Kurt Widhalm
Biographic Data
| ID | 5481122 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kurt Widhalm |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kurt |
| FAMILY NAME | Widhalm |
| SIGNATURE | WIDHALM K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Medical University of Vienna |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8700-5573 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 30 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 30 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
One-Year Follow-Up of Weight Trajectories After the Eddy School-Based Nutrition and Physical Activity Program
Background/Objectives: The Effect of Diet and Exercise Training on Obesity and Secondary Disease Prevention and on the Lifestyle of Young Children (EDDY) study implemented a two-year school-based nutrition and physical activity program in a Viennese primary school to promote healthy weight trajectories. This follow-up examined whether anthropometric benefits persisted one year after program cessation without active intervention. Methods: Prospect…
A standardized educational intervention ameliorates deleterious effects of mandatory service on lifestyle habits in Austrian conscripts: A cluster-randomized trial
The study has been registered with ISRCTN under the reference number ISRCTN13067220 (date of registration: 19.09.2025)
Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: A pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults
BACKGROUND: Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. METHODS: ). For school-aged children and adolescents, we report thinness (BMI 2 SD above the median). FINDINGS: From 1990 to 20…
Childhood Obesity Trends among 8–11-Year-Olds: Insights from a School Sample in Vienna, Austria (2017–2023)
In Austria, childhood obesity is a public health concern. This study examined time trends in the percentage of obesity among a sample of schoolchildren from Vienna (2017-2023). The body mass index percentiles of 326 children [9.3 years old (95% CI 8.3-10.5, min-max 8.0-10.9] from the EDDY study were calculated for trend analyses. Trend analysis was performed using a logistic regression using overweight and obesity as dependent binary variables, a…
Worldwide trends in hypertension prevalence and progress in treatment and control from 1990 to 2019: A pooled analysis of 1201 population-representative studies with 104 million participants
BACKGROUND: Hypertension can be detected at the primary health-care level and low-cost treatments can effectively control hypertension. We aimed to measure the prevalence of hypertension and progress in its detection, treatment, and control from 1990 to 2019 for 200 countries and territories. METHODS: We used data from 1990 to 2019 on people aged 30-79 years from population-representative studies with measurement of blood pressure and data on blo…
Breakfast Dietary Pattern Is Inversely Associated with Overweight/Obesity in European Adolescents: The Helena Study
Obesity in children and adolescents is a public health problem and diet can play a major role in this condition. We aimed to identify sex-specific dietary patterns (DP) and to evaluate the association with overweight/obesity in European adolescents. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis with 2327 adolescents aged between 12.5 to 17.5 years from a multicenter study across Europe. The body mass index was categorized in "normal weight" and "overwe…
Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: A pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million p…
BACKGROUND: Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. METHODS: For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease …
Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults
Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities 1,2 . This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity 3–6 . Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean B…
Measuring nutritional knowledge using Item Response Theory and its validity in European adolescents
Objective To analyse the Nutritional Knowledge Test (NKT) using Item Response Theory (ITR) analysis and to assess the construct validity of the Nutritional Knowledge Scale (NKTS) and its associations with adolescent food group consumption and nutritional biomarkers. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Multicentre investigation conducted in ten European cities. Participants Adolescents aged 12·5–17·5 years ( n 3215) who completed over 75 % of th…
Relative validation of the adapted Mediterranean Diet Score for Adolescents by comparison with nutritional biomarkers and nutrient and food intakes: The Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Ado…
Objective: To investigate whether adherence to the adapted Mediterranean Diet Score for Adolescents (MDS_A) and the adapted Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for Adolescents (KIDMED_A) is associated with better food/nutrient intakes and nutritional biomarkers. Design: The Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence (HELENA) study is a cross-sectional study aiming to obtain comparable data on a variety of nutritional and health-related …
Adolescents’ diet quality in relation to their relatives’ and peers’ diet engagement and encouragement: The Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence (Helena) study
Objective To examine the associations between adolescents’ diet quality and their perceived relatives’ and peers’ diet engagement and encouragement. Design Cross-sectional study performed in European countries. Diet quality was scored using the Diet Quality Index for Adolescents (DQI-A) based on four components: quality, diversity, balance and meal frequency. Perceived diet quality engagement and perceived encouragement of the relatives/peers wer…
Clustering of multiple energy balance related behaviors is associated with body fat composition indicators in adolescents: Results from the Helena and Elana studies
Worldwide trends in blood pressure from 1975 to 2015: A pooled analysis of 1479 population-based measurement studies with 19·1 million participants
BACKGROUND: Raised blood pressure is an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and chronic kidney disease. We estimated worldwide trends in mean systolic and mean diastolic blood pressure, and the prevalence of, and number of people with, raised blood pressure, defined as systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or higher or diastolic blood pressure of 90 mm Hg or higher. METHODS: For this analysis, we pooled national, subnational, or comm…
Worldwide trends in body-mass index, underweight, overweight, and obesity from 1975 to 2016: A pooled analysis of 2416 population-based measurement studies in 128·9 million children, adolescents, and …
BACKGROUND: Underweight, overweight, and obesity in childhood and adolescence are associated with adverse health consequences throughout the life-course. Our aim was to estimate worldwide trends in mean body-mass index (BMI) and a comprehensive set of BMI categories that cover underweight to obesity in children and adolescents, and to compare trends with those of adults. METHODS: We pooled 2416 population-based studies with measurements of height…
Early life programming of attention capacity in adolescents: The Helena study
The study aims to examine the individual and combined association of early life factors (birth weight, birth length, and any and exclusive breastfeeding) with attention capacity in adolescents. The study included 421 European adolescents (243 girls), aged 12.5-17.5 years, who participated in the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence Study. Body weight and length at birth of adolescents were collected from parental records. The d…
Dietary sources and sociodemographic and lifestyle factors affecting vitamin D and calcium intakes in European adolescents: The Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence (Helena) Study
Objective To investigate dietary sources of Ca and vitamin D (VitD) intakes, and the associated sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, among European adolescents. Design Linear regression mixed models were used to examine sex-specific associations of Ca and VitD intakes with parental education, family affluence (FAS), physical activity and television (TV) watching while controlling for age, Tanner stage, energy intake and diet quality. Setting T…
Regular breakfast consumption is associated with higher blood vitamin status in adolescents: The Helena (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) Study
Objective The present study aimed to examine the association between different breakfast consumption patterns and vitamin intakes and blood vitamin concentrations in European adolescents. Design Breakfast consumption was assessed by a questionnaire. Vitamin intake was calculated from two 24 h recalls. Blood vitamin and total homocysteine (tHcy) concentrations were analysed from fasting blood samples. Setting The European Commission-funded HELENA …
Eddy. A prevention project against the development of obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in 11- to 13-year-old children in Vienna
Eddy. A psychological approach to obesity
SPISE. A novel parameter to evaluate insulin sensitivity in obese adolescents
Breastfeeding attenuates the effect of low birthweight on abdominal adiposity in adolescents: The Helena study
The aim of this study was to examine whether breastfeeding may reduce the programming effect of birthweight on abdominal adiposity. Abdominal (in three regions: R1, R2 and R3) adiposity was measured by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry in 314 adolescents. Breastfeeding duration, birthweight, duration of gestation and maternal educational level were obtained from questionnaire. Physical activity was objectively measured. We detected significant int…
Association of breakfast consumption with objectively measured and self-reported physical activity, sedentary time and physical fitness in European adolescents: The Helena (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe…
Objective To examine the association of breakfast consumption with objectively measured and self-reported physical activity, sedentary time and physical fitness. Design The HELENA (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) Cross-Sectional Study. Breakfast consumption was assessed by two non-consecutive 24 h recalls and by a ‘Food Choices and Preferences’ questionnaire. Physical activity, sedentary time and physical fitness componen…
Nutrient intake of European adolescents: Results of the Helena (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) Study
Objective An adequate nutritional intake in childhood and adolescence is crucial for growth and the prevention of youth and adult obesity and nutrition-related morbidities. Improving nutrient intake in children and adolescents is of public health importance. The purpose of the present study was to describe and evaluate the nutrient intake in a European sample using the D-A-CH nutrient intake recommendations and the Nutritional Quality Index (NQI)…
Breakfast consumption and CVD risk factors in European adolescents: The Helena (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) Study
Objective To examine the association between breakfast consumption and CVD risk factors in European adolescents. Design Cross-sectional. Breakfast consumption was assessed by the statement ‘I often skip breakfast’ and categorized into ‘consumer’, ‘occasional consumer’ and ‘skipper’. Blood pressure, weight, height, waist circumference, skinfold thickness, total cholesterol (TC), HDL cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL cholesterol (LDL-C), TAG, insulin and gl…
Lunch at school, at home or elsewhere. Where do adolescents usually get it and what do they eat? Results of the Helena Study
Perceived benefits and barriers to physical activity in a nationally representative sample in the European Union
Objective To examine the attitudes of consumers, in particular their perceived benefits and barriers to physical activity from all EU member states, and having a measure of prevailing levels of activity, inactivity and self-reported body weight and body shape. Design Cross-sectional survey using an interview-assisted face-to-face questionnaire. Setting The survey was conducted between March and April 1997 in the 15 member states of the EU. Subjec…
Recommended levels and intensities of physical activity to avoid low‐cardiorespiratory fitness in European adolescents: The Helena study
This study shows sex- and intensity-specific PA thresholds to discriminate between adolescents with a healthy CRF from those with a less favorable or unhealthy CRF level
Clustering patterns of physical activity, sedentary and dietary behavior among European adolescents: The Helena study
In order to develop effective primary prevention strategies, it would be important to consider multiple health indices when identifying high risk groups
Breakfast habits among European adolescents and their association with sociodemographic factors: The Helena (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) study
Objective To describe breakfast habits at food group level in European adolescents and to investigate the associations between these habits and sociodemographic factors. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Secondary schools from nine European cities participating in the HELENA (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) Study. Breakfast habits were assessed twice using a computer-based 24 h dietary recall. Adolescents who consumed…
Eating behaviour, insulin resistance and cluster of metabolic risk factors in European adolescents. The Helena Study
Breakfast consumption and CVD risk factors in European adolescents: The Helena (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) Study
Objective To examine the association between breakfast consumption and CVD risk factors in European adolescents. Design Cross-sectional. Breakfast consumption was assessed by the statement ‘I often skip breakfast’ and categorized into ‘consumer’, ‘occasional consumer’ and ‘skipper’. Blood pressure, weight, height, waist circumference, skinfold thickness, total cholesterol (TC), HDL cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL cholesterol (LDL-C), TAG, insulin and gl…
Lunch at school, at home or elsewhere. Where do adolescents usually get it and what do they eat? Results of the Helena Study
Breastfeeding attenuates the effect of low birthweight on abdominal adiposity in adolescents: The Helena study
The aim of this study was to examine whether breastfeeding may reduce the programming effect of birthweight on abdominal adiposity. Abdominal (in three regions: R1, R2 and R3) adiposity was measured by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry in 314 adolescents. Breastfeeding duration, birthweight, duration of gestation and maternal educational level were obtained from questionnaire. Physical activity was objectively measured. We detected significant int…
Association of breakfast consumption with objectively measured and self-reported physical activity, sedentary time and physical fitness in European adolescents: The Helena (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe…
Objective To examine the association of breakfast consumption with objectively measured and self-reported physical activity, sedentary time and physical fitness. Design The HELENA (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) Cross-Sectional Study. Breakfast consumption was assessed by two non-consecutive 24 h recalls and by a ‘Food Choices and Preferences’ questionnaire. Physical activity, sedentary time and physical fitness componen…
Nutrient intake of European adolescents: Results of the Helena (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) Study
Objective An adequate nutritional intake in childhood and adolescence is crucial for growth and the prevention of youth and adult obesity and nutrition-related morbidities. Improving nutrient intake in children and adolescents is of public health importance. The purpose of the present study was to describe and evaluate the nutrient intake in a European sample using the D-A-CH nutrient intake recommendations and the Nutritional Quality Index (NQI)…
Eddy. A prevention project against the development of obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in 11- to 13-year-old children in Vienna
Eddy. A psychological approach to obesity
SPISE. A novel parameter to evaluate insulin sensitivity in obese adolescents
Worldwide trends in blood pressure from 1975 to 2015: A pooled analysis of 1479 population-based measurement studies with 19·1 million participants
BACKGROUND: Raised blood pressure is an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and chronic kidney disease. We estimated worldwide trends in mean systolic and mean diastolic blood pressure, and the prevalence of, and number of people with, raised blood pressure, defined as systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or higher or diastolic blood pressure of 90 mm Hg or higher. METHODS: For this analysis, we pooled national, subnational, or comm…
Worldwide trends in body-mass index, underweight, overweight, and obesity from 1975 to 2016: A pooled analysis of 2416 population-based measurement studies in 128·9 million children, adolescents, and …
BACKGROUND: Underweight, overweight, and obesity in childhood and adolescence are associated with adverse health consequences throughout the life-course. Our aim was to estimate worldwide trends in mean body-mass index (BMI) and a comprehensive set of BMI categories that cover underweight to obesity in children and adolescents, and to compare trends with those of adults. METHODS: We pooled 2416 population-based studies with measurements of height…
Early life programming of attention capacity in adolescents: The Helena study
The study aims to examine the individual and combined association of early life factors (birth weight, birth length, and any and exclusive breastfeeding) with attention capacity in adolescents. The study included 421 European adolescents (243 girls), aged 12.5-17.5 years, who participated in the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence Study. Body weight and length at birth of adolescents were collected from parental records. The d…
Dietary sources and sociodemographic and lifestyle factors affecting vitamin D and calcium intakes in European adolescents: The Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence (Helena) Study
Objective To investigate dietary sources of Ca and vitamin D (VitD) intakes, and the associated sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, among European adolescents. Design Linear regression mixed models were used to examine sex-specific associations of Ca and VitD intakes with parental education, family affluence (FAS), physical activity and television (TV) watching while controlling for age, Tanner stage, energy intake and diet quality. Setting T…
Regular breakfast consumption is associated with higher blood vitamin status in adolescents: The Helena (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) Study
Objective The present study aimed to examine the association between different breakfast consumption patterns and vitamin intakes and blood vitamin concentrations in European adolescents. Design Breakfast consumption was assessed by a questionnaire. Vitamin intake was calculated from two 24 h recalls. Blood vitamin and total homocysteine (tHcy) concentrations were analysed from fasting blood samples. Setting The European Commission-funded HELENA …
Adolescents’ diet quality in relation to their relatives’ and peers’ diet engagement and encouragement: The Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence (Helena) study
Objective To examine the associations between adolescents’ diet quality and their perceived relatives’ and peers’ diet engagement and encouragement. Design Cross-sectional study performed in European countries. Diet quality was scored using the Diet Quality Index for Adolescents (DQI-A) based on four components: quality, diversity, balance and meal frequency. Perceived diet quality engagement and perceived encouragement of the relatives/peers wer…
Clustering of multiple energy balance related behaviors is associated with body fat composition indicators in adolescents: Results from the Helena and Elana studies
Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults
Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities 1,2 . This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity 3–6 . Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean B…
Measuring nutritional knowledge using Item Response Theory and its validity in European adolescents
Objective To analyse the Nutritional Knowledge Test (NKT) using Item Response Theory (ITR) analysis and to assess the construct validity of the Nutritional Knowledge Scale (NKTS) and its associations with adolescent food group consumption and nutritional biomarkers. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Multicentre investigation conducted in ten European cities. Participants Adolescents aged 12·5–17·5 years ( n 3215) who completed over 75 % of th…
Relative validation of the adapted Mediterranean Diet Score for Adolescents by comparison with nutritional biomarkers and nutrient and food intakes: The Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Ado…
Objective: To investigate whether adherence to the adapted Mediterranean Diet Score for Adolescents (MDS_A) and the adapted Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for Adolescents (KIDMED_A) is associated with better food/nutrient intakes and nutritional biomarkers. Design: The Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence (HELENA) study is a cross-sectional study aiming to obtain comparable data on a variety of nutritional and health-related …
Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: A pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million p…
BACKGROUND: Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. METHODS: For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease …
Worldwide trends in hypertension prevalence and progress in treatment and control from 1990 to 2019: A pooled analysis of 1201 population-representative studies with 104 million participants
BACKGROUND: Hypertension can be detected at the primary health-care level and low-cost treatments can effectively control hypertension. We aimed to measure the prevalence of hypertension and progress in its detection, treatment, and control from 1990 to 2019 for 200 countries and territories. METHODS: We used data from 1990 to 2019 on people aged 30-79 years from population-representative studies with measurement of blood pressure and data on blo…
Medicine (26 works) · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet (25 works) · Demography (18 works) · Environmental health (16 works) · Nutritional Studies and Diet (13 works) · Obesity (11 works) · Demography (10 works) · Internal Medicine (10 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Gerontology (7 works)