Person:

Sheikh, Aziz

Objective: To explore the reasons for enrolling, experiences of participating and reasons for remaining in a family-based, cluster randomised controlled trial of a dietitian-delivered lifestyle modification intervention aiming to reduce obesity in South Asians at high risk of developing diabetes. Design: Qualitative study using narrative interviews of a purposive sample of trial participants following completion of the intervention. Data were thematically analysed. Setting: The intervention was conducted in Scotland and resulted in a modest decrease in weight, but did not statistically reduce the incidence of diabetes. Participants: We conducted 21 narrative interviews with 24 participants (20 trial participants and four family volunteers). Results: Many participants were motivated to participate because of: known family history of diabetes and the desire to better understand diabetes-related risks to their own and their family's health; ways to mitigate these risks and to benefit from personalised monitoring. Home-based interventions, communication in the participant's chosen language(s) and continuity in dietitians supported their continuing engagement with the trial. Adaptations in food choices were initially accommodated by participants, although social and faith-based responsibilities were reported as important barriers to persevering with agreed dietary goals. Many participants reported that increasing their level of physical activity was difficult given their long working hours, physically demanding employment and domestic commitments; this being compounded by Scotland's challenging climate and a related reluctance to exercise in the outdoors. Conclusions: Although participants had strong personal interests in participation and found the information provided by dietitians useful, they nonetheless struggled to incorporate the dietary and exercise recommendations into their daily lives. In particular, increasing levels of physical exercise was described as an additional and in some cases unachievable burden. Consideration needs to be given to strengthening and supporting lifestyle interventions with community-based approaches in order to help overcome wider social and environmental factors.

Background: Our previous meta-analysis found that South Asians and Blacks in the UK were at a substantially increased risk of hospital admission from asthma. These estimates were, however, derived from pooling data from a limited number of now dated studies, confined to only three very broad ethnic groups (i.e. Whites, South Asians and Blacks) and failed to take account of possible sex-related differences in outcomes within these ethnic groups. We undertook the first study investigating ethnic variations in asthma outcomes across an entire population. Methods: This retrospective 9-year cohort study linked Scotland’s hospitalisation/death records on asthma to the 2001 census (providing ethnic group). We calculated age, country of birth and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation adjusted incident rate ratios (IRRs) for hospitalisation or death by sex for the period May 2001–2010. We calculated hazard ratios (HRs) for asthma readmission and subsequent asthma death. Results: We were able to link data on 4.62 million people (91.8 % of the Scottish population), yielding over 38 million patient-years of data, 1,845 asthma deaths, 113,795 first asthma admissions, and 107,710 readmissions (40,075 of which were for asthma). There were substantial ethnic variations in the rate of hospitalisation/death in both males and females. When compared to the reference Scottish White population, the highest age-adjusted rates were in Pakistani males (IRR = 1.59; 95 % CI, 1.30–1.94) and females (IRR = 1.50; 95 % CI, 1.06–2.11) and Indian males (IRR = 1.34; 95 % CI, 1.16–1.54), and the lowest were seen in Chinese males (IRR = 0.62; 95 % CI, 0.41–0.94) and females (IRR = 0.49; 95 % CI, 0.39–0.61). Conclusion: There are very substantial ethnic variations in hospital admission/deaths from asthma in Scotland, with Pakistanis having the worst and Chinese having the best outcomes. Cultural factors, including self-management and health seeking behaviours, and variations in the quality of primary care provision are the most likely explanations for these differences and these now need to be formally investigated.

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated an association between obesity and asthma, but there remains considerable uncertainty about whether this reflects an underlying causal relationship. Aims: To investigate the association between obesity and asthma in pre-pubertal children and to investigate the roles of airway obstruction and atopy as possible causal mechanisms. Methods: We conducted an age- and sex-matched case–control study of 1,264 6- to 8-year-old schoolchildren with and without asthma recruited from 37 randomly selected schools in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. The body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and skin fold thickness of the 632 children with asthma were compared with those of the 632 control children without asthma. Associations between obesity and asthma, adjusted for other potential risk factors, were assessed separately in boys and girls using conditional logistic regression analysis. The possible mediating roles of atopy and airway obstruction were studied by investigating the impact of incorporating data on sensitisation to common aeroallergens and measurements of lung function. Results: BMI was associated with asthma in boys (odds ratio (OR)=1.14, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.08–1.20; adjusted OR=1.11, 95% CI, 1.03–1.19) and girls (OR=1.37, 95% CI, 1.26–1.50; adjusted OR=1.38, 95% CI, 1.23–1.56). Adjusting for forced expiratory volume in 1 s had a negligible impact on these associations, but these were attenuated following adjustment for allergic sensitisation, particularly in girls (girls: OR=1.25; 95% CI, 0.96–1.60; boys: OR=1.09, 95% CI, 0.99–1.19). Conclusions: BMI is associated with asthma in pre-pubertal Saudi boys and girls; this effect does not appear to be mediated through respiratory obstruction, but in girls this may at least partially be mediated through increased risk of allergic sensitisation.