Community

Public Health

Hong Kong is at an interesting junction for public health control. On the one hand it is dealing with a proliferation of diseases of the developed world, such as those related to obesity and ageing. On the other hand it is located in a region where new and potentially virulent communicable diseases are emerging. Public health needs to consider both these strands.

The University has made important contributions to knowledge and policies in many areas of public health, and the findings have global significance. For example, our researchers were the first to demonstrate that improvement in air pollution can reduce deaths from cardiopulmonary disease, and they are world-renowned for their research into tobacco-related health problems.

Public health researchers are also contributing to the Areas of Excellence project on influenza and working on several large influenza prevention projects with funding from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health.

"We are committed to multidisciplinary research that provides evidence and intelligence for policies and strategies to control the double disease burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases," said Professor T.H. Lam of the Department of Community Medicine and convenor of the Public Health research theme.

Tapping into existing strengths, investigators from the Faculties of Architecture, Dentistry, Education, Science and Social Sciences and the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine are now collaborating on research in two areas of concern: childhood obesity and infection control.

Childhood obesity

Child and adolescent obesity is a growing issue in Hong Kong and China, with long-term implications for public health, and the causes and solutions are still much in need of investigation. HKU researchers have compiled baseline data for 34,000 secondary school students and will extend that in the coming years to provide a clearer indication of the scale and predictors of obesity in Hong Kong adolescents. They are also looking at how to prevent and treat the problem.

Physical activity is an obvious factor in obesity. Hong Kong children are among the most physically inactive in the world and the built environment, in particular high-density residential buildings and the lack of urban space, is believed to contribute to the problem. A new study will look at this relationship by interviewing students from a broad range of living environments about their physical activity. Their body fat and heart rates will also be measured.

A related issue is free daily walking. Longer periods spent sitting increases the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Another study will look at how to get overweight youngsters moving and whether increased walking results in favourable clinical outcomes.

"We want to better understand how to create and maintain activity- and health-promoting communities," said Dr D.J. MacFarlane of the Institute of Human Performance.

Diet, too, is important in the study of obesity. Dairy products are of interest because some studies suggest they may be associated with a lower risk of being overweight. However, they are not a traditional part of Chinese diets. HKU researchers will investigate the level of dairy consumption among Chinese children and measure biomarkers such as their body mass index and bone mineral density.

Oral disease is strongly related to diet and other lifestyle factors and may be an indicator of general health and, by extension, obesity-related problems. Researchers will look at the influence of family on oral health and whether there are links to overall health and lifestyle. They will also examine health-related data gathered by the Faculty of Dentistry and the Hong Kong Government’s Student Health Service to identify factors that predict poor oral and general health in children as they grow.

Obesity, sexuality and mental health is the subject of another project that looks at the effects of obesity on young people’s body image and their sexual activity. Data collected by the Family Planning Association from secondary school students, including body mass index, sexual behaviour, body image and mental well being, will be analysed to see how these factors interact.

Infection control

Respiratory viruses are responsible for hundreds of thousands of infections each year, and thousands of hospitalisations and deaths. Yet most studies have focused on infections in the hospital environment. The School of Public Health has been looking at the problem in the community.

In 2006–07 they conducted a large trial of facemasks and hand hygiene to prevent influenza transmission in households, with funding from the US CDC. They now plan to test the clinical specimens collected to characterise the full spectrum of influenza-like illnesses in the community and the symptoms associated with them. The results will be compared with hospital samples to determine the ranges of severity for various respiratory viruses.

"There is a lack of data on community circulation of non-influenza upper respiratory viruses," said Dr B.J. Cowling of the Department of Community Medicine. "Comparison of our findings with earlier studies in different settings could provide vital insights into the ecology of influenza-like illnesses in Hong Kong."

Convenor(s) and Key Members