Probability and Statistics: Obesity
The world experiences a greater prevalence of Obesity than ever. Obesity is a health condition featuring abnormal fat levels in the body. Following the inadequacies in the medical care and access to treatment, the society has found it challenging to control the condition prevalence. The medical institutions and practitioners at large have engaged in an immense research study to identify the unrealized risk factors for the increased obesity rates. Exploring one major risk factor, Hasler, et al. (2004) Undertook a 13-year prospective research study on the psychological relationship between deprived sleep and increased obesity among the young adults. This paper examines the study's design and research constituents engaged in establishing the reach findings on the on the subject.
The study uses the hypothesis that short/deprived sleep is linked to weight gain and obesity in young adults. A hypothesis plays an essential in the research study acting as a guide for the study defining the population target for the study and the statements about the population to be explored. From the findings of the study, the significance level of the hypothesis is established that is, whether deprived sleep is associated with obesity among the young adults or not. Examining the research study, the researchers used the research question; is short or deprived sleep associated with obesity among the young adults? This is a reflection of the test hypothesis structured in question form to showcase the goal of the study. The disproves eating and minimal activity as the major causes of obesity among young adults, a null hypothesis that showcases the psychological risk factors for obesity.
In contrary to the null hypothesis, the researchers peg their study on the alternative hypothesis that the brain and psychological influences may be a great causing of obesity among the teens. Based on a community setting, the article showcases the use of data from 496 young adults who were engaged in a 13 years study when they were at the ages of 27, 29, 34, and 40 years. Using semi-structured interviews, the researchers collected data on the association between sleep, eating habits and energy expenditure that is how deprived sleep increased the risks of one becoming obese or gaining weight. This data entailed the number of hours slept, food consumed and the number of the participants diagnosed with obesity within the period. These were the statistics used to establish the findings of the study.
The study used 0.05 as the significant level for the study showing a higher probability of rejecting the null hypothesis of the study. Calculating the association between sleep and obesity, the research study reported a ratio of 7.4, a 95% confidence interval that is 1.3-43.1 on the participants being at the age of 27 years old. At this age, the study established that the sleep habits were negatively related to the participant’s body mass index (BMI). On a standard rating scale, the young adults with short sleep duration were reported to have high food intake. That is "7-hour sleep (3.9 ± 0.7 versus 1.7 ± 0.3; P = 0.020) or 4.5 h sleep (2.2 ± 0.5; P = 0.08)”. Calculating the collected data on their reaching to the age of 34, the ratio and the rates had greatly diminished on a trend of P (0.08), a negative association between the sleep duration and body weight.
The study concluded that as the sleep duration was negatively associated with obesity that is that as the sleeping duration decreased, the probability of obesity increased. This is a great rejection of the null hypothesis with the young adults being highly exposed to obesity following deprived sleep. Acknowledging sleep duration as a risk factor, the study, thereby, concludes that the research findings could play a great role in psychologically grooming the patients and the young adults against obesity that is becoming a great health risk.
References
Hasler, H. et al., 2004. The association between short sleep duration and obesity in young adults: a 13-year prospective study. Journal of Sleep Disorders, 27(4), pp. 661-666.
