Study of the effect of maternal malnutrition and antenatal care on pregnancy outcome among women living in squatter areas of Cairo, Egypt

Adequate maternal nutrition and proper antenatal and natal care can prevent unfavorable outcome of pregnancy. The present study aims to assess the quality of antenatal care, to study the prevalence of some maternal nutritional health problems and to study their effect on the outcome of pregnancy among ever-married women in the childbearing period [15-49 years] in some squatter areas of Cairo Governorate. The study examined 1164 ever-married women in the childbearing period. The sample size was calculated according to each indicator required to be measured and according to the prevalence of the studied problems. Six unplanned poor areas of Cairo were chosen randomly. A questionnaire sheet was designed to collect data from ever married women in the childbearing period in the household. It contained information about pregnancy care and pregnancy outcome for the last five years. Weight and height were measured for the entire studied sample and detection of hemoglobin level was done for a subsample of 303 women. The results revealed that the percentage of women who received antenatal care [ANC] in their last pregnancy was 55.6% and the quality of ANC was mostly poor [62.9%] in all squatter areas. Around half of children in squatter areas were born at home [48.2%] and doctors assisted more than half [56.0%] of all deliveries whereas pregnancy or delivery complications were detected in 27.9%. The overall percentage of the unfavorable outcome of pregnancy [abortion, stillbirth and ectopic pregnancy] was 22.5%. The percentage of women who had body mass index [BMI] below 18.5 was 3.4% indicating chronic energy deficiency. There was a high prevalence of severe anemia among non-pregnant [10.5%] and pregnant women [10.3%] and all the studied squatter areas showed high prevalence of moderate anemia among pregnant [76.5%] and non-pregnant [61.5%] women. The study concludes that there are high prevalence of moderate and severe anemia and high percentage of obesity [35.2%], the quality of ANC is mostly poor [62.9%] in all squatter areas and that the significant risk factors affecting unfavorable outcome of pregnancy are: poor quality of ANC, low maternal age and height [

Malnutrition and underlying factors among primary school children in Giza Governorate, Egypt

To assess the prevalence of nutritional deficiency diseases and their underlying factors and to assess nutritional knowledge and behavior of urban and rural primary school children. The study is a cross sectional and analytic study conducted upon 1000 primary school children within the age range 10-13 years from five Governmental Primary Schools in Giza governorate. Three questionnaires were fulfilled including demographic data, past history of illnesses and nutritional knowledge and behavior. Full clinical examination and measurements of weight and height were done to assess height for age [HA] and body mass index [BMI]. Hemoglobin levels in blood and stool analysis were performed for all studied children. In rural areas 64.7% of children had errors of refractions, 93.6% had pallor, 42.7% had gingivitis and 11.2% had grade 1 goiter which were significantly higher than children in urban areas [44.5%, 80.6%, 31.3% and 8.6% respectively] while xerosis and flat nails were insignificantly higher. A high proportion of children were underweight and significantly higher in urban than rural areas [76.9% and 69.4% respectively]. High percentages of parasitic infections were found which were significantly higher in urban than rural areas [5 1.7% and 46.2% respectively]. About one third of children [32.7%] in urban areas suffered from anemia compared to 19.7% in rural areas and more than 50% of them had severe anemia [18.3% and 10.3% respectively]. The majority of faulty feeding habits were significantly higher in rural than urban children. Total nutritional knowledge score was 97.4% in urban and 99.2% in rural areas with insignificant statistical difference between regions. As for the total nutritional behavior, about 3/4 of children in both regions had fair score with significant urban-rural statistical difference [74.8% and 71.1% respectively]. The rural community in Giza Governorate showed a significantly higher prevalence of clinical signs indicative of malnutrition and faulty feeding habits than urban regions while the urban community showed a significantly higher prevalence of underweight, anemia, parasitic infestations and dental carries than rural areas. Both regions had poor total nutritional knowledge scores and fair total nutritional behavior scores. The most significant variables influencing the nutritional knowledge were socioeconomic standard [SES], age and urban residence while for nutritional behavior these factors were age, urban residence, SES and nutritional knowledge. The study recommends that primary school children in rural as well as urban areas should be considered as a priority in the nutrition promotion and education programs with a special address to micronutrient supplementation and fortification and de-worming

Percentiles of blood pressure of Egyptian children and adolescents [3-17 years]

Blood pressure [BP] percentiles for Egyptian children and adolescents provide representative Egyptian BP levels and their use may be essential. The present study aimed to determine and describe levels of systolic blood pressure [SBP] and diastolic blood pressure [DBP] across age and gender of 22,072 healthy children and adolescents to drive reference percentiles for BP of Egyptian children and adolescents. It also aimed to assess the association between age, sex, height and BMI with BP in healthy Egyptian children and adolescents. The study is a cross-sectional one, including 22,072 healthy Egyptian children and adolescents [10997 boys and 11075 girls] at age range of 3 to 17 years from nurseries and private schools in Cairo and Giza Governorates. A questionnaire was designed including: Full medical and family history and full clinical examination and Height, weight and BP measurements for all subjects. The study results revealed that both systolic BPand Diastolic BP were significantly higher in Egyptian children compared to other ethnic groups and that BP is influenced by gender, age and height and body mass index [BMI]. The study recommends development of national strategy to reduce overweight and obesity during childhood

Blood pressure and body composition among Egyptian primary school children [6-11 years]

Many research spot on blood pressure levels during childhood to identify whom truly have high blood pressure reading or at high risk for the development of essential hypertension later in life. It is well known that body size and body composition are the most important risk factors and play a major role in blood pressure level determination. The aim of the present paper was to study the relationship between blood pressure with some anthropometric measurements and body composition [body fat percentage, fat free mass percentage, water percentage] among a sample of Egyptian primary school children of both sexes in Giza Governorate. This is a cross sectional study of 770 Egyptian children 524 boys and 225 girls, aged 6-11 years. Blood pressure [systolic and diastolic], weight, height, skin fold thickness [Triceps, biceps, subscapular and suprailiac] beside waist and hip circumference were measured. Body Mass Index [BMI], waist/hip ratio and sum of skin-fold thickness were calculated. Body composition was determined using bioelectrical impedance. The Egyptian systolic blood pressure were [90.61 - 115.91 mmHg] and the Diastolic Blood pressure [60.2 - 73.51 mmHg]. Blood pressure was age dependant and significantly correlated with weight, height, BMI and sum of skin fold thickness for both sexes. Moreover blood pressure showed highly positive significant correlation with body fat percentage while it was negatively and significantly correlated with fat free mass and Total body water/weight [TB W/Wt] for both sexes. Egyptian children have higher blood pressure levels than other populations. BMI, as well as body fat% were positively correlated with blood pressure. However, Fat Free mass and total body water/weight were negatively correlated with blood pressure. Recommendation: Blood pressure should be measured during childhood period for early exploration of diseased children. Assessment of body composition can be a useful tool for understanding the situation of children at risk of developing hypertension

Upgrading of awareness, attitude and practice of rural females towards some health hazards

The objective of the present study was to assess and upgrade the level of awareness, attitude and practice of village hygiene volunteers [VHVs], rural females belonging to their correspondence villages and trusted by their communities towards certain health topics including sanitary housing, personal hygiene, indoor and outdoor health hazards, water hygiene and pollution, food safety [storage and pollution] and sanitary sewage and waste disposal. This was carried out by building the capacity of 375 VHVs located in Fayoum, Beni-Suif and El-Minia governorates through training with the basic knowledge that facilitates dissemination of what they learn to their communities. The implementation of the training courses resulted in a significant improvement in the majority of environmental topics, especially safe housing properties, sources of water pollution, proper handling of water, food hygiene, personal hygiene, preventing milk and fool transmitted diseases and the proper handling and maintenance of latrines