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Abstract: Background: The dietary patterns are becoming a major public health concern. The current data from various studies in Zimbabwe shows that there was an increase in the prevalence of obesity among secondary school adolescents in Harare. There is a link between eating habits and obesity. This study was conducted to explore the factors influencing dietary practices among adolescents in Zimbabwean schools. Methods: A school based analytic cross sectional study was conducted with 283 pupils aged 13-19 years. Systematic random sampling was used. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaire based on the ecological framework. The aim of the study was to identify the relationship between dietary patterns and occurrence of obesity. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify the relationship between dietary patterns and obesity. Findings: The prevalence of obesity was 11.4%. Females were 6.79 (95% CI: 2.17-21.22 p=0.001) more likely to be obese. Consumption of sugar and sweetened beverages were associated with occurrence of obesity; beverages (AOR=3.62, 95%CI=1.99-10.91 p=0.025); eating of snacks in between meals (AOR=2.40, 95%CI=1.03-5.64 p=0.004); so was being located in high density suburb (0R=0.45, 95CI=0.21-0.99 p=0.023); consuming burgers (OR=4.41, CI=1.54-12.64 p=0.006); being a pupil in lower adolescent with age less than 16 (OR=1.99 95%CI=0.99-4.27 p=0.038). Consuming a special diet that is recommended or as a choice was protective from obesity though this was not statistically significant. Not removing visible fat from meat was a risk factor for developing obesity. Eating the traditional maize meal staple food, sadza was protective to being obese (OR=0.3514, 0.16-0.78) Conclusions: The study showed that obesity is a cause for concern among school children as seen by 11.4% prevalence. Choice of meals is done by parents, eating a home cooked meal such as sadza, participating in meal planning was found to be reinforcing factors. There is need to create awareness on students, parents, teachers and the wider community to increase the adoption of healthy dietary practice among school children. Keywords: Dietary patterns, obesity, determinants, secondary school adolescents, ecological model. |
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Abstract: Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends optimal feeding practices during infancy and early childhood for better health and growth of children. Objective: To determine the factors affecting exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) duration and the time of introducing complementary feeding (CF) in Mecca City, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 814 Saudi mothers. All mothers filled out a closed questionnaire on family sociodemographics, health status of mothers and infants, and postpartum breastfeeding habits and patterns. The patterns of CF and bottle-feeding were examined, and binary logistic regression was performed. Results: The mean ± standard deviation EBF duration was 4.6 ± 2.5 months. The EBF rate showed a sharp decrease from 50.6% at birth to 14.4% at 6 months among children. Employment of mothers, weight at childbirth <2.5 kg, weight of 2.6–3 kg at child birth, postnatal disease in infants, and pacifier use for infants were associated with a low EBF rate. Intermediate education of the mother was found to increase EBF duration as compared to mothers with higher levels of education. Most mothers introduced plant-based CFs to infants at 4 months of age (median), but animal-based CFs were introduced only after 8 months (median). The median age of starting milk formula was 3 months. Conclusion and Recommendation: The reported rate of EBF is far below the current international recommendations. The patterns of CF practices and bottle-feeding differ widely from the WHO recommendations in Mecca City. National campaigns should be implemented to promote EBF in Saudi Arabia. Keywords: Bottle-feeding, Complementary feeding, Exclusive breastfeeding, Mecca, Saudi Arabia. |
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Abstract: Background: It is well established that improving human health has direct obvious payoff on enhancing life expectancy along with economic growth. Infant mortality deliberately used to understand a countries overall public health status particularly child bearing mothers. But the prevalence of child mortality continues to be a prime public health concerns in Bangladesh. This study aims to investigate the impact of some geospatial, socioeconomic, demographic and health factors on infant mortality in Bangladesh. Keywords: Determinants, Socio-economic variables, Infant mortality, 0-11 months, Bangladesh. |
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Abstract: Neonatal mortality remains high in Nepal. Improvement in immediate essential newborn care practices such as "use of clean instrument to cut the umbilical cord ”, "drying and wrapping the baby before placenta was delivered”, "initiation of breastfeeding within an hour of delivery" and "first bathing of neonate after 24 hours of delivery" can reduce neonatal deaths. However, this can only be accomplished if factors associated with reduced neonatal mortality can be identified. A regional study was carried out with 252 randomly selected women having child aged 11 months or younger;of which about 70 percent, 18 percent and 20 percent had received delivery assistance with skilled birth attendant, trained health professional and untrained friend/relatives respectively. Skilled Birth Attendant appeared as the determinant of the use of clean instrument to cut the umbilical cord (OR=164.33), first bathing of neonate after 24 hours of delivery (OR= 5.14) and drying and wrapping the baby before placenta was delivered (OR= 50.75) whereas Trained Health Professionals turned out to be the determinant of the use of clean instrument to cut the umbilical cord (OR=3.81) and first bathing of neonate after 24 hours of delivery (OR=3.14) only (Reference: Untrained relatives/friends). Maternal age (OR= <20:10.59 and 20-30: 6.39; Ref: >30 years) and education (OR=Primary-21.81; Secondary-20.11; Ref-Higher) appeared the determinant of initiation of breastfeeding within an hour of delivery. The time gap between delivery and the mother receiving the baby was also significantly positively associated with initiation of breastfeeding within an hour of delivery. This result indicates the need to increase the coverage of health facilities which can provide SBA, empower women to involve a SBA in delivery and provide newborn care education to women and family members. In order to better understand how to decrease neonatal mortality, further study should focus on understanding why there were better newborn care practices in births assisted by a SBA than THPs. Keywords: Breastfeeding, Delivery Attendant, Health Facility, Hypothermia, Logistic Regression, SBA.Download Full Article |
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Abstract: Background:To determine critical factors associated with severely malnourished children under five this case-control study was conducted. Methods: The data of a total of 433 children aged 0-59 months and admitted to the Hospital Yalgado Ouedraogo, (CHU – YO) between January 31, 2009 to January 31, 2013, were included in the analysis: 72 for the case group and 361 for the control group. Clinical and treatment records were accessed and data were analyzed. Results: For clinical signs, determinants of mortality were diarrhea [OR = 4.6; (95%CI 2.6-8.2], anorexia [OR = 2.7; (95%CI 1.4-5.0] and hepatomegaly [OR = 2.6; (95%CI 1.4-4.8]. For infections, determinants of mortality were pediatric HIV/AIDS [OR = 10.9; (95%CI 5.6-21.5] and digestive illnesses [OR = 5.1 (95%CI 2.8-9.4)]. Regarding the complications of malnutrition, determinants of mortality were severe dehydration [OR = 16.4 (95%CI 8.0-33.5)], skin lesions [OR = 14.3 (95%CI 6.4 -31.9)], heart failure [OR = 6.8 (95%CI 2.5-19.0)] and severe anemia [OR = 3.2(95%CI 1.4-7.1)]. For biochemical indicators, low serum sodium [OR = 0.7(95%CI 0.5-1.0)] and potassium levels [OR = 0.9(95%CI 0.9-1.0)] were the critical factors. In addition the risk of death was associated with low value of MUAC [OR = 0.9 (95% CI 0.8-0.9)]. Conclusions: The risk of death of children with severe acute malnutrition varies according to different factors studied. Keywords: Elementary school student, National School Lunch Program (NSLP), school lunch consumption, food preference, economically disadvantaged student. |
