Impact of a Nutrition Intervention Program on the Growth and Nutritional Status of Nicaraguan Adolescent Girls

This research examines the impact of a nutrition education intervention program on the nutritional status and knowledge of Nicaraguan adolescent girls. Anthropometric measurements, hemoglobin values, and data concerning nutritional knowledge were collected from adolescent girls living in Managua, Nicaragua. Using a pre-test/post-test design, data are compared prior to and after the nutrition intervention program. When using Mexican American reference data, statistically significant differences in height-for-age z-scores and weight-for-age z-scores were found when comparing the entire sample of baseline data with data collected after three years of the nutrition intervention program (p<0.05). Significant improvement was also found concerning the indicators of nutritional knowledge (p<0.05). However, hemoglobin data revealed a significant decrease which may be due to specific environmental factors and pubertal changes. This research has implications concerning the development of successful adolescent focused nutrition intervention programs in Nicaragua, and examines the possibility that catch-up growth occurs during adolescence

Conceitos de anemia entre mulheres nicaragüenses de baixa renda

Anemia is a common health problem among women throughout the world, however, there has been minimal research on women's concepts of anemia. The purpose of this study was to examine concepts of anemia in low income Nicaraguan women. A qualitative design was used. Audio-taped open-ended interviews in Spanish with 14 women were used to obtain data. Tapes were transcribed and content analyzed. The findings indicate that few of the women had biomedically accurate concepts of anemia, such as that it was due to lack of iron from poor eating. Others held folk medical beliefs including home remedies, for example drinking the milk of a mare or beet juice and eating certain foods such as bean soup. Most of the women did not know any symptoms of anemia and a few reported that it can develop into leukemia. These concepts of anemia are instructive for nurses working with patients from Nicaragua and will be useful in developing nursing interventions to alleviate this public health problem.La anemia es un problema de salud común entre las mujeres alrededor del mundo, sin embargo, se han realizado pocas investigaciones sobre los conceptos de anemia entre las mujeres. El propósito de este estudio fue examinar los conceptos de anemia en mujeres Nicaragüenses de bajos ingresos económicos. La investigación fue de orden cualitativa. Para la recolección de datos, se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas, grabadas en castellano, con 14 mujeres. Las cintas grabadas fueron transcritas y se realizó un análisis de contenido. Los resultados indican que pocas mujeres poseen conocimientos biomédicos sobre anemia, por ejemplo, la ingestión de alimentos pobres en hierro. Otras expresaron creencias populares, como remedios caseros, ingestión de leche de yegua o jugo de remolacha y ciertos alimentos como sopa de judías. La mayoría de las mujeres no conocía ningún síntoma de anemia y pocas relataron que creían que esta enfermedad podría transformarse en leucemia. Estos conceptos de anemia son instructivos para las enfermeras que trabajan con pacientes en Nicaragua y será de mucha utilidad para desarrollar intervenciones de enfermería para aliviar este problema de salud pública.A anemia e um problema de saúde comum entre as mulheres de todo a mundo inteiro, mas tem havido um mínimo de investigação sobre os conceitos de anemia entre as mulheres. O objetivo deste estudo foi o de analisar os conceitos de anemia em mulheres nicaragüenses com baixos rendimentos. Foi utilizado um desenho qualitativo. Para a coleta de dados, entrevistas semi-estruturadas foram conduzidas, áudio gravadas em espanhol para 14 mulheres. As fitas foram transcritas e tornou-se uma análise conteúdo. Os resultados indicam que poucas mulheres possuem conhecimento biomédico preciso sobre anemia, tal como ingestão de alimentos pobre em ferro. Outras mantiveram outras crenças populares incluindo remédios caseiros, ingestão de leite de égua ou suco de beterraba e certos alimentos como sopa de feijão. A maioria das mulheres não conhecia nenhum sintoma de anemia e poucas relataram que pode progredir para leucemia. Estes conceitos de anemia são esclarecedores para os enfermeiros que trabalham com doentes na Nicarágua e que será muito útil para desenvolver intervenções de enfermagem para minorar o problema de saúde pública

Using family-based experiential learning to improve nutrition knowledge, dietary intake, physical activity, and food purchasing behaviors among Northern Virginia Latina WIC participants and their children: A pilot study

Objective: To examine the impact of a family-based nutrition education program on nutrition knowledge, diet, physical activity, and food purchasing behaviors of Latina mothers and children participating in Northern Virginia Women, Infant, Children (WIC) programs. Methods: Surveys were administered to mothers (n=15) using a pre-test/post-test design. The family-based nutrition intervention included 1) Discussion and lecture on food labels, food purchasing, portion sizes, and healthy meals, 2) Experiential learning focused on preparation and storage of low-cost, healthy meals incorporating WIC foods, and 3) A Zumba class and discussion on physical activity. Results: The data revealed improved diet such that mothers reported increased fruit and vegetable consumption, decreased juice consumption among their children. Mothers reported their children were more physically active. Further, mothers prepared more meals at home using raw ingredients. Conclusions: The findings are significant in that they support growing literature of the success of family based interventions. Further, these data show the importance of integrating experiential learning activities such as cooking and physical activity with the more traditional didactic methods. This research was supported the Virginia Department of Health and the HRSA funded Virginia Commonwealth Public Health Training Center

Drug Adverse Event Detection in Health Plan Data Using the Gamma Poisson Shrinker and Comparison to the Tree-based Scan Statistic

Background: Drug adverse event (AE) signal detection using the Gamma Poisson Shrinker (GPS) is commonly applied in spontaneous reporting. AE signal detection using large observational health plan databases can expand medication safety surveillance. Methods: Using data from nine health plans, we conducted a pilot study to evaluate the implementation and findings of the GPS approach for two antifungal drugs, terbinafine and itraconazole, and two diabetes drugs, pioglitazone and rosiglitazone. We evaluated 1676 diagnosis codes grouped into 183 different clinical concepts and four levels of granularity. Several signaling thresholds were assessed. GPS results were compared to findings from a companion study using the identical analytic dataset but an alternative statistical method—the tree-based scan statistic (TreeScan). Results: We identified 71 statistical signals across two signaling thresholds and two methods, including closely-related signals of overlapping diagnosis definitions. Initial review found that most signals represented known adverse drug reactions or confounding. About 31% of signals met the highest signaling threshold. Conclusions: The GPS method was successfully applied to observational health plan data in a distributed data environment as a drug safety data mining method. There was substantial concordance between the GPS and TreeScan approaches. Key method implementation decisions relate to defining exposures and outcomes and informed choice of signaling thresholds

Examining sociodemographic correlates of opioid use, misuse, and use disorders in the All of Us Research Program

BACKGROUND: The All of Us Research Program enrolls diverse US participants which provide a unique opportunity to better understand the problem of opioid use. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of opioid use and its association with sociodemographic characteristics from survey data and electronic health record (EHR). METHODS: A total of 214,206 participants were included in this study who competed survey modules and shared EHR data. Adjusted logistic regressions were used to explore the associations between sociodemographic characteristics and opioid use. RESULTS: The lifetime prevalence of street opioids was 4%, and the nonmedical use of prescription opioids was 9%. Men had higher odds of lifetime opioid use (aOR: 1.4 to 3.1) but reduced odds of current nonmedical use of prescription opioids (aOR: 0.6). Participants from other racial and ethnic groups were at reduced odds of lifetime use (aOR: 0.2 to 0.9) but increased odds of current use (aOR: 1.9 to 9.9) compared with non-Hispanic White participants. Foreign-born participants were at reduced risks of opioid use and diagnosed with opioid use disorders (OUD) compared with US-born participants (aOR: 0.36 to 0.67). Men, Younger, White, and US-born participants are more likely to have OUD. CONCLUSIONS: All of Us research data can be used as an indicator of national trends for monitoring the prevalence of receiving prescription opioids, diagnosis of OUD, and non-medical use of opioids in the US. The program employs a longitudinal design for routinely collecting health-related data including EHR data, that will contribute to the literature by providing important clinical information related to opioids over time. Additionally, this data will enhance the estimates of the prevalence of OUD among diverse populations, including groups that are underrepresented in the national survey data

An Examination of Late Childhood and Adolescent Growth from Three Communities of Differing Socio-economic Statuses

Program year: 1990/1991Digitized from print original stored in HDRPeople in developing countries have nutritional deficiencies for many reasons. These reasons may be and often are complex and difficult to label. Still, they can be put into perspective by studies that compare various factors of human growth. Growth statistics of children from three different communities in Mali, collected by Dr. Katherine Dettwyler in 1989 and by Dr. Barbara Cashion in 1976, were studied. The children's ages ranged between eight and sixteen. The data come from three types of locations: a rural village in southern Mali, a lower socio-economic status peri-urban community, and an upper socio-economic status urban community. Studies by Dettwyler in the peri-urban community, from 1981 to 1983, revealed delayed growth during the first three years of life. To determine if these growth deficits were permanent, data was collected from older children in 1989 in the peri-urban community. Growth data from these children were examined to see if their poor nutrition and growth recovered during late childhood and adolescence. These data were then compared to growth data collected by Cashion from the rural and upper socio-economic urban communities. Catch up growth occurred for the peri-urban and urban communities but it did not meet its full potential. The children from the rural community, however, showed very little recovery

Self-Care Instruments to Measure Nutrition Practices in Children and Parents: Psychometric Analysis

The purposes of this study were to evaluate the psychometric properties of English and Spanish instruments that measure the nutrition behavior and practices of children and their parents. Orem’s self-care deficit nursing theory was used in this methodological study. A convenience sample of 333 children and 262 mothers participated from two schools in Washington, D.C. and two schools in Santiago, Chile. Principal component analysis indicated three component per instrument corresponding to Orem’s Theory of operations demonstrating construct validity of the instrument. The study findings showed evidence for validity and reliability of the English and Spanish versions and indicated that the instruments appropriately represented Orem’s operations. The results have implications for the development of health behavior measurement instruments that are valid, reliable, designed for children, culturally appropriate, and efficient. Measuring the nutrition behavior of children and parents is critical for determining the effectiveness of nutrition intervention programs. Furthermore, instruments are needed so that researchers can compare corresponding child and parent behaviors or compare behaviors across cultures

EXAMINATION OF URINARY IODINE STATUS FROM A SAMPLE OF MALIAN ADOLESCENT GIRLS EXAMEN DU NIVEAU D&apos;IODE URINAIRE A PARTIR D&apos;UN ECHANTILLON DE FILLES ADOLESCENTES MALIENNES

ABSTRACT Iodine deficiency disorders are common throughout the developing world, yet they are considered one of the most preventable causes of mental retardation. Iodine deficiency has tremendous consequences on women and girls and can not only impair a woman&apos;s reproductive health, but it also has serious consequences for a growing fetus. In pregnant women, this deficiency can lead to congenital hypothyroidism in newborn infants. Congenital hypothyroidism is a disorder associated with a low IQ, deaf mutism, and neurological problems. Many studies have revealed that iodine deficiency is common throughout West Africa. While several of these studies have investigated the prevalence of iodine deficiency among women in West Africa, few have examined the problem among adolescent girls. Thus this study aimed to quantify iodine levels in a representative sample of adolescent girls aged 10 to 15 years from the Segou Region of Mali, West Africa. Casual urine samples were collected, and urinary iodine excretion was analyzed using the Sandell-Kolthoff reaction. Clinical signs of iodine deficiency, the presence or absence of goiters, were noted and ethnographic interviews were conducted to examine dietary behaviors. Mean urinary iodine excretion was 9.3 µg iodine/dl (95% CI 7.6-10.9). Forty girls were iodine deficient (66.6%, 95% CI 53.3-78.3) of whom 19 (31.7% CI 20.3-45.0) showed moderate or severe deficiency. These results show that the majority of these Malian adolescent girls are at a mild to moderate risk for iodine deficiency, however no statistically significant differences were found between girls from the urban and rural communities. These findings suggest that not only can iodine deficiency affect the individual health of these girls, but iodine deficiency can have many ramifications concerning the socioeconomic status of their communities. Because adolescent girls are still growing and preparing to have children, these findings have major implications for their health and the health for their future children. These results provide one of the first analyses concerning iodine deficiency among adolescent girls in Mali. Key words -Iodine deficiency, Mali, nutrition, adolescent girls [French] RESUME Contexte : Les troubles dus à la carence en iode sont courants dans le Tiers-monde. Chez les femmes, cette carence peut conduire à un hypothyroïdisme congénital avec des troubles de croissance chez les nouveaux-nés, associés à un bas Q I et une surdité et aphonie. But : Cette étude avait pour but d&apos;évaluer de façon quantitative, le niveau d&apos;iode dans un échantillon représentatif de filles âgées de 10 à 15 ans au Mali (Afrique de l&apos;ouest). Méthode : Des échantillons d&apos;iode ont été collectés dans la région de Ségou au Mali et l&apos;iode contenu dans l&apos;urine a été analysé en employant le réactif Sandell-Kolthoff. La présence ou absence de goitre ont été notée et des enquêtes ethnographiques conduites pour examiner leurs habitudes alimentaires. Résultats: le taux moyen d&apos;iode retrouvé dans les urine étaient de 9,3mg iode /dl (95% IC 7.6 -10, 9 ) quarante filles avaient manifesté une déficience en iode (66,6% , 95% IC 53,3-78,3) parmi lesquels dix neuf (31,7% IC 20,3 -45.0) ont manifesté une carence modérée ou sévère. Discussion: Ces résultats démontrent que la majorité de ces adolescentes maliennes courent un risque plus ou moins grand de carence en iode. Ces résultats fournissent l&apos;une des premières analyses concernant la carence en iode chez les adolescentes du Mali. Etant donné que les adolescentes sont en pleine croissance et en âge de procréer, ces découvertes ont des implications majeures pour leur santé et celle de leur futurs enfants

Clinical Nutrition 2017: Understanding obesity among women in Erbil, the autonomous region of Kurdistan, Iraq using nutritional indicators and geographic data- Lisa Pawloski- George Mason University

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