scholarly journals Association between Active School Travel and Depressive Symptoms among 51,702 Adolescents in 26 Low- and Middle-Income Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-153
Author(s):  
Shuan Liu ◽  
Sitong Chen ◽  
Xiaohong Zhu ◽  
Brendon Stubbs ◽  
Qian Yu ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu-an Liu ◽  
Si-Tong Chen ◽  
Brendon Stubbs ◽  
Qian Yu ◽  
Mark Griffiths ◽  
...  

Purpose: Little is known about the role of active school travel (AST) on mental health among adolescents. Thus, this study aimed to explore the association between AST and depressive symptoms among adolescents aged 12-15 yeas from 26 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).Methods: Data from the Global school-based Student Health Survey were analyzed in 51,702 adolescents [mean (SD) age 13.8 (1.0) years; 49.3% girls). Self-reported measures assessed depressive symptoms during the past 12 months, and AST. Participants reporting yes for depressive symptoms and having 5 or more days for walking or cycling to school were regarded as having depressive symptoms and AST. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed and a countrywide meta-analysis undertaken. Results: The prevalence of depressive symptoms and AST were 30.0% and 37.0%, respectively. Compared with those not having AST, adolescents with AST were less likely to have self-reported depressive symptoms (OR = 0.88, 95%CI: 0.85-0.93) regardless of gender. Countrywide meta-analysis demonstrated that having AST versus not having AST was associated with 12% decreased odds for depressive symptoms (OR = 0.88; 95% CI: 0.82-0.94) but with a moderate between-country heterogeneity (I2 = 59.0%). Conclusion: The current study indicates that AST may be an effective prevention against depressive symptoms among adolescents from LMICs. However, when implementing interventions based on AST to reduce depressive symptoms, more country-specific factors should be taken into consideration. Future studies should adopt improved study design to confirm or negate our research findings, which informs public mental health interventions.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Si-Tong Chen ◽  
Qian Yu ◽  
Brendon Stubbs ◽  
Cain Clark ◽  
Zhihao Zhang ◽  
...  

Subjects: This study explored the association between active school travel (AST) and suicide attempts among adolescents in low- and middle-income countries. Methods: We used the data from the Global School-based Health Survey, including 127, 097 adolescents aged 13-17 years from 34 LMICs. A self-reported survey was used to collect data on AST and suicide attempts as well as some key control variables. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to assess the association between AST and suicide attempts. A meta-analysis with random effects was undertaken to identify the difference in the association between AST and suicide attempts. Results: Across all the adolescents, the prevalence of AST was 37.0% (at least five times a week) and the prevalence of suicide attempts was 11.6% (at least once in the past 12 months). Adolescents who engaged in AST were less likely to have suicide attempts (OR = 0.82, 95%CI: 0.75-0.90) irrespective of gender (boys: OR = 0.76, 95%CI: 0.64-0.90; girls: OR = 0.87, 0.78-0.98). The country-wise analysis indicated a large inconsistency in the association between AST and suicide attempt across the countries (I2 = 63%, p < 0.01). Conclusions: AST would appear to be a protective factor for reducing suicide attempts among adolescents in LMICs. However, the association between AST and suicide attempts varied greatly across the countries. Future studies should confirm or negate the association between AST and suicide attempts. When designing interventions aimed at preventing suicide attempts for adolescents, country-specific factors should be taken into consideration.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Si-Tong Chen ◽  
Qian Yu ◽  
Brendon Stubbs ◽  
Cain Clark ◽  
Zhihao Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background. This study explored the association between active school travel (AST) and suicide attempts among adolescents in low- and middle-income countries. Methods. We used the data from the Global School-based Health Survey, including 127, 097 adolescents aged 13-17 years from 34 LMICs. A self-reported survey was used to collect data on AST and suicide attempts as well as some key control variables. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to assess the association between AST and suicide attempts. A meta-analysis with random effects was undertaken to identify the difference in the association between AST and suicide attempts. Results. Across all the adolescents, the prevalence of AST was 37.0% and the prevalence of suicide attempts was 11.6%. Adolescents who engaged in AST were less likely to have suicide attempts irrespective of gender. The country-wise analysis indicated a large inconsistency in the association between AST and suicide attempt across the countries. Conclusions. AST would appear to be a protective factor for reducing suicide attempts among adolescents in LMICs. However, the association between AST and suicide attempts varied greatly across the countries. Future studies should confirm or negate the association between AST and suicide attempts.


Author(s):  
Aliyah Dosani ◽  
Harshmeet Arora ◽  
Sahil Mazmudar

Women in low- and middle-income countries have high rates of perinatal depression. As smartphones become increasingly accessible around the world, there is an opportunity to explore innovative mHealth tools for the prevention, screening, and management of perinatal depression. We completed a scoping review of the literature pertaining to the use of mobile phone technologies for perinatal depression in low-and middle-income countries. PubMed CINHAL, and Google Scholar databases were searched, generating 423 results. 12 articles met our inclusion criteria. Two of the 12 articles reviewed mobile phone applications. The remaining 9 articles were study protocols or descriptive/intervention studies. Our results reveal that minimal literature is currently available on the use of mobile health for perinatal depression in low- and middle-income countries. We found four articles that present the results of an intervention that were delivered through mobile phones for the treatment of perinatal depressive symptoms and an additional qualitative study describing the perceptions of mothers receiving cognitive behavioral therapy via telephones. These studies demonstrated that depressive symptoms improved after the interventions. There is potential to improve the quality of mHealth interventions, specifically mobile phone applications for perinatal depressive symptoms and depression, through meaningful collaborative work between healthcare professionals and application developers.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Mutambi Amanyire ◽  
Irene Aheisibwe ◽  
Godfrey Zari Rukundo

Abstract Background: According to the World Health Organization, depression is expected to be the largest contributor to the global disease burden by 2030. Depression is the most frequent cause of emotional distress and reduced quality of life among older people affecting over 12% of the individuals aged 65 or older, . Psychosocial interventions have been proven to be effective in the management of depression. Most of the available evidence is from high income settings, with paucity of information in low and middle income countries which carry the biggest burden of depression and other health challenges. In this systematic review, we will document evidence on psychosocial interventions that have been effective in treatment of depression among elderly people in low and middle income countries. Methods: The review will be conducted and reported in accordance to the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) statement. We will include journal articles that have documented the psychosocial interventions in the primary prevention of depressive symptoms in elderly people aged 60 or older. We will also include accessible grey literature about the topic. We will include articles that have documented the psychosocial interventions to address depression in elderly patients in low and middle income countries. We will search different search engines and data bases including PubMed, EMBASE, Psych-INFO, Cochrane Library. We will use a meta-analysis, should we find that there is no heterogeneity between included studies.Discussion: This protocol describes a planned systematic review of observational studies reporting psychosocial interventions in the management of depressive symptoms in elderly people aged 60 or older. We anticipate that once this review is complete and published, our findings will be of interest to the elderly with depressive symptoms, their families and caregivers, students, and other healthcare professionals, scientists and policy makers. Systematic review registration: This protocol will not be registered with PROSPERO International prospective register of systematic reviews since the system is no longer accepting new protocols.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Mutambi Amanyire ◽  
Irene Aheisibwe ◽  
Godfrey Zari Rukundo

Abstract Background: According to the World Health Organization, depression is expected to be the largest contributor to the global disease burden by 2030. Depression is the most frequent cause of emotional distress and reduced quality of life among older people affecting over 12% of the individuals aged 65 or older, . Psychosocial interventions have been proven to be effective in the management of depression. Most of the available evidence is from high income settings, with paucity of information in low and middle income countries which carry the biggest burden of depression and other health challenges. In this systematic review, we will document evidence on psychosocial interventions that have been effective in treatment of depression among elderly people in low and middle income countries. Methods: The review will be conducted and reported in accordance to the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) statement. We will include journal articles that have documented the psychosocial interventions in the primary prevention of depressive symptoms in elderly people aged 60 or older. We will also include accessible grey literature about the topic. We will include articles that have documented the psychosocial interventions to address depression in elderly patients in low and middle income countries. We will search different search engines and data bases including PubMed, EMBASE, Psych-INFO, Cochrane Library. We will use a meta-analysis, should we find that there is no heterogeneity between included studies.Discussion: This protocol describes a planned systematic review of observational studies reporting psychosocial interventions in the management of depressive symptoms in elderly people aged 60 or older. We anticipate that once this review is complete and published, our findings will be of interest to the elderly with depressive symptoms, their families and caregivers, students, and other healthcare professionals, scientists and policy makers.Systematic review registration: This protocol will not be registered with PROSPERO International prospective register of systematic reviews since the system is no longer accepting new protocols.


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