Search

Objective: To document the prevalence of overweight, obesity and thinness in 9-10 year old children in Mauritius.Methods: 412 boys and 429 girls aged 9-10 years from 23 primary schools were selected using stratified cluster random sampling. All data was cross-sectional and collected via anthropometry and self-administeredquestionnaire. Outcome measures were BMI (kg/m2), prevalence of overweight, obesity (International Obesity Task Force definitions) and thinness (low BMI for age). Linear and logistic regression analyses, accounting for clustering at the school level, were used to assess associations between gender, ethnicity, school location, and school's academic performance (average) to each outcome measure.Results: The distribution of BMI was marginally skewed with a more pronounced positive tail in the girls. Median BMI was 15.6 kg/m2 in boys and 15.4 kg/m2 in girls, respectively. In boys, prevalence of overweight was 15.8% (95%CI: 12.6, 19.6), prevalence of obesity 4.9% (95% CI: 3.2, 7.4) and prevalence of thinness 12.4% (95% CI: 9.5, 15.9).Among girls, 18.9% (95% CI: 15.5, 22.9) were overweight, 5.1% (95% CI: 3.4, 7.7) were obese and 13.1% (95% CI: 10.2,16.6) were thin. Urban children had a slightly higher mean BMI than rural children (0.5 kg/m2, 95% CI: 0.01, 1.00)and were nearly twice as likely to be obese (6.7% vs. 4.0%; adjusted odds ratio 1.6; 95% CI: 0.9, 3.5). Creole children were less likely to be classified as thin compared to Indian children (adjusted odds ratio 0.3, 95% CI: 0.2, 0.6).Conclusion: Mauritius is currently in the midst of nutritional transition with both a high prevalence of overweight and thinness in children aged 9-10 years. The coexistence of children representing opposite sides of the energy balance equation presents a unique challenge for policy and interventions. Further exploration is needed to understand the specific causes of the double burden of malnutrition and to make appropriate policyrecommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The influence of the family and home environment on childhood physical activity (PA) and whether this differs between ethnic groups remains uncertain. This paper investigates associations between family and home factors and childhood PA in a multi-ethnic population and explores whether associations differ between ethnic groups. Methods: Cross-sectional study of 9-10 year-old schoolchildren, in which PA was objectively measured by Actigraph GT1 M accelerometers for ≤ 7 days to estimate average activity counts per minute (CPM). Information on 11 family and home environmental factors were collected from questionnaires. Associations between these factors and CPM were quantified using multi-level linear regression. Interactions with ethnicity were explored using likelihood ratio tests. Results: 2071 children (mean SD age: 9.95 ± 0.38 years; 47.8% male) participated, including 25% white European, 28% black African-Caribbean, 24% South Asian, and 24% other ethnic origin. Family PA support and having a pet were associated with higher average CPM (adjusted mean difference: 6 (95%CI:1,10) and 13 (95%CI:3,23), respectively) while car ownership and having internet access at home were associated with lower average CPM (adjusted mean difference: -19 (95%CI:-30,-8) and -10 (95%CI:-19,0), respectively). These associations did not differ by ethnicity. Although the number of siblings showed no overall association with PA, there was some evidence of interaction with ethnicity (p for ethnicity interaction = 0.04, 0.05 in a fully-adjusted model); a positive significant association with number of siblings was observed in white Europeans (per sibling CPM difference 10.3 (95% CI 1.7, 18.9)) and a positive non-significant association was observed in black African-Caribbeans (per sibling CPM difference: 3.5 (-4.2, 11.2)) while a negative, nonsignificant association was observed in South Asians (per sibling CPM difference -6.0 (-15.5, 3.4)). Conclusions: Some family and home environmental factors have modest associations with childhood PA and these are mostly similar across different ethnic groups. This suggests that targeting these factors in an intervention to promote PA would be relevant for children in different ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The use of self-report questionnaires to substitute for visual acuity measurement has been limited. We examined the association between visual impairment and self reported visual function in a population sample of older people in the UK. Methods: Cross sectional study of people aged more than 75 years who initially participated in a trial of health screening. The association between 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ) scores and visual impairment (defined as an acuity of less than 6/18 in the better eye) was examined using logistic regression. Results: Visual acuity and NEI-VFQ scores were obtained from 1807 participants (aged 77 to 101 years, 36% male), from 20 general practices throughout the UK. After adjustment for age, gender, practice and NEI-VFQ sub-scale scores, those complaining of poor vision in general were 4.77 times (95% CI 3.03 to 7.53) more likely to be visually impaired compared to those who did not report difficulty. Self-reported limitations with social functioning and dependency on others due to poor vision were also associated with visual impairment (odds ratios, 2.52, 95% CI 1.55 to 4.11; 1.73, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.86 respectively). Those reporting difficulties with near vision and colour vision were more likely to be visually impaired (odds ratios, 2.32, 95% CI 1.30 to 4.15; 2.25, 95% CI 1.35 to 3.73 respectively). Other NEI-VFQ sub-scale scores were unrelated to measures of acuity. Similar but weaker odds ratios were found with reduced visual acuity (defined as less than 6/12 in the better eye). Although differences in NEI-VFQ scores were small, scores were strongly associated with visual acuity, binocular status, and difference in acuity between eyes. Conclusion: NEI-VFQ questions regarding the quality of general vision, social functioning, visual dependency, near vision and colour vision are strongly and independently associated with an objective measure of visual impairment in an elderly population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To document the prevalence of overweight, obesity and thinness in 9-10 year old children in Mauritius.Methods: 412 boys and 429 girls aged 9-10 years from 23 primary schools were selected using stratified cluster random sampling. All data was cross-sectional and collected via anthropometry and self-administered questionnaire. Outcome measures were BMI (kg/m2), prevalence of overweight, obesity (International Obesity Task Force definitions) and thinness (low BMI for age). Linear and logistic regression analyses, accounting for clustering at the school level, were used to assess associations between gender, ethnicity, school location, and school's academic performance (average) to each outcome measure.Results: The distribution of BMI was marginally skewed with a more pronounced positive tail in the girls. Median BMI was 15.6 kg/m2 in boys and 15.4 kg/m2 in girls, respectively. In boys, prevalence of overweight was 15.8% (95% CI: 12.6, 19.6), prevalence of obesity 4.9% (95% CI: 3.2, 7.4) and prevalence of thinness 12.4% (95% CI: 9.5, 15.9). Among girls, 18.9% (95% CI: 15.5, 22.9) were overweight, 5.1% (95% CI: 3.4, 7.7) were obese and 13.1% (95% CI: 10.2, 16.6) were thin. Urban children had a slightly higher mean BMI than rural children (0.5 kg/m2, 95% CI: 0.01, 1.00) and were nearly twice as likely to be obese (6.7% vs. 4.0%; adjusted odds ratio 1.6; 95% CI: 0.9, 3.5). Creole children were less likely to be classified as thin compared to Indian children (adjusted odds ratio 0.3, 95% CI: 0.2, 0.6).Conclusion: Mauritius is currently in the midst of nutritional transition with both a high prevalence of overweight and thinness in children aged 9-10 years. The coexistence of children representing opposite sides of the energy balance equation presents a unique challenge for policy and interventions. Further exploration is needed to understand the specific causes of the double burden of malnutrition and to make appropriate policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Higher exposure to outdoor air pollution is associated with increased cardiopulmonary deaths, but there is limited evidence about the association between outdoor air pollution and diagnosed cardiovascular disease. Our study aimed to estimate the size of the association between long term exposure to outdoor air pollution and prevalent cardiovascular disease., Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional analysis of data on more than 19,000 white adults aged 45 and older who participated in three representative surveys of the English population in 1994, 1998 and 2003, examining the relationship between self-reported doctor-diagnosed cardiovascular disease and exposure to outdoor air pollutants using multilevel regression techniques and meta-analysis., Results: The combined estimates suggested that an increase of 1 microg m-3 in concentration of particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter was associated with an increase of 2.9% (95% CI -0.6% to 6.5%) in prevalence of cardiovascular disease in men, and an increase of 1.6% (95%CI -2.1% to 5.5%) in women. The year-specific analyses showed strongly positive associations in 2003 between odds of cardiovascular disease in both men and women and exposure to particulate matter but not in 1994 or 1998. We found no consistent associations between exposure to gaseous air pollutants and doctor-diagnosed cardiovascular disease., Conclusion: The associations of prevalent cardiovascular disease with concentration of particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter, while only weakly positive, were consistent with the effects reported in cohort studies. The results provide evidence of the size of the association between particulate air pollution and the prevalence of cardiovascular disease but no evidence for an association with gaseous pollutants. We found strongly positive associations between particulate matter and cardiovascular disease in 2003 only, which highlights the importance of replicating findings in more than one population.