Factors influencing the quality of life of 104 children with phenylketonuria in Anhui Province, China / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the factors influencing the quality of life (QOL) of children with phenylketonuria (PKU) in Anhui Province, China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 104 PKU children who were diagnosed and treated in three major maternal and child health hospitals in Anhui Province were enrolled as study subjects. The PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales were used to evaluate the quality of life of these children. The multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the factors influencing the QOL.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The 104 PKU children had significantly lower overall QOL score and scores on the subscales of physiological functioning, emotional functioning, and social functioning than the general school-age children (P<0.01). They also had a significantly lower score on the physiological domain consisting of emotional functioning, social functioning, and role functioning than the general school-age children (P<0.01). The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that an older age (≥4 years) of PKU children was the risk factor for poor QOL (OR=8.569, P<0.01), and guardians' engagement at enterprises or institutions was the protective factor for QOL (OR=0.206, P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>PKU children have a low level of QOL, and age and guardians' occupation are factors influencing the QOL.</p>

Factors related to HIV-associated lipodystrophy among patients on antiretroviral therapy / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To describe the distribution and related risk factors of lipodystrophy (LD) among AIDS patients treated with antiretroviral drugs.Methods A cross-sectional study was performed on 261 AIDS patients treated with antiretroviral drugs.All the subjects were followed in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of two counties in northern Anhui province from May 25 to 30,2012.Data related to demography,physical examination,history of antiretroviral treatment,HIV plasma viral load,and CD4 +T cell count were collected.Clinical examination was based on an assessment of changes in face,legs,arms,buttocks (peripheral sites),back,chest,neck or abdomen or change in waist size (central sites) as quoted by the clinicians.Results LD was observed in 147 (56.3％) patients.The differences of age,gender,quality of sleep,weight and time of treatment between LD and non-lipodystrophy (NLD) groups were statistically significant (P＜0.05).Results from the Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of women suffering from LD was 1.894 times ofthd males (95％CI:1.075-3.338).The risk of those with LD showed an 1.448-fold increase regarding the time of treatment for each additional year (95％CI:1.267-1.654).Patients with poor quality of sleep were prone to LD with 11.901 times more than those with good quality of sleep (95％CI:2.701-52.441).Conclusion LD was commonly observed in AIDS patients who were under antiretroviral therapy.Gender,tine of treatment and the quality of sleep appeared the main factors related to the results of observation.

A retrospective cohort study on reduction of AIDS mortality among patients enrolled in national-free antiretroviral treatment programme in two cities in China / 中华预防医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To determine the effect of national free highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) on reduction of mortality and relevant risk factors among adult Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A retrospective cohort study was conducted and all AIDS patients diagnosed before Aug. 30th, 2008 in Zhumadian, Henan province, and Fuyang, Anhui province were enrolled in this study, where HAART initiated in early time. The data and information were collected such as AIDS progress, diagnosis, treatment, death and et al.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among 10,394 AIDS patients, the mean age was (41.7 +/- 9.3) year-old, 50.3% (5233/10,394) were male, 85.0% (8808/10,394) were married, 95.1% (9880/10,394) were farmers, and 81.2% (8438/10,394) were former plasma donors (FPDs). The coverage of HAART increased from 5.2% in 2002 to 66.5% in 2008. Conversely, the overall mortality declined from 35.4/100 person-years in 2002 to 5.9/100 person-years in 2008. In a multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis, the greatest risk factor for mortality was non-HAART, with a hazard ratio (HR) 4.3 (95%CI: 4.0 - 4.7). Among treated patients, compared with higher CD(4)(+) T cell counts (> 200 cells/microl), those initiating therapy with lower CD(4)(+) T cell counts, were at greater risk to death (< 50 cells/microl, HR = 7.9; 50 - 199 cells/microl, HR = 2.8). Number of opportunistic infections (OIs) was risk to mortality (HR = 2.1). In addition, other risk factors included male, age (>or= 50 years old), and other infection way except FPDs (HR were 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The national free treatment program has significantly reduced the AIDS mortality rate among HIV-infected FPDs through the use of generic antiretroviral drugs in rural clinical settings. The effective reduction of AIDS mortality could be realized through increased coverage of therapy.</p>

The association between lower incisal inclination and morphology of the supporting alveolar bone--a cone-beam CT study / 国际口腔科学杂志·英文版

<p><b>AIM</b>To investigate the relationship between the positioning of the lower central incisor and physical morphology of the surrounding alveolar bone.</p><p><b>METHODOLOGY</b>Thirty-eight patients (18 males, 20 females), with mean age of 13.4 years, were included in this study. As part of orthodontic treatment planning the patients were required to take dental Cone-beam CT (CBCT) covering the region of lower incisors, the surrounding alveolar bone and the mandibular symphysis. The cephalometric parameters were designed and measured to indicate the inclination of lower central incisor and physical morphology of the adjacent alveolar bone. Computer-aided descriptive statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 15.0 software package for Windows. A correlation analysis and a linear regression analysis between the incisor inclination and the alveolar bone morphology were performed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Significant positive correlations were found between the lower central incisor inclination and the morphological contour of the alveolar bone (P < 0.05). The lower central incisor root apex was closer to the lingual alveolar crest when it was buccally inclined.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The morphology of the alveolar bone may be affected by incisal inclination.</p>

Differences in serum retinol level between the breastfed and non-breastfed children aged 0 to 23 months / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Some recent studies found that high prevalence of vitamin A deficiency in the breastfed children. This study aimed to understand the differences in serum retinol level between breastfed and bottle-fed children aged 0 to 23 months and the possible causes of low level of serum retinol for the breastfed children.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Data for children aged 0 to 23 months were extracted from a population-based cross sectional study for vitamin A nutrition status. Fluorescence method was used to measure the serum retinol. Mothers or caregivers were asked to answer a pre-designed questionnaire and socioeconomic status, peri-natal care, breastfeeding status, morbidity histories and other related factors were collected. Semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used to investigate the child's dietary intake one week prior to the survey. Data were analyzed using SAS 8.1.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of 401 children aged 0 to 23 months, the breastfeeding rate was 50.37%. The means of the serum retinol level between bottle-fed (30.67 +/- 0.57) microg/dl and the breastfed children (27.60 +/- 0.56) microg/dl was significantly different (P < 0.01). The corresponding figures were (31.82 +/- 0.98) microg/dl and (29.46 +/- 0.96) microg/dl after adjustment for confounders, which also showed significant difference (P < 0.01). After stratified by age groups, the breastfeeding rates in the 0-, 6-, 12- and 18-months groups were 92.1%, 70.1%, 32.0% and 17.1%, respectively. We calculated the difference in means of the serum retinol level between the bottle-fed and breastfed children for each of four age groups, and the 95% confidence limits of the differences. The differences in means and the 95% confidence limits for 0-, 6-, 12- and 18-months group were 4.70 microg/dl (-2.52-1.92), 0.82 microg/dl (-2.32-3.95), 2.95 microg/dl (-0.68-6.58) and 6.05 microg/dl (2.34-9.77), respectively. After adjustment for confounders and covariates, the adjusted figures were 0.00 microg/dl (-7.18-7.19), 1.35 microg/dl (-1.76-4.45), 2.92 microg/dl (-0.82-6.65) and 4.26 microg/dl (0.71-7.81), respectively. The significant difference in means of serum retinol level was only found in the 18-months group before or after adjustments (P < 0.01 for both). The Cochrane-Atmitage chi square trend test showed that the breastfed children tended to have lower frequencies of complementary dietary intakes than that of the bottle-fed aged 12 months and above.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The breastfed children aged 0 to 23 months had relative low serum retinol level while compared with the bottle-fed. However, the significant differences seemed to be only confined to those aged 18 months and above. Low level of vitamin A in breast milk and low frequent complimentary food supplements might have served as the potential for the differences.</p>