International journal of epidemiology
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Comparative Study
Longitudinal study of Plasmodium falciparum infection and immune responses in infants with or without the sickle cell trait.
Individuals may be homozygous (SS) or heterozygous (AS) sickle cell gene carriers or have normal adult haemoglobin (AA). Haemoglobin S could have a protective role against malaria but evidence is sparse and the operating mechanisms are poorly known. ⋯ Sickle cell trait related antimalarial protection varies with age. The role of the modifications of the specific immune response to P. falciparum in explaining the protection of AS children against malaria is discussed.
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Clinical Trial
Predictors and impact of losses to follow-up in an HIV-1 perinatal transmission cohort in Malawi.
Large simple trials which aim to study therapeutic interventions and epidemiological associations of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, including perinatal transmission, in Africa may have substantial rates of loss to follow-up. A better understanding of the characteristics and the impact of women and children lost to follow-up is needed. ⋯ Several predictors of loss to follow-up were identified in this large HIV perinatal cohort. Losses to follow-up can impact the observed transmission rate and the risk associations in different studies.
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Comparative Study
The effect of water fluoridation and social inequalities on dental caries in 5-year-old children.
Many studies have shown that water fluoridation dramatically reduces dental caries, but the effect that water fluoridation has upon reducing dental health inequalities is less clear. The aim of this study is to describe the effect that water fluoridation has upon the association between material deprivation and dental caries experience in 5-year-old children. ⋯ Water fluoridation reduces dental caries experience more in materially deprived wards than in affluent wards and the introduction of water fluoridation would substantially reduce inequalities in dental health.
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Total body fatness and a centripetal fat patterning are recognized as risk indicators of cardiovascular disease in adulthood. In this study, the development of these risk factors in rural South African children during the preschool years and first years of formal schooling is explored. ⋯ Few Ellisras rural children had above normal values for BMI, indicating a low prevalence of obesity in this population. In the 3- and 4-year-old group more subjects were found to have excessive fat, as indicated by the sum of the triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknesses.
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Although the recent decline in child mortality in Bangladesh is remarkable, death from causes other than infectious diseases and malnutrition remains an important component of child mortality. Death from drowning of children can be expected to be a problem in Bangladesh given the geographical features of the country. ⋯ A substantial proportion of child deaths could be averted if parents and other close relatives paid more attention to the safety of children. The Child Health Programme of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Bangladesh should develop health education programmes for villagers alerting them to the dangers of drowning and measures to prevent it.