ABSTRACT
Aims: To estimate the prevalence of urinary abnormalities in asymptomatic children aged 3 to 5 and to estimate the prevalence of urological anomalies detected by renal ultrasound among children with abnormal urine findings in an urban district of Ho Chi Minh City. Study Design: cross-sectional population-based study. Place and Duration of Study: Twelve kindergartens in Binh Thanh district, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from March to June 2012. Methodology: There were 11,093 children aged 3 to 5 attending 25 public and 17 private kindergartens including 2,657 in wealthy wards and 8,436 in non-wealthy wards. A total sample size of 2,402 children was required. Using a probability proportional-tosize method, 8 kindergartens in public area and 4 kindergartens in private area were randomly selected. Overall, 2,433 children were enrolled including 1,244 boys. The children were screened by dipstick. Those with abnormal results were confirmed by a second dipstick. Children with two positive dipsticks were retested 3 months later and underwent renal ultrasound for urological anomalies. Results: Abnormalities were detected in 7.8% of the subjects. Prevalence of proteinuria, hematuria, nitrituria, leucocyturia, and combined nitrituria and leucocyturia were 0%, 0.3%, 0%, 5.6%, and 0.2%, respectively. Girls had more abnormal results than boys (14.1% vs 1.8%, p<0.001). After a three-month period, the number of children with persistent abnormalities was 37. The renal ultrasound detected 5 (13.5%) hydronephrosis cases. No significant difference was found when comparing public to private kindergartens and wealthy to non-wealthy region. Conclusion: In such a region with high population density, the high prevalence of nitrituria and/or leucocyturia in girls calls for a good education for parents and caregivers in order to prevent urinary tract infection, and the low prevalence of proteinuria and hematuria suggests that the appropriate age for urinary screening in Vietnam might be over 6 years.
ABSTRACT
<b><big>Introduction and Purpose</big></b><br>Overweight and obesity have recently emerged as major problems of malnutrition among children in developing countries. However, risk factors for childhood obesity in Asian countries remain largely unknown. Identification of target populations for its prevention and intervention is urgently needed. This survey was conducted to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity and identify possible risk factors among kindergarten children in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.<br><b><big>Methods</big></b><br>In this cross-sectional study conducted in March, 2005, 780 children in their third and fourth years in kindergarten and their mothers were randomly selected from eight local kindergartens. Height and weight of mother-child pairs were measured, and an interview was conducted by trained staff using a questionnaire in Vietnamese. Overweight/obesity was defined as a weight-for-height > 2 SD above the National Center for Health Statistics median reference value. Risk factors for overweight/obesity were analyzed using logistic regression.<br><b><big>Results</big></b><br>There were 741 respondents (377 boys and 364 girls); the response rate was 95.0%. Average age of children was 61.8 ± 6.8 months; the average age of mothers was 35.0 ± 5.2 years. The average height and weight were 110 ± 5.7cm and 21.2 ± 4.0kg respectively. Of the 741 children, 27.8% were identified as being overweight/obesity. Four possible variables selected were: 1) child's sex, 2) mother's awareness of her child's current body type, 3) mother's expectation for her child's body type in the future, 4) mother's awareness of her own current body type .<br><b><big>Conclusion</big></b><br>Our findings point to the importance of addressing appropriate body images in the management of children's nutritional health. Providing sufficient amounts of information on appropriate body type in addition to feeding practice to mothers should be a priority at the Ho Chi Minh City Nutrition Center to prevent child overweight and obesity.
ABSTRACT
This study was done in 2004. Subgenotypes of HIV were determined by DNA sequencing technique at 3 gene regions of HIV-l: envelope, protease and reverse transcriptase. Our results showed that the recombinant virus CRFOI AlE was still predominant (98%) in Ho Chi Minh city. A new recombinant form HIV-l of subtype B and CRFOIAIE was also detected. The presence of a new recombinant form of HIV-1 derived from two different subtypes warns that the HIV epidemic in this region is more and more complex with the immigration and co-infection with different genetic subtypes of HIV.