The focus of the HALO group’s research is to:
- Promote and assess healthy active living among children and youth.
- Identify, examine and address environmental, behavioural, psychosocial, and biological factors related to healthy active living and obesity in children and youth.
- Develop, implement, and evaluate strategies to prevent, manage, and treat obesity and lifestyle-related diseases in children and youth.
To learn more about HALO’s research, please visit the HALO Research web page http://www.haloresearch.ca/.
Related News
Research Projects
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Association of screen time and cardiometabolic risk in school-aged children
21/09/2020
Highlights • No evidence of an association between children’s parental-reported screen time and total cardiometabolic risk score. •Weak association between increased screen time and reduced HDL cholesterol in children. •No sex or age interactions detected between parental-reported screen time and cardiometabolic risk.
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Healthy movement behaviours in children and youth during the COVID-19 pandemic: Exploring the role of the neighbourhood environment
16/09/2020
To conclude, this study provides important insights into the movement patterns of children and youth, and our findings highlight the importance of the neighbourhood environment in enabling healthier behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings will inform public health policies as we recover from this current crisis and prepare for future pandemics. The results will also inform urban planning policy and design guidelines in the post-COVID-19 period. As we continue to gain novel insights from our experiences during the pandemic, these learnings will be important for creating stronger, healthier, and more resilient communities.
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Healthy movement behaviours in children and youth during the COVID-19 pandemic: Exploring the role of the neighbourhood environment Author links open overlay panel
01/09/2020
This paper explores patterns of increased/ decreased physical activity, sedentary and sleep behaviours among Canadian children and youth aged 5-17 years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and examines how these changes are associated with the built environment near residential locations.
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Profiles of active transportation among children and adolescents in the Global Matrix 3.0 initiative: a 49-country comparison
18/08/2020
This work allowed for a deeper exploration of the active transportation information reported by all the countries participating in the Global Matrix 3.0. Based on our findings, we identified the need to standardize definitions of active transportation to be able to make more meaningful comparisons. The LPA conducted allows for the inference that countries belonging to a specific profile have a greater probability of sharing certain characteristics among them compared to the countries belonging to other profiles. Given the variation by geographic region and even HDI, this approach is useful for identification of more meaningful groupings that can facilitate the cross-fertilization of efforts to promote active transportation, and therefore, to “power the movement to get kids moving”, as is intended by the Global Matrix initiative [171]. The Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance can contribute to improving active travel surveillance providing guidance to countries involved in future versions of the Global Matrix. A more comprehensive approach to active transportation surveillance that considers duration, distance, frequency, direction, other destinations than school and the contribution of active transportation to school to overall active transportation, could improve the understanding of this behaviour and its potential to increase overall physical activity.
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Canadian children’s and youth’s adherence to the 24-h movement guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic: A decision tree analysis
08/07/2020
Our results show that specific characteristics interact to contribute to (non)adherence to the movement behavior recommendations. Results highlight the importance of targeting parents’ perceived capability for the promotion of children's and youth's movement behaviors during challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic, paying particular attention to enhancing parental perceived capability to restrict screen time.
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Impact of the COVID-19 virus outbreak on movement and play behaviours of Canadian children and youth: a national survey
06/07/2020
This study provides evidence of immediate collateral consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak, demonstrating an adverse impact on the movement and play behaviours of Canadian children and youth. These findings can guide efforts to preserve and promote child health during the COVID-19 outbreak and crisis recovery period, and to inform strategies to mitigate potential harm during future pandemics.
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Associations between duration and type of electronic screen use and cognition in US children
01/07/2020
We report the relationship between cognition and screen use in 11,875 US children. Higher TV and video watching were negatively associated with cognition.
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Comparing and assessing physical activity guidelines for children and adolescents: a systematic literature review and analysis
01/07/2020
There is growing global interest in physical activity and sedentary behaviour guideline development. More recently some countries have included sleep in their guidelines focusing on movement behaviours during a 24 h period.. The findings from this review indicate extensive variability in the quality of country guidelines.
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Sleep and screen time are more linked with academic achievement than physical activity
04/06/2020
High school students who met the screen time and sleep guidelines showed better academic performance than those who did not meet any guidelines.
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New Data regarding decreased physical activity during the Global Pandemic
01/06/2020
The time spent in places associated with physical activity such as parks, beaches, and community gardens was down by 31%, and travel by public transport, which is also associated with physical activity, was down by 59%.
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Combinations of physical activity and screen time recommendations and their association with overweight/obesity in adolescents.
13/04/2020
Children meeting both the physical activity and screen time recommendations are less likely to be classified as overweight/obese compared with any other combination. Future efforts are needed to target both MVPA and sedentary behaviour to address public health concerns such as excess weight.
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Body mass index and movement behaviors among schoolchildren from 13 countries across a continuum of human development indices: A multinational cross‐sectional study
24/10/2019
Our findings show distinct differences in BMI and movement behavior profiles between urban and rural children in Mozambique. Mean BMI z‐scores, MVPA, and SED differed by country HDI. These findings support the need to include both rural and urban participants in study samples.
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24-Hour Movement Behaviors and Impulsivity
01/09/2019
Data from this cross-sectional observational study were part of the first annual curated release of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Participants included 4524 children between the ages of 8 and 11 years.
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Understanding parent perceptions of healthy physical activity for their child with a chronic medical condition: A cross-sectional study
01/06/2019
Over one-third of parents reported having questions about physical activity for their child with a chronic medical condition, suggesting substantial uncertainty even among children reported as active. Presence of parent uncertainty is associated with parent reports of the child being unwell or a history of cardiac arrhythmia
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Higher screen time, lower muscular endurance, and decreased agility limit the physical literacy of children with epilepsy
01/01/2019
Children with epilepsy demonstrate poor physical literacy levels, with potential immediate and long-lasting negative impacts on general health and psychosocial well-being. Programs promoting physical literacy in children with epilepsy should be encouraged, specifically interventions decreasing screen time and enhancing muscular endurance and motor skills, thereby facilitating healthier lifestyles.
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Sensitivity, specificity, and reliability of the Get Active Questionnaire for identifying children with medically necessary special considerations for physical activity
03/11/2018
The sensitivity, specificity, and reliability of the Get Active Questionnaire (GAQ) for identifying children needing special considerations during physical activity was evaluated among parents of 207 children aged 3 to 14 years
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Insulin Resistance and Hypertension in Obese Youth With Sleep-Disordered Breathing Treated With Positive Airway Pressure: A Prospective Multicenter Study
01/09/2017
In youth with obesity and SDB, metabolic dysfunction and hypertension were highly prevalent. Larger, longer-term studies are needed to determine whether PAP improves cardiometabolic outcomes in obese youth.
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Resistance Training, Alone Or In Combination With Aerobic Training, May Provide Psychological Benefits In Adolescents With Overweight Or Obesity
04/12/2015
Resistance training, alone or in combination with aerobic training, may provide psychological benefits in adolescents with overweight or obesity, and therefore could be an alternative to aerobic training for some individuals in the biological and psychological management of adolescent obesity
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Does Neck-to-Waist Ratio Predict Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Children?
01/12/2014
Neck-to-waist ratio, an index of body fat distribution, predicts OSA in older children and youth, especially in those who were overweight/obese.
Researchers
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Annick Buchholz
Investigator, CHEO Research Institute
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Jean-Philippe Chaput
Senior Scientist, CHEO Research Institute
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Gary Goldfield
Senior Scientist, CHEO Research Institute
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Sherri Katz
Senior Scientist, CHEO Research Institute
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Patricia Longmuir
Senior Scientist, CHEO Research Institute
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Mark S. Tremblay
Senior Scientist and Director, Healthy Active Living and Obesity, CHEO Research Institute
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Roger Zemek
Senior Scientist, CHEO Research Institute
