To investigate the relieving effects of hot spring balneotherapy on mental stress, sleep disorder, general health problems, and women's health problems in sub-healthy people, we recruited 500 volunteers in sub-health in Chongqing, and 362 volunteers completed the project, including 223 in the intervention group and 139 in the control group. The intervention group underwent hot spring balneotherapy for 5 months, while the control group did not. The two groups took questionnaire investigation (general data, mental stress, emotional status, sleep quality, general health problems, as well as some women's health problems) and physical examination (height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, blood lipid, blood sugar) 5 months before and after the intervention, respectively. After intervention, sleep disorder (difficulty in falling asleep (P = 0.017); dreaminess, nightmare suffering, and restless sleep (P = 0.013); easy awakening (P = 0.003) and difficulty in falling into sleep again after awakening(P = 0.016); and mental stress (P = 0.031) and problems of general health (head pain (P = 0.026), joint pain(P = 0.009), leg or foot cramps (P = 0.001), blurred vision (P = 0.009)) were relieved significantly in the intervention group, as compared with the control group. While other indicators (fatigue, eye tiredness, limb numbness, constipation, skin allergy) and women's health problems (breast distending pain; dysmenorrhea, irregular menstruation) were relieved significantly in the self-comparison of the intervention group before and after intervention (P < 0.05), but showed no statistically significant difference between two groups (P > 0.05). All indications (except bad mood, low mood, and worry or irritability) in the intervention group significantly improved, with effect size from 0.096 to 1.302. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the frequency, length, and location of balneotherapy in the intervention group were the factors influencing emotion, sleep, and health condition (P < 0.05). Relief of insomnia, fatigue, and leg or foot cramps was greater in old-age group than in young-aged group (P < 0.05). Physical examination found that waist circumferences in women of various ages under 55 years were significantly reduced in the intervention group (P < 0.05), while that in men did not significantly change (P > 0.05). Spa therapy (balneotherapy) relieves mental stress, sleep disorder, general health, and reduces women's waist circumferences in sub-healthy people.

ObjectivesTo examine the associations of maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG) with neonatal high birth weight (HBW) in a sample of Chinese women living in southwest China.MethodsA hospital-based case–control study was conducted in Chongqing, China. A total of 221 mothers who delivered HBW babies (>4.0 kg) were recruited as cases and 221 age-matched (2-year interval) mothers with normal birth weight babies (2.5–4.0 kg) were identified as controls. ORs were estimated using conditional logistic regression analysis. For the analysis, pre-pregnancy BMI was categorised as underweight/normal weight/overweight and obesity and GWG was categorised as inadequate/appropriate/excessive.ResultsAmong the cases, mean pre-pregnancy BMI was 21.8±2.8 kg/m2, mean GWG was 19.7±5.1 kg and mean neonatal birth weight was 4.2±0.2 kg. In the controls, the corresponding values were 21.1±3.1 kg/m2, 16.4±5.0 kg and 3.3±0.4 kg, respectively. More cases than controls gained excessive weight during pregnancy (80.1% vs 48.4%, p<0.001). No significant association was found between pre-pregnancy BMI and HBW babies (OR=1.04, 95% CI 0.97 to 1.11; p>0.05). GWG was positively related to HBW after adjustment for gravidity, gestational age, newborns' gender and family income (OR=1.18, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.25; p<0.001). The adjusted OR of delivering HBW babies was 5.39 (95% CI 2.94 to 9.89; p<0.001) for excessive GWG versus appropriate GWG. This OR was strengthened among pre-pregnancy normal weight women (OR=10.27, 95% CI 3.20 to 32.95; p<0.001).ConclusionsOverall, the findings suggest a significantly positive association between GWG and HBW. However, pre-pregnancy BMI shows no independent relationship with HBW.

Objective: This study aims to ascertain the health and lifestyle factors associated with the activities of daily living (ADL) disability of centenarians in rural Chongqing, China. Method: 564 centenarians living in rural Chongqing were selected for this cross-sectional study. Demographic characteristics and self-reported lifestyle factors were obtained from face-to-face interviews. ADL disability was measured using the Katz Activities of Daily Living Scale. Result: Among the respondents, 65.7% were considered ADL disability centenarians. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that preference for salt, drinking habits, social activities, physical activity, and failure to follow good diet habits were significantly associated with the ADL disability of centenarians. Conclusion: ADL disability of centenarians was associated with certain lifestyle habits. This outcome suggested that target intervention may help maintain ADL independence even among the oldest of the elderly population.