Future, Volume 1, Issue 1 (June 2023) – 5 articles

Background: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects approximately 2–7% of children worldwide and has become a global public health concern. The health effects of green space on ADHD in young children are unclear. We investigated associations between school-surrounding greenness and hyperactivity behaviors in preschool children. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis using data of 66,678 preschool children (mean age: 3.53 years) from an on-going cohort in Shenzhen, China. The greenness surrounding kindergartens was measured using satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values at buffers of 250 m, 500 m, and 1000 m. Children’s hyperactivity behaviors were measured using the validated Conners’ Parent Rating Scale-Revised. We used generalized linear mixed models to assess the associations of greenness exposure with hyperactivity behaviors with adjustment for a variety of covariates. Results: Exposure to higher school-surrounding greenness was associated with lower prevalence of hyperactivity behaviors. In fully adjusted models, the odds ratio of hyperactivity behaviors in relation to an IQR (0.1) increase in NDVI at the 250 m buffer was 0.91 [confidence interval (CI): 0.84,0.98]. Consistent results were observed for greenness at the 500 m and 1000 m buffers. The negative association between greenness and hyperactivity behaviors was more pronounced in boys than in girls. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that higher levels of school-surrounding green spaces are associated with a lower risk of hyperactivity behaviors in preschool children. Full article

Data on factors influencing multiple sexual partners that can inform cost-effective interventions are limited in Bhutan. This study examined factors associated with multiple sexual partners among adolescents. We analyzed the data of 7437 school-going adolescents from the 2016 Bhutan Global School-based Student Health Survey. Multivariable logistic regression stratified by sex was conducted. The prevalence of sex with multiple partners was 7.39%, with a much higher prevalence among males than females. In the overall sample, males, those >15 years of age, who smoked, consumed alcohol, used drugs, exhibited truancy, and were unmonitored by parents, had higher odds of having sex with multiple partners. In both males and females, being >15 years old, smoking, and drug use were associated with having multiple sexual partners. Alcohol use and truancy were significant only among males, whereas a lack of parental monitoring was significant only among females. The findings suggest that reducing substance use and enhancing parental support, and targeting males and older adolescents may yield larger gains. Full article

This cohort was set up to capture pubertal onset among children in China and to analyze how timing of pubertal onset would influence cardiovascular disease risk in later life. Pubertal onset was defined as secondary sexual characteristics (SSC) attained Tanner II stage, which was breast development for girls and testis of 4 mL for boys. Meanwhile, height growth spurt, defined as age of take-off and age of peak height velocity, were also involved to observe the consistency between the three indicators in discriminating pubertal onset. The study was conducted in Xiamen, China from November 2017 to November 2020 with 6-month gaps. One thousand, four hundred and sixteen children from four project schools who had not yet started puberty were involved at baseline. By November 2020, 1272 children were still under follow-up, with 945 (74.3%) of them reaching Tanner II stage. We would continue to follow the pubertal development, as well as change in crucial risk factors for cardiovascular disease in these participants. Evidence from the present cohort study would help to reveal the influence of pubertal growth on long-term cardiovascular health and would be one of the very first studies to provide such evidence from Asian countries. Full article

The recent consensus regarding children’s and adolescents’ health and development is that focus should not only be devoted to what sounds serious now but that our perspective should extend to considering the roots, where a healthy childhood and adolescence is essential to achieving full potential as an adult—i [...] Full article