Life-course Perspectives for Health Promotion and Obesity Prevention*

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Life-course Perspectives for Health Promotion and
Obesity Prevention

• Pan American Conference on
  Obesity III
• June 2013
• Speakers/Facilitators
• Marcia Ory-Texas AM
• Tom Best-The Ohio State University
• Roberto Lobelo-CDC
• John Duperly-Universidad de los Andes
• Adrian Hutber

With appreciation to Ministry of Health and
PACO Organizers
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Life-course Perspectives for Health Promotion and
Obesity PreventionWorkshop Goals and Structure

• Introduce the life-course perspective why we are
  connecting children and older adults in obesity
  prevention
• Describe the prevalence, risk factors and
  consequences of childhood obesity and identify
  intervention strategies for childhood obesity
  prevention
• Identify aging facts and stereotypes, key
  determinants of healthy aging, strategies for
  promoting healthy aging and the role of
  physical activity in healthy living

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Life-course Perspectives for Health Promotion and
Obesity PreventionGoals and structure, cont

• Solicit international perspectives from the
  audience on what works/doesnt work in obesity
  prevention across the life-course
• Discuss cross cutting issues in risk factors and
  solutions and roles of different key stakeholders
  in formulating solutions
• Mobilize action by having each participant
  identify two concrete actions for preventing
  childhood obesity and promoting healthy aging.

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Welcome and Introductions

• What are your affiliations? Professional
  backgrounds?
• What responsibility for obesity prevention?
• Do you work with children, older adults, or all
  populations
• What do you hope to get out of todays workshop?

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Life-Course Perspectives

• Aging is from birth to death
• The past shapes the present and future too
• Social conditions experienced in early life
  influence life choices and opportunities
• Health behaviors adopted in childhood influence
  later life
• Health in childhood influences health in later
  life
• Its never to soon to adopt healthy behaviors and
  never to late

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Life-Course Themes

• Each life transition presents a unique
  opportunity for interventions to inform policy
  and practice that can improve health and quality
  of life
• Interventions can be focused on particular stages
  or on the entire life-course
• Chronic diseases likely result from the complex
  interplay of critical and sensitive period, and
  trajectory and accumulation processes

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Life-Course Perspective Epidemiological Approach

• Provides a way to conceptualize how underlying
  socio-environmental determinants of health,
  experienced at different life course stages, can
  differentially influence the development of
  chronic diseases
• Life course epidemiology examines a range of
  potential processes through which exposures
  acting at different stages of life can, singly or
  in combination, influence disease risk
• The importance of timing is illustrated by
  knowledge that the particular stage of life when
  an exposure occurs can be important in
  understanding its later effects

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Case ScenariosHow typical is Each ? What are the
Causes and Solutions

• A child is normal weight in primary school but
  becomes obese as an older adult
• A child is obese in primary school but becomes
  normal weight in mid and later life

• A child is normal weight in primary school and
  remains normal weight throughout life
• A child is obese in primary school and remains
  obese