Background: Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers were already reporting a low quality of life (QoL) perception, with a significant impact on mental and physical health due to various stress factors associated with work overload. The objective of this study was to evaluate the QoL impact on Chilean teachers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis was performed following a longitudinal design on a sample of 63 Chilean teachers in pre-pandemic and COVID-19 pandemic timeframes. QoL perception, along with teachers’ sociodemographic data, was evaluated via the Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire. Sociodemographic variables presented no significant variations in pre-pandemic and pandemic comparisons. QoL, however, showed a significant decrease during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic measurement (p < 0.01). In each gender, there were significant differences between pre-pandemic and pandemic timeframes, with a greater impact among women in the mental and physical component summary variables and seven of the eight QoL scales (p < 0.01). Between age categories, people under 45 presented significant differences (p < 0.05) between pre-pandemic and pandemic timeframes in all summary dimensions and measurements. In conclusion, Chilean teachers’ QoL perception has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings could be related to work overload due to teleworking or feelings of uncertainty, loneliness, and fear that the pandemic and its associated confinements will worsen.

Chile has suffered a fast increase in childhood obesity in the last 10 years. As a result, several school programmes have been implemented, however the effectiveness of these needs to be evaluated to identify and prioritize strategies to curve this trend. Cluster randomized controlled trial. Twelve primary public schools chosen at random over three regions of the country will take part in this study. The sample size consisted of a total of 1,655 children. For each region one school will be selected for each of the three nutritional intervention modes and one school will be selected as the control group. The intervention modes consist of the following: Healthy Kiosk and nutritional education (KSEAN); Optimized physical activity (AFSO); Healthy Kiosk and nutritional education (KSEAN) + optimized physical activity (AFSO); Control group. Healthy Kiosk and nutritional education (KSEAN); Optimized physical activity (AFSO); Healthy Kiosk and nutritional education (KSEAN) + optimized physical activity (AFSO); Control group. The effectiveness of each intervention will be evaluated by determining the nutritional condition of each child by measuring percentage of body fat, BMI and the z-score of the BMI. This study will also identify the eating behaviours, nutritional knowledge and fitness of each child, along with the effective time of moderate activity during physical education classes. A protocol to evaluate the effectiveness of a school based intervention to control and/or reduce the rates of childhood obesity for children between 6 and 10 years of age was developed. The protocol was developed in line with the Declaration of Helsinski, the Nüremberg Code and the University of Chile Guidelines for ethical committees, and was approved by the INTA, Universidad de Chile ethical committee on Wednesday 12 March 2014. There is consensus among researchers and health and education personnel that schools are a favourable environment for actions to prevent and/or control childhood obesity. However a lack of evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to date has led some to question the wisdom of allocating resources to programmes. This is the first study of this kind in Chile and could be an important first step to provide guidance to political authorities in relation to which food and nutrition strategies to prioritize to curve this alarming trend. ISRCTN32136790 , registered retrospectively on 05 September 2014.

The frequency of celiac disease (CD) has increased along time, with relevant changes reported in geographical variations, clinical presentation and nutritional repercussions. In recent years, some celiac patients are presenting overweight/obesity, but it is unclear how frequent this is and to what extent undernutrition remains a concern. This is relevant because CD tends to be overlooked in overweight patients. With this in mind, we assessed age at diagnosis, clinical characteristics and nutritional status of 155 celiac patients diagnosed between 1994–2017 in four pediatric hospitals in Santiago, Chile. Since 2003, the number of patients diagnosed has increased (p < 0.0033), coinciding with antitransglutaminase and antiendomysial antibodies becoming available to public health systems. In 2000, 4.5% of patients were asymptomatic at diagnosis, suggesting that active search is not routinely applied. Gastrointestinal symptoms plus failure to thrive were significantly more frequent under 2 years (p = 0.0001). Nutritional status has improved at diagnosis and during follow up, but undernutrition remains more frequent in children <2 and <5 years (p < 0.002 and p < 0.0036, respectively). Overweight at diagnosis was reported in 2002 and obesity in 2010. After initiating treatment, since 2010, patients changing from undernourishment to overweight has sometimes been observed after only 6 months on a gluten-free diet.

Introducción: La práctica regular de actividad física (AF) es reconocida por su efecto en la salud. Durante, la formación universitaria, surge la sobrecarga académica. Los objetivos de este estudio son 1). Determinar las variables de AF, conducta sedentaria (CS); actividad física de intensidad liviana (AFL) y actividad física de intensidad moderada a vigorosa (AFMV) tanto en días de semana como fin de semana. 2). Analizar si existen diferencias entre, AF, AFL y AFMV con el nivel de estrés académico (NEA) percibido por estudiantes de una carrera de salud durante el periodo de rendición de exámenes finales. Método: Estudio observacional de enfoque descriptivo y corte transversal. Muestra de 37 estudiantes universitarios de 21.9±2.1 años (17 hombres de 21.9±2.5 y 20 mujeres 21.9±1.7 años), cursando tercer año de Kinesiología. Se evalúo nivel de actividad física con acelerometría y se midió percepción del nivel de estrés académico con el Inventario Sistémico Cognoscitivista (SISCO), durante la semana de exámenes finales. Los análisis estadísticos fueron realizados con el programa Stata versión 16.0 Resultados: Los hombres presentan un menor puntaje de SISCO (2.9±0.3) que las mujeres (3.2±0.5) p=0.0055. Los y las estudiantes son insuficientemente activos, quienes perciben la sobrecarga de tareas y/o trabajos como estresante, presentan menor AFMV en días de semana (p=0.0245) y fines de semana (p=0.0347). Conclusión: Estudiantes universitarios durante el periodo de exámenes finales son insuficientemente activos, perciben niveles moderados a severos de estrés académico y quienes perciben mayor sobrecarga de tareas destinan menor tiempo en AFMV, durante el periodo de exámenes. Palabras claves: Insuficiente Actividad Física; Estrés Psicológico; Salud Mental; Estrés académico; Estilo de Vida Saludable. Background: The regular practice of physical activity (PA) is recognized for its effect on health. During university education, academic overload increases. Aims: 1). Determine the variables of PA, sedentary behavior (SB); light intensity physical activity (LPA) and moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) on both weekdays and weekends. 2). Analyze whether there are differences between PA, LPA and MVPA with the level of academic stress perceived by students of a health career during the period of final exam. Method: Observational study with a descriptive approach and cross section. Sample of 37 university students of 21.9±2.1 years (17 men of 21.9±2.5 and 20 women of 21.9±1.7 years), third-year of the Kinesiology program. The level of PA was evaluated with accelerometry and the perception of the level of academic stress was measured with the Systemic Cognitive Inventory (SISCO), during the week of final exam. Statistical analyzes were performed with the Stata program version 16.0. Results: Men present a lower SISCO score (2.9±0.3) than women (3.2±0.5) p=0.0055. All are insufficiently active, who perceive the overload of tasks and/or work as stressful, present fewer minutes dedicated to MVPA on weekdays (p=0.0245), and weekends (p=0.0347). Conclusion: University students during the period of final exam are insufficiently active, perceive moderate to severe levels of academic stress and those who perceive a greater overload of tasks and assignments spend less time in MVPA, during the final exam period. Keywords: Lack of Physical Activity; Stress Psychological; Stress Academic; Mental health; Healthy Lifestyle.

After categorizing preschool children into “active and low active” according to their moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in PE classes (PE), we compared these two groups within each sex and by sex in: (a) % MVPA and MVPA minutes accrued from each fundamental motor skill (FMS) during PE and (b) % MVPA during school time. 532 children (mean age 5.2 years, 50% girls) were selected from a nationwide program which provides 3 weekly PE. Children wore accelerometers during one school day which included PE. We recorded the type and duration of each activity indicated by the teacher, classifying each one into the corresponding FMS, extracting its MVPA minutes from the accelerometer software. Children were categorized into active and low active. Comparisons used T-tests. In PE, active children accumulate 40 and 36 percentage points (pp) more MVPA minutes (boys and girls respectively), while during school time, 4 pp more in each sex. Girls are significantly less active. Just considering locomotion, active boys and girls accumulate 11 more MVPA minutes during PE. Active boys surpass the MVPA guideline for PE, while active girls almost reach it. Low active children (especially girls) should intensify locomotor activities during PE.

We determined which variables are predictive of normal-weight (N) Chilean 4-year-olds developing overweight/obesity when entering primary school. This study used national data of preschoolers (PK, age 4) in 2011 through 2015, and the same children in the first grade (1st G, age 6) in 2013 through 2017. We formed longitudinal cohorts considering PK as the baseline and 1st G as the follow-up and included anthropometric, socio-demographic, and health variables in PK and anthropometry in the 1st G. We report the percentage N who remained N at follow-up (N-N) or gained excessive weight (N-OW) and (N-OB), by sex. We ran univariate logistic regressions to determine for each variable, its association with gaining excessive weight (N-OW + OB), incorporating significant variables (p < 0.001) in multivariate logistic regression. A total of 483,509 (251,150 girls) of PK had anthropometry in the 1st G. In PK, 22% of the children were obese; in the 1st G (24.8% and 19.7% in boys and girls, respectively). Of normal-weight children, 30% developed OW + OB. The predictive variables were: Being born macrosomic, attending a very vulnerable school, being indigenous, the mother’s low schooling, and the child being cared for by the grandmother after school. In this study, the factors predicting that normal-weight preschoolers gain excessive weight gain in a short period of time are mostly related to poverty. Prevention should focus on this population.