ABSTRACT
Background: Childhood hypertension is a public health concern because of associated cardio-metabolic morbidities in adulthood. Overweight and obesity are main drivers and predictors of childhood hypertension. There is paucity of studies on waist circumference (WC) and waist-hip ratio (WHR) –measures of central obesity -as predictors of hypertension in children. The study was done to determine if WC and WHR predicts hypertension in children.Study Design:The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study.Place and Duration of Study:Primary schools in Owerri Municipal Local Government Area (LGA), Imo State, Nigeria between September 2017 to April 2018. Methodology:809 school children aged 6-12 years were recruited from three public and six private primary schools using multi-staged sampling method. Their blood pressure (BP), weight, height, hip circumference and WC were measured using standard techniques. The BMI and WHR were then calculated. Central obesity was defined as WC ≥90thpercentile. The data were analyzed with IBM-SPSS 21.Results:The male female ratio was 1:1. The prevalence of pre-hypertension and hypertension were 8.50% and 2.70% respectively. While those of overweight, obesity and centralobesity were 5.10%, 5.90% and 10.10% respectively. WC significantly and positively correlated with systolic blood pressure (SBP) [r = 0.57, p = 0.0001] and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) [r = 0.57, p = 0.0001]. WHR had a negative correlation with SBP and DBP [r = -0.33, p = 0.0001 in both cases]. Central obesity increased the odds of developing systolic and diastolic prehypertension/hypertensionby 9 and 8 folds respectively.Conclusion:Central obesity predicted prehypertension/hypertension in primary school children in this study and therefore can be used as screening tool in programs to prevent childhood obesity and hypertension
ABSTRACT
HIV positive mothers, who choose not to breastfeed their babies in a predominantly breastfeeding community would face a number of barriers. This study looked at the experiences of HIV positive mothers who chose the no breastfeeding option. Consecutive HIV positive mothers who opted not to breastfeed their infants after infant feeding counselling and whose infants were attending the HIV programme at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria were recruited for the study. Disclosure of HIV serostatus and adherence to no breastfeeding options were evaluated using an interviewer administered structured questionnaire. Of the 62 mothers recruited for the study, 57 (91.94 %) had disclosed their serostatus to at least their partners. Most partners 42 (93.33%) were supportive while three mothers were divorced following disclosure. Thirteen (20.97%) mothers could not comply with no breastfeeding. Non disclosure of serostatus, pressure from extended family and token breastfeeding mitigate against adhering to no breastfeeding by HIV positive mothers (Afr J Reprod Health 2009; 13[1]:27-35)
Subject(s)
Breast Feeding , HIV Infections , Mothers , NigeriaABSTRACT
The transmission of HIV via breastmilk has led to various recommendations for HIV-infected mothers. In this study, the feeding practices of HIV-infected mothers in the first six months of their infants' lives were evaluated. In total, 103 consecutive mothers of children, aged 6-24 months, were evaluated for their feeding practices in the first six months of their infants' lives. The mothers were recruited in two cohorts based on their entry (PMTCT cohort) or non-entry (non-PMTCT cohort) to an HIV MTCT-prevention programme. Information obtained included maternal age, socioeconomic class, and the educational level attained. All the babies in the non-PMTCT cohort were breastfed compared to none in the PMTCT cohort. Infant formula was inadequately prepared for 77.42% of babies in the non-PMTCT cohort compared to 18.64% in the PMTCT cohort. The mixed-feeding rate was high (70.45%) in the non-PMTCT cohort. Over 70% of babies in both the cohorts were bottle-fed. Voluntary counselling and testing services in the healthcare system should be strengthened. All mothers should receive infant-feeding counselling, with exclusive breastfeeding being encouraged in those with unknown HIV status.