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Previous research demonstrates the joint association of self-reported physical activity and genotype with coronary artery disease. However, an existing research gap is whether accelerometer-measured overall physical activity or physical activity intensity can offset genetic predisposition to coronary artery disease. This study explores the independent and joint associations of accelerometer-measured physical activity and genetic predisposition with incident coronary artery disease. Incident coronary artery disease based on hospital inpatient records and death register data serves as the outcome of this study. Polygenic risk score and overall physical activity, measured as Euclidean Norm Minus One, and intensity, measured as minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA), are examined both linearly and by decile. The UK Biobank population-based cohort recruited over 500,000 individuals aged 40 to 69 between 2006 and 2010, with 103,712 volunteers participating in a weeklong wrist-worn accelerometer study from 2013 to 2015. Individuals of White British ancestry (n = 65,079) meeting the genotyping and accelerometer-based inclusion criteria and with no missing covariates were included in the analytic sample. In the sample of 65,079 individuals, the mean (SD) age was 62.51 (7.76) and 61% were female. During a median follow-up of 6.8 years, 1,382 cases of coronary artery disease developed. At the same genetic risk, physical activity intensity had a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.41 (95% CI: 0.29–0.60) at the 90th compared to 10th percentile, equivalent to 31.68 and 120.96 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day, respectively, versus an HR of 0.61 (95% CI: 0.52–0.72) for overall physical activity. The combination of high genetic risk and low physical activity intensity showed the greatest risk, with an individual at the 10th percentile of genetic risk and 90th percentile of intensity facing an HR of 0.14 (95% CI: 0.09–0.21) compared to an individual at the 90th percentile of genetic risk and 10th percentile of intensity. Physical activity, especially physical activity intensity, is associated with an attenuation of some of the risk of coronary artery disease but this pattern does not vary by genetic risk. This accelerometer-based study provides the clearest evidence to date regarding the joint influence of genetics, overall physical activity, and physical activity intensity on coronary artery disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objectives: Our objective was to explore the association between weight status and behavioral problems in children before school age. We examined whether the association between weight status and behavioral problems varied by age and sex. Subjects/Methods: This study used cross-sectional data from a nationally-representative sample of children and their families in Chile (N = 11,207). These children were selected using a cluster-stratified random sampling strategy. Data collection for this study took place in 2012 when the children were 1.5–6 years of age. We used multivariable analyses to examine the association between weight status and behavioral problems (assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist), while controlling for child’s sex, indigenous status, birth weight, and months breastfed; primary caregiver’s BMI and education level; and household wealth. Results: Approximately 24% of our sample was overweight or obese. Overweight or obese girls showed more behavioral problems than normal weight girls at age 6 (β = 0.270 SD, 95% CI = 0.047, 0.493, P = 0.018). Among boys age 1 to 5 years, overweight/obesity was associated with a small reduction in internalizing behaviors (β = -0.09 SD, 95% CI = -0.163, -0.006, P = 0.034). Conclusions: Our data suggest that the associations between weight status and behavioral problems vary across age and sex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language tests developed and validated in one country may lose their desired properties when translated for use in another, possibly resulting in misleading estimates of ability. Using Item Response Theory (IRT) methodology, we assess the performance of a test of receptive vocabulary, the U.S.-validated Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Third Edition (PPVT-III), when translated, adapted, and administered to children 3 to 10 years of age in Madagascar (N = 1372), in the local language (Malagasy). Though Malagasy is considered a single language, there are numerous dialects spoken in Madagascar. Our findings were that test scores were positively correlated with age and indicators of socio-economic status. However, over half (57/96) of items evidenced unexpected response variation and/or bias by local dialect spoken. We also encountered measurement error and reduced differentiation among person abilities when we used the publishers’ recommended stopping rules, largely because we lost the original item ordering by difficulty when we translated test items into Malagasy. Our results suggest that bias and testing inefficiency introduced from the translation of the PPVT can be significantly reduced with the use of methods based on IRT at both the pre-testing and analysis stages. We explore and discuss implications for cross-cultural comparisons of internationally recognized tests, such as the PPVT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Our objective was to use longitudinal data from a US birth cohort to test whether the probability of overweight or obesity during the first 6 years of life varied according to socioeconomic status. Design and Methods: Using six waves of longitudinal data from full-term children in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (2001–2007; n≈4,950), we examined the prevalence of overweight or obesity (Body Mass Index (BMI)>2 standard deviations above age- and sex- specific WHO Childhood Growth Standard reference mean; henceforth, “overweight/obesity”) according to age, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity using generalized estimating equation models. Results: The association between socioeconomic status and overweight/obesity varied significantly by race/ethnicity, but not by sex. Overweight/obesity was significantly associated with socioeconomic status among whites, Hispanics and Asians; the adjusted odds of overweight/obesity began to diverge according to SES after the first 9 months of life. By approximately 4 years, children with the highest SES had a significantly lower odds of overweight/obesity. SES was not significantly related to overweight/obesity among African Americans and American Indians during early childhood. Conclusions: Few studies have assessed the associations between SES and overweight/obesity within racial/ethnic groups in the US. We find that in contemporary, US-born children, SES was inversely associated with overweight/obesity among more racial/ethnic groups (whites, Hispanics, and Asians) than previously reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]