor (eg education or parental income) in one specific age group (eg pre-school children or adults) The aim of this umbrella review is to provide a comprehensive and systematic overview of the scientific literature from previously conducted research by summarising and synthesising the importance and strength of the evidence related to socioeconomic correlates and determinants of PA behaviours across the life course Methods Medline, Embase, ISI Web of Science, Scopus and SPORTDiscus were searched for systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies investigating the association between socioeconomic determinants of PA and PA itself (from January 2004 to September 2017) Data extraction evaluated the importance of determinants, strength of evidence, and methodological quality of the selected papers The full protocol is available from PROSPERO (PROSPERO2014:CRD42015010616) Results Nineteen reviews were included Moderate methodological quality emerged For adults, convincing evidence supports a relationship between PA and socioeconomic status (SES), especially in relation to leisure time (positive relationship) and occupational PA (negative relationship) Conversely, no association between PA and SES or parental SES was found for pre-school, school-aged children and adolescents Conclusions Available evidence on the socioeconomic determinants of PA behaviour across the life course is probable (shows fairly consistent associations) at best While some evidence is available for adults, less was available for youth This is mainly due to a limited quantity of primary studies, weak research designs and lack of accuracy in the PA and SES assessment methods employed Further PA domain specific studies using longitudinal design and clear measures of SES and PA assessment are required

188 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
07 Aug 2017-PLOS ONE
TL;DR: This umbrella SLR provided a comprehensive overview of the physical environment determinants of physical activity across the life course and has highlighted a number of key determinants that may be associated with overall physical activity.
Abstract: Background: Participation in regular physical activity is associated with a multitude of health benefits across the life course. However, many people fail to meet PA recommendations. Despite a plethora of studies, the evidence regarding the environmental (physical) determinants of physical activity remains inconclusive. Objective: To identify the physical environmental determinants that influence PA across the life course. Methods: An online systematic literature search was conducted using MEDLINE, ISI Web of Science, Scopus and SPORTDiscus. The search was limited to studies published in English (January 2004 to April 2016). Only systematic literature reviews (SLRs) and meta-analyses (MAs) of observational studies, that investigated the association between physical determinants and physical activity outcomes, were eligible for inclusion. The extracted data were assessed on the importance of determinants, strength of evidence and methodological quality. Results: The literature search identified 28 SLRs and 3 MAs on 67 physical environmental characteristics potentially related to physical activity that were eligible for inclusion. Among preschool children, a positive association was reported between availability of backyard space and outdoor toys/equipment in the home and overall physical activity. The availability of physical activity programs and equipment within schools, and neighbourhood features such as pedestrian and cyclist safety structure were positively associated with physical activity in children and adolescents. Negative street characteristics, for example, lack of sidewalks and streetlights, were negatively associated with physical activity in adults. Inconsistent associations were reported for the majority of reviewed determinants in adults. Conclusion: This umbrella SLR provided a comprehensive overview of the physical environment determinants of physical activity across the life course and has highlighted, particularly amongst youth, a number of key determinants that may be associated with overall physical activity. Given the limited evidence drawn mostly from cross-sectional studies, longitudinal studies are needed to further explore these associations. Registration: PROSPERO CRD42015010616.

140 citations


Cited by
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Journal Article
TL;DR: This research examines the interaction between demand and socioeconomic attributes through Mixed Logit models and the state of art in the field of automatic transport systems in the CityMobil project.
Abstract: 2 1 The innovative transport systems and the CityMobil project 10 1.1 The research questions 10 2 The state of art in the field of automatic transport systems 12 2.1 Case studies and demand studies for innovative transport systems 12 3 The design and implementation of surveys 14 3.1 Definition of experimental design 14 3.2 Questionnaire design and delivery 16 3.3 First analyses on the collected sample 18 4 Calibration of Logit Multionomial demand models 21 4.1 Methodology 21 4.2 Calibration of the “full” model. 22 4.3 Calibration of the “final” model 24 4.4 The demand analysis through the final Multinomial Logit model 25 5 The analysis of interaction between the demand and socioeconomic attributes 31 5.1 Methodology 31 5.2 Application of Mixed Logit models to the demand 31 5.3 Analysis of the interactions between demand and socioeconomic attributes through Mixed Logit models 32 5.4 Mixed Logit model and interaction between age and the demand for the CTS 38 5.5 Demand analysis with Mixed Logit model 39 6 Final analyses and conclusions 45 6.1 Comparison between the results of the analyses 45 6.2 Conclusions 48 6.3 Answers to the research questions and future developments 52

4,784 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The effectiveness of a range of interventions that include diet or physical activity components, or both, designed to prevent obesity in children is evaluated to determine overall certainty of the evidence.
Abstract: The current evidence suggests that many diet and exercise interventions to prevent obesity in children are not effective in preventing weight gain, but can be effective in promoting a healthy diet and increased physical activity levels.Being very overweight (obese) can cause health, psychological and social problems for children. Children who are obese are more likely to have weight and health problems as adults. Programmes designed to prevent obesity focus on modifying one or more of the factors considered to promote obesity.This review included 22 studies that tested a variety of intervention programmes, which involved increased physical activity and dietary changes, singly or in combination. Participants were under 18 and living in Asia, South America, Europe or North America. There is not enough evidence from trials to prove that any one particular programme can prevent obesity in children, although comprehensive strategies to address dietary and physical activity change, together with psycho-social support and environmental change may help. There was a trend for newer interventions to involve their respective communities and to include evaluations.Future research might usefully assess changes made on behalf of entire populations, such as improvements in the types of foods available at schools and in the availability of safe places to run and play, and should assess health effects and costs over several years.The programmes in this review used different strategies to prevent obesity so direct comparisons were difficult. Also, the duration of the studies ranged from 12 weeks to three years, but most lasted less than a year.

2,464 citations

01 Apr 2012
TL;DR: International experts in cancer prevention analyse global research on diet nutrition physical activity cancer and make public health policy recommendations, the fractions of cancer attributable to potentially modifiable factors are analyzed.
Abstract: physical activity and cancer fact sheet national cancer on this page what is physical activity what is known about the relationship between physical activity and cancer risk how might physical activity be, diet and cancer report american institute for cancer the american institute for cancer research aicr is the cancer charity that fosters research on diet and cancer prevention and educates the public about the results, download resources and toolkits world cancer research downloads for scientists from the wcrf aicr third expert report diet nutrition physical activity and cancer a global perspective, nutritional science university of washington school of public health school of public health nutritional science detailed course offerings time schedule are available for spring quarter 2019, 2019 aicr research conference american institute for about aicr we fund cutting edge research and give people practical tools and information to help them prevent and survive cancer more about aicr, agence fruits et l gumes frais aprifel the global fruit and veg newsletter is a monthly newsletter distributing to 29 countries involved in the promotion of the consumption of fruit and vegetable worldwide, world cancer research fund international we are experts in cancer prevention we analyse global research on diet nutrition physical activity cancer and make public health policy recommendations, the fractions of cancer attributable sciencedirect com a proportion of cancers at many body sites are attributable to potentially modifiable factors no global summaries of the preventable cancer burden have been, who controlling the global obesity epidemic more information obesity and overweight fact sheet who global strategy on diet physical activity and health who global database on body mass index, espen guidelines on nutrition in cancer patients gl nutrition in cancer patients outline o methods o1 basic information o2 methods o3 post publication impact a background a1 catabolic alterations in, un news global perspective human stories un news produces daily news content in arabic chinese english french kiswahili portuguese russian and spanish and weekly programmes in hindi urdu and bangla, recommended community strategies and measurements to table continued summary of recommended community strategies and measurements to prevent obesity in the united states strategies to encourage physical, food as medicine preventing treating the most dreaded food as medicine preventing treating the most dreaded diseases with diet, video resources bc cancer these videos help patients learn about their cancer and its treatment, prostate cancer nutrition and dietary supplements pdq nutrition methods and dietary supplements have been studied for prostate cancer prevention or treatment read about the history of research laboratory, who europe food safety food safety ingestion and handling of contaminated food causes significant illness and death worldwide across the who european region foodborne diseases, creating healthy food and eating environments policy and food and eating environments likely contribute to the increasing epidemic of obesity and chronic diseases over and above individual factors such as knowledge skills, health risks obesity prevention source harvard t h obesity and reproduction obesity can influence various aspects of reproduction from sexual activity to conception among women the association between, top nutrition schools undergraduate degree programs ncr want to know the top nutrition schools and best undergraduate degree programs here we review analyze rank rate them figure out which is best for you , overeating caloric restriction and breast cancer risk by this study analyzes the association of excessive energy intake and caloric restriction with breast cancer bc risk taking into account the individual, calcium what s best for your bones and health the possible increased risk of ovarian cancer high levels of galactose a sugar released by the digestion of lactose in milk have been studied as being, cancer protocol nutrition supplements cancer protocol nutrition supplements herbs enzymes note do not email me unless you would like a personalized protocol free with a suggested donation of 250

2,202 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is hoped that the definitions resulting from this comprehensive, transparent, and broad-based participatory process will result in standardized terminology that is widely supported and adopted, thereby advancing future research, interventions, policies, and practices related to sedentary behaviors.
Abstract: Background: The prominence of sedentary behavior research in health science has grown rapidly. With this growth there is increasing urgency for clear, common and accepted terminology and definitions. Such standardization is difficult to achieve, especially across multi-disciplinary researchers, practitioners, and industries. The Sedentary Behavior Research Network (SBRN) undertook a Terminology Consensus Project to address this need. Method: First, a literature review was completed to identify key terms in sedentary behavior research. These key terms were then reviewed and modified by a Steering Committee formed by SBRN. Next, SBRN members were invited to contribute to this project and interested participants reviewed and provided feedback on the proposed list of terms and draft definitions through an online survey. Finally, a conceptual model and consensus definitions (including caveats and examples for all age groups and functional abilities) were finalized based on the feedback received from the 87 SBRN member participants who responded to the original invitation and survey. Results: Consensus definitions for the terms physical inactivity, stationary behavior, sedentary behavior, standing, screen time, non-screen-based sedentary time, sitting, reclining, lying, sedentary behavior pattern, as well as how the terms bouts, breaks, and interruptions should be used in this context are provided. Conclusion: It is hoped that the definitions resulting from this comprehensive, transparent, and broad-based participatory process will result in standardized terminology that is widely supported and adopted, thereby advancing future research, interventions, policies, and practices related to sedentary behaviors.

2,025 citations