Tuija H Tammelin

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Verified

Tuija verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• PhD
• Principal researcher at JAMK University of Applied Sciences

Rising public concern about comprehensive child and adolescent well-being has led to the development of school-based interventions with the potential for high-reaching and effective support. While some interventions have shown effectiveness, limited understanding exists regarding how social inequalities are considered and evidenced in such interven...

Background : Physical activity has been shown to transfer across generations, but more information is needed regarding the transference of different physical activity modes. This study examined (1) whether parents’ sport club participation at the ages 9–18 was associated with their offspring’s sports club participation at the same ages and (2) whet...

Purpose While weight-bearing physical activity (PA) benefits bone health, it remains unclear whether PA can counteract hormone-driven menopausal bone deterioration. This secondary analysis of a population-based prospective follow-up study examined changes in bone health indicators around menopause and evaluated whether accelerometer-measured habitu...

Aims: Active commuting to school (ACS), a source of physical activity (PA), has declined in many countries over recent decades. This study investigates ACS and the factors associated with it among Finnish children and adolescents across two generations: those born between 1965–74 and 1998–2010. We also explore potential generational differences in...

Background and Aims Multisite pain is a prevalent and significant issue among adolescents, often associated with adverse physical, psychological, and social outcomes. We aimed to (1) predict multisite pain incidence in the whole body and in the musculoskeletal sites in adolescents, and (2) explore the sex‐specific predictors of multisite pain incid...

Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (YFS) is a prospective cohort of 3596 males and females (baseline age 3-18 years) that was established in 1980 to study cardiovascular risk factors in children and adolescents. The YFS has been instrumental in demonstrating the links between childhood risk factors and adult cardiovascular outcomes with impli...

We investigated the longitudinal associations between sports participation patterns in youth and physical activity (PA) in adulthood. PA was self-reported triannually between ages 9-18 (n = 2550, 52% females) and measured by accelerometers in mid-adulthood (n = 1002, 61% females, aged 48 ± 4 years). Three latent classes of youth sports participatio...

Introduction Physical fitness is an important indicator of health in children. Accurately monitoring child and adolescent physical fitness is critical when designing effective public health interventions and strategies. This article aims to provide an overview of the FitBack platform and the health-related criteria that support the reporting system...

Objective The aim of the study was to conduct exploratory analyses on the role of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and body composition in the association between physical activity and menopausal symptoms. Methods This was a cross-sectional (N = 298) study of women aged 51–59 years including a subsample of 82 women followed for 4 years. The severit...

Background Physical activity (PA) may benefit academic performance, but it is unclear what kind of classroom‐based PA is optimal for learning. Aim We studied the effects of physically active maths lessons on children's maths performance and maths‐related effects, and whether gender and previous mathematical or motor skills modify these effects. S...

Objectives To evaluate the independent associations of physical activity and physical fitness with self-rated health in adolescents. Methods Data from a 2-year observational study (2013–2015) were used (n=256, 58% girls, 13.7±0.3 years at baseline). Self-rated health was assessed with a questionnaire, physical activity by an accelerometer and a qu...

Background Providing individual‐ and population‐level data on children's physical fitness (PF) is a crucial public health and education priority. However, few national fitness monitoring or surveillance systems are currently in practice internationally. We aim to summarize the current European PF monitoring and surveillance systems for school‐aged...

Background Previous research has suggested that school-based physical activity (PA) interventions may have a positive impact on academic performance. However, existing literature on school-based interventions encompasses various forms of PA, spanning from vigorous intensity PA outside the academic classes to light intensity PA and movement integrat...

Introduction/Purpose Limited evidence is available on teachers’ perceptions of physically active learning (PAL) in southern Europe, where this approach is not widely implemented. The age of incumbent teachers in Portugal has been increasing. Considering that teachers’ years of experience could limit their motivation for and enjoyment of new requir...

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli kuvata fyysisen aktiivisuuden jakautumista varhaiskasvatusaikana ja vapaa-aikana 4–6-vuotiailla varhaiskasvatukseen osallistuvilla lapsilla Suomessa. Tutkimus perustuu vuosina 2020–2021 Piilo-tutkimushankkeessa kerättyyn varhaiskasvatukseen osallistuvien lasten aineistoon. Lasten (n = 777, tyttöjä 53 %) liikkumista mitat...

Purpose: To assess associations between sedentary time (ST), physical activity (PA), and cardiovascular health in early childhood. Method: Cross-sectional study including 160 children (age 6.1 y [SD 0.5], 86 boys, 93 maternal body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2, and 73 gestational diabetes) assessed for pulse wave velocity, echocardiography, ultra-high f...

Purpose Associations of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in three-generational families has not been well studied. This study aimed to examine these associations in a three-generational data including children, and their parents and grandparents. Methods Self-reported LTPA data, along with a range of family sociodemographic and health-related...

Purpose Participation in organized youth sports (OYS) has been linked to higher levels of physical activity (PA) in adulthood. However, the longitudinal associations of OYS and PA compared to unorganized sports and non-participation have not been extensively studied. This study aims to explore the associations of both organized and unorganized spor...

Background & aims: The incidence and remission of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are sparsely studied outside Asia. This prospective study aimed to investigate NAFLD incidence and remission, and their predictors among a general Finnish population. Methods: The applied cohort included 1260 repeatedly studied middle-aged participants wi...

Importance Multisite pain is a major adverse health outcome in the adolescent population, affecting the daily lives of up to every third adolescent and their families. Objective To 1) predict multisite pain incidence in the whole body and in the musculoskeletal locations in adolescents, and 2) explore the sex-specific predictors of multisite pain i...

Providing individual- and population-level data on child physical fitness is a crucial public health and education priority, however, few national fitness monitoring, or surveillance systems are currently in practice globally. The FitBack network includes experts from diverse backgrounds with a common interest to improving the accessibility of phys...

This study examined whether active commuting to school in childhood and adolescence predicted active commuting to work and overall physical activity (PA) in adulthood. Participants from the Young Finns Study (N = 2436) were aged 9–18 years in 1980 and followed up until 2018/2020. Their commuting modes to school were assessed with a self-reported qu...

Objective: To study associations of menopausal symptoms with cardiometabolic risk factors. Study design: A cross-sectional and longitudinal study of a representative population sample of 1393 women aged 47-55 years with a sub-sample of 298 followed for four years. The numbers of vasomotor, psychological, somatic or pain, and urogenital menopausa...

Lasten ja nuorten liikuntakäyttäytyminen Suomessa (LIITU) -tutkimus on kansallinen 7–15-vuotiaiden liikkumista, liikuntakäyttäytymistä ja -kulttuuria laajasti kartoittava seurantatutkimus. Koulumatkojen osalta LIITU-tutkimuksessa kysyttiin lapsilta ja nuorilta heidän koulumatkansa pituutta ja kulkutapaa. Lisäksi kysyttiin, kuinka eräät koulumatko...

Background Insufficient physical activity is risk factor for morbidity and premature mortality. This population-based birth cohort study investigated the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between self-reported temperament at age 31 and self-reported leisure-time moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels and changes thereof fr...

Abstract Top-down attentional control seems to increase and suppress the activity of sensory cortices for relevant stimuli and to suppress activity for irrelevant ones. Higher physical activity (PA) and aerobic fitness (AF) levels have been associated with improved attention, but most studies have focused on unimodal tasks (e.g., visual stimuli o...

Objectives: (1) To develop reference values for health-related fitness in European children and adolescents aged 6–18 years that are the foundation for the web based, open-access and multi-language fitness platform (FitBack); (2) To provide comparisons across European countries. Methods: This study builds on a previous large fitness reference stud...

This study examined longitudinal associations between parenthood‐related factors and physical activity from young adulthood to midlife over a 19‐year follow‐up period. Participants (n=761) at the ongoing Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study responded to a self‐report questionnaire in their adulthood (in 1992, 2001, 2007 and 2011). Participants...

Finland’s 2022 Para Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Adolescents With Disabilities includes a summary of results and grades for 10 physical activity indicators and highlights how these grades are interpreted by stakeholders. The disability classification was based on the UNICEF/Washington Group on Disability Statistics measure, Gen...

The key guidelines for designing a monitoring system for the physical fitness of children and adolescents

The World Health Organization ([WHO], 2018) encourages schools to engage with a multi-component, whole-of-school approach to physical activity promotion. However, little evidence exists describing the practices of schools that successfully promote a physically active school culture. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the best pra...

Background Insufficient physical activity is risk factor for morbidity and premature mortality. This population-based birth cohort study investigated the associations between self-reported temperament at age 31 and self-reported leisure-time moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels and changes thereof from the age of 31 to the age of 46...

Background: The Global Matrix 4.0 on physical activity (PA) for children and adolescents was developed to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the global variation in children’s and adolescents’ (5–17 y) PA, related measures, and key sources of influence. The objectives of this article were (1) to summarize the findings from the Global Matrix 4...

Background and Aims Neck and shoulder pain (NSP) is common in school age, but preventative factors have not been identified. The purpose was to study whether a fitness test could be used to predict the incidence of NSP and determine whether good physical fitness characters would be associated with lower NSP incidence in school‐aged children at 2‐ye...

Background Physically active lifestyle prevents and contributes to managing non-communicable diseases. Childhood physical activities have shown to associate with physically active lifestyle in adulthood. More research on which childhood physical activity modes associate with physical activity in later life is still needed. Within the present study,...

In recent years, we have got more information on physical activity and motor skills of preschool-aged children in Finland. However, national monitoring system for this age groups is still lacking in Finland like in many other European countries too. This presentation describes the process and recent results of an on-going research and development p...

Background Regular physical activity (PA) has been found to be important for cardiovascular health and longevity. However, notable proportion of adult population does not meet the national PA recommendations. Active transport is one domain of physical activity, that could be a time-efficient way to increase PA and reach the national recommendations...

Joy in Motion is a nationwide physical activity and well-being programme aimed at early childhood education and care (ECEC) launched in 2015 in Finland. The aim is to enable every child to be physically active and enjoy physical activity every day. Latest updates of the Finnish recommendations for physical activity in early childhood was published...

Highlights Adults with MONW have a lower BMI during youth until young adulthood, but higher BMI after this than adults with metabolically healthy normal weight. Adults with MONW have a greater decrease in physical activity from youth to adulthood than other adults. Healthy lifestyle is important in the prevention of metabolic disorders, particularl...

Introduction This study identified the trajectories of organized youth sports over 9 years in youths aged 9–18 years and examined whether the trajectories predicted physical activity, sedentary behavior, and obesity in midlife. Methods Self-reported organized youth sports trajectories were identified for participants between 1980 and 1989 (N=3,474...

We investigated the association of parental physical activity (PA) trajectories with offspring's youth and adult PA. Self-reported PA data were extracted from the Young Finns Study with three follow-ups for parents between 1980 and 1986 and nine follow-ups for their offspring in youth between 1980 and 2011 (aged 9–39 years, n = 2402) and in adultho...

This study investigated the associations of accelerometer-measured physical activity, sedentary time and screen time with the incidence of neck and shoulder pain in school-aged children over a two-year follow-up. Children (aged 10–15) were measured at baseline 2013 (T0) (n = 970) and at follow-ups 2014 (T1) and 2015 (T2). Neck and shoulder pain fre...

Objectives (1) To develop reference values for health-related fitness European children and adolescents aged 6–18 years that are the foundation for the web-based, open-access and multi-language fitness platform (FitBack); (2) To provide comparisons across European countries. Methods This study builds on a previous large fitness reference study in...

Background and aims: Menopause may reduce fat oxidation. We investigated whether sex hormone profile explains resting fat oxidation (RFO) or peak fat oxidation (PFO) during incremental cycling in middle-aged women. Secondarily, we studied associations of RFO and PFO with glucose regulation. Method and results: We measured RFO and PFO of 42 women...

Background: Low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour are unquestionably relevant for public health while also increasing direct and indirect costs. Methods: The authors examined the direct and indirect costs attributable to low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour in Finland in 2017. Costs related to major non-communicable di...

The Moving Maths study was conducted to increase third grade pupils’ physical activity and support their learning in Finland. Altogether 397 children (mean age 9.3 years) and 22 teachers took part in an intervention with two types of physically active maths lessons for five months. One group carried out lessons in which PA was integrated into maths...

Abstract Background Previous studies have shown that physical activity (PA) correlates positively with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in the general population. Few studies have investigated associations between device-measured PA and HRQoL among premenopausal women at risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D). In addition to physical well-being, gene...

Background In women, metabolic health deteriorates after menopause, and the role of physical activity (PA) in mitigating the change is not completely understood. This study investigates the changes in indicators of metabolic health around menopause and evaluates whether PA modulates these changes. Methods Longitudinal data of 298 women aged 48–55...

Objective The purpose of the present study was to investigate the associations between personality traits of extraversion and neuroticism, autonomous motivation, and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) constructs with leisure-time physical activity. The study examined whether autonomous motivation and the TPB constructs mediate the association bet...

The aim of this study was to investigate the correspondence of different biological ageing estimates (i.e. epigenetic age) in blood and muscle tissue and their associations with physical activity (PA), physical function and body composition. Two independent cohorts ( N = 139 and N = 47) were included, whose age span covered adulthood (23–69 years)....

Background Physically active learning (PAL) - integration of movement within delivery of academic content - is a core component of many whole-of-school physical activity approaches. Yet, PAL intervention methods and strategies vary and frequently are not sustained beyond formal programmes. To improve PAL training, a more comprehensive understanding...

The present study aimed to examine effects of motivational and social cognition constructs on children’s leisure-time physical activity participation alongside constructs representing implicit processes using an extended trans-contextual model. The study adopted a correlational prospective design. Secondary-school students (N = 502) completed self-...

Purpose: The longitudinal influence of parental leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) on their offspring's LTPA is poorly understood. This study examined the longitudinal associations between parental LTPA and offspring's LTPA at two-time intervals. Method: Child (offspring) participants (N=3596) were enrolled from the Cardiovascular Risk in You...

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine whether physical activity, fitness and motor skills have indirect association with math performance via cognitive outcomes and if so, through which aspects of cognition? Methods This study comprised 311 6th–9th grade adolescents (12–17y [M age=14.0y], 59% girls) from seven schools throughout Finland...

Background Heredity and family-shared lifestyle contribute to cardiovascular risk, but the magnitude of their influence on arterial structure and function in early childhood is unknown. We aimed to assess associations between child and maternal ideal cardiovascular health, maternal subclinical atherosclerosis, and child arterial phenotype. Methods...

Activation of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) pathway reprograms energy metabolism. Hemoglobin (Hb) is the main carrier of oxygen. Using its normal variation as a surrogate measure for hypoxia, we explored whether lower Hb levels could lead to healthier metabolic profiles in mice and humans ( n = 7175) and used Mendelian randomization (MR) to ev...

Objectives To assess the ability to predict individual unfavourable future status and development in the 20m shuttle run test (20MSRT) during adolescence with machine learning (random forest (RF) classifier). Methods Data from a 2-year observational study (2013‒2015, 12.4±1.3 years, n=633, 50% girls), with 48 baseline characteristics (questionnair...

Objective: To predict the age at natural menopause (ANM). Methods: Cox models with time-dependent covariates were utilized for ANM prediction using longitudinal data from 47 to 55-year-old women (n = 279) participating in the Estrogenic Regulation of Muscle Apoptosis study. The ANM was assessed retrospectively for 105 women using bleeding diarie...

This study investigated whether the timing of infant motor development is associated with self‐reported and accelerometer‐measured physical activity (PA) and sedentary time (ST) in midlife. This population‐based study consisted of 4,098 people born in 1966 in Northern Finland (NFBC 1966). Data on nine infant motor developmental milestones included...

Background Evidence on whether leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) facilitates individuals’ adoption of multiple healthy behaviors remains scarce. This study investigated the associations of diverse longitudinal LTPA trajectories from childhood to adulthood with diet, screen time, smoking, binge drinking, sleep difficulties, and sleep duration in...

The aim of this study was to investigate the correspondence of different biological ageing estimates (i.e. epigenetic age) in blood and muscle tissue and their associations with physical activity (PA), physical function and body composition. Two independent cohorts were included, whose age span covered adulthood (23-69 years). Whole blood and m. va...

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the tracking and changes of steps per day in adults and their determinants over 13 years. Methods: 2195 subjects (1236 women) aged 30–45 years were randomly recruited from the ongoing Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study in 2007 and were followed up in 2020. Steps per day, including both total and aerob...

Context: Early growth associates with childhood adiposity, but the influence of lifestyle remains unknown. Objective: To investigate the association of growth profiles from high-risk pregnancies with adiposity at 5 years of age, taking into account lifestyle and several antenatal/postnatal exposures. Design: Prospective cohort study. Patients...

Current knowledge about the underlying brain processes of exercise-related benefits on executive functions and the specific contributions of physical activity and aerobic fitness during adolescence is inconclusive. We explored whether and how physical activity and aerobic fitness are associated with the oscillatory dynamics underlying anticipatory...

Adults with a low physical activity (PA) level are at increased risk for cardiometabolic diseases, but little is known on the association between physical inactivity since youth and cardiometabolic health in adulthood. We investigated the association of persistent physical inactivity from youth to adulthood with adult cardiometabolic risk factors....

Introduction Adolescents have experienced decreased aerobic fitness levels and insufficient physical activity levels over the past decades. While both physical activity and aerobic fitness are related to physical and mental health, little is known concerning how they manifest in the brain during this stage of development, characterized by significa...

This study investigated pupil experiences and perceptions of two kinds of classroom-based physically active math lessons during the Moving Maths programme in a Finnish primary school context. Qualitative data were gathered in focus group interviews with 16 nine-year-old pupils. Pupils in the group with physically active breaks during math lessons e...

This study aimed to investigate the associations of competitive sport participation in adolescence and age at menarche (AAM) with body composition, femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD), physical performance, and physical activity (PA) in middle-aged women. 1098 women aged 47–55 years formed the sample of this retrospective study. Participants se...

Background: To examine if major life changes over a 4-year period among 34–49-year-old adults (M 41.8, SD 5.0) were associated with a change in physical activity (PA) in men (37.7%) and women (62.3%). Methods: Daily steps and aerobic steps (steps that last for at least 10 minutes without interruption at a pace of >60 steps/minute) were collected in...

The decline in adolescents’ physical fitness (PF) in recent decades has raised concerns about current population's possible future challenges with health and physical functional capacity. This study explored the associations between body composition, physical activity, maturation, and PF development in adolescents. Furthermore, PF development of ad...

This study examined the role of physical activity and changes in physical activity levels during childhood in long-term labor market outcomes. To address this important but under-researched theme, the study utilized data drawn from longitudinal research, the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (YFS), and from registries compiled by Statistics...

Background: Inadequate physical activity in young people is associated with several physical and mental health concerns. Physical education (PE) is a potentially viable existing network for promoting physical activity in this population. However, little research has been conducted on whether PE teachers can influence students' engagement in leisur...

Objectives The potential effects of physical activity and sedentary time on children’s increasing neck and shoulder pain are unclear. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the associations between objectively measured physical activity or sedentary time and neck and shoulder pain in children. Methods Children (n=905; 10–15 years ol...

Background: Physical activity trackers (PATs) such as apps and wearable devices (eg, sports watches, heart rate monitors) are increasingly being used by young adolescents. Despite the potential of PATs to help monitor and improve moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) behaviors, there is a lack of research that confirms an association betwee...

Underlying brain processes of exercise-related benefits on executive functions and the specific contribution of physical activity vs. aerobic fitness are poorly understood, especially during adolescence. We explored whether and how physical activity and aerobic fitness are associated with selective attention and the oscillatory dynamics induced by...

Background: Personality reflects relatively stable and pervasive tendencies in feeling, thinking and behaving. While previous studies have found higher extraversion and lower neuroticism to be linked to higher self-reported physical activity levels, larger studies using accelerometer-measured physical activity are lacking. This study investigated...

AimWomen with prior gestational diabetes (GDM) are at increased diabetes risk. This study aimed to assess whether lifestyle is associated with glycemic health of high-risk women 5 years postpartum, taking into account the pre-pregnancy BMI.Methods The RADIEL study enrolled before or in early pregnancy 720 women with pre-pregnancy BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 and...

Background Inadequate physical activity in young people is associated with several physical and mental health concerns. Physical education (PE) is a potentially viable existing network for promoting physical activity in this population. However, little research has been conducted on whether PE teachers can influence students’ engagement in leisure-...

The objective of this study was to analyze the associations of various individual- and environmental-related factors with subgroups of daily, frequent, moderate and low moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among children and adolescents. Data were obtained from the Finnish School-age Physical Activity (FSPA) study 2016 from 4677 national r...

Adolescents have experienced decreased aerobic fitness levels and insufficient physical activity levels over the past decades. While both physical activity and aerobic fitness are related to physical and mental health, little is known concerning how they manifest in the brain during this stage of development, characterized by significant physical a...

In midlife, women experience hormonal changes due to menopausal transition. A decrease especially in estradiol has been hypothesized to cause loss of muscle mass. This study investigated the effect of menopausal transition on changes in lean and muscle mass, from the total body to the muscle fiber level, among 47–55-year-old women. Data were used f...

Objectives The objective of this study was to determine the gender‐specific and time‐segmented changes in accelerometer measured physical activity (PA) and sedentary time (ST) during adolescence. Methods The study population (N = 970) consisted of children from nine schools throughout Finland. At the baseline, the children were in grades 4–7 (ages...

Background: The trans-contextual model (TCM) has been applied to identify the determinants of leisure-time physical activity participation in secondary school students. In the current study, the TCM was extended to include additional constructs that represent non-conscious, implicit processes that lead to leisure-time physical activity participatio...

Background: The trans-contextual model has been applied to identify the determinants of leisure-time physical activity participation in secondary school students. In the current study, the trans-contextual model was extended to include additional constructs that represent non-conscious, implicit processes that lead to leisure-time physical activity...

The present study aimed to examine effects of motivational and social cognition constructs on children’s leisure-time physical activity participation alongside constructs representing implicit processes using an extended trans-contextual model. The study adopted a correlational prospective design. Secondary-school students ( N = 502) completed self...

Physical inactivity is a major health risk worldwide. Observational studies suggest that higher education is positively related to physical activity, but it is not clear whether this relationship constitutes a causal effect. Using participants (N = 1651) drawn from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study linked to nationwide administrative dat...

BACKGROUND Physical activity trackers (PATs), such as applications (Apps) and wearable devices (e.g. sport watches and heart rate monitors), are increasingly being used by young adolescents. Despite the potential to monitor and improve moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) behaviours, there is a lack of research that confirms an association...

Background: Physical activity trackers (PATs), such as applications (Apps) and wearable devices (e.g. sport watches and heart rate monitors), are increasingly being used by young adolescents. Despite the potential to monitor and improve moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) behaviours, there is a lack of research that confirms an associati...