Proxy measures of household food consumption for food security assessment and surveillance: comparison of the household dietary diversity and food consumption scores.

OBJECTIVE: To provide an overview of the household dietary diversity score and the food consumption score, two indicators used for food security assessment and surveillance, and compare their performance in food security assessments in three countries. DESIGN: Cross-sectional cluster sampling design using an interview-administered structured questionnaire on household food security, including household-level food group consumption measured over 1 d and 7 d. SETTING: Survey data are from Burkina Faso, Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) and northern Uganda. SUBJECTS: Households in Burkina Faso (n 3640), Lao PDR (n 3913) and northern Uganda (n 1956). RESULTS: Spearman's correlation coefficients between the scores were 0·73 in Burkina Faso, 0·65 in Lao PDR and 0·53 in northern Uganda. Prevalence-adjusted kappa coefficients showed substantial strength of agreement in two countries. The proportion of agreement between the two scores ranged from 85 % in Lao PDR to 65 % in northern Uganda. Dietary profiles based on food group consumption using score tertiles were comparable. Rankings of the most food-insecure areas within a country corresponded well in northern Uganda and Burkina Faso but not in Lao PDR. Both indicators showed moderate correlations with other proxy measures of food security. CONCLUSIONS: The comparative study highlights the similarities and differences between the food consumption and household dietary diversity scores. Similar classification of the most food-insecure areas within sub-national levels was obtained. The choice of indicator for food security assessment and surveillance will vary depending on user needs.

Recurrent ventricular fibrillation due to coronary artery spasm immediately after ascending aorta replacement.

Coronary artery spasm (CAS) is a dangerous complication during cardiac surgery, causing arduous weaning of extracorporeal circulation (ECC) and myocardial tissue loss with consequent left and right ventricular dysfunctions. We describe the case of a 67-year-old man with hypertension and smoking habit, with ECG evidence of lateral myocardial ischemia without symptoms. On this basis, he was investigated with scintigraphy, which confirmed an anterior-lateral area of reversible ischemia and, subsequently, with angiography, which revealed just mild lesion (50%) of diagonal ramus associated with ascending aorta aneurysm: no sign of CAS was detected. Left ventricular function was normal, with mild hypokinesia of the apical segments and trivial aortic regurgitation. The patient underwent ascending aorta replacement with arduous ECC weaning due to CAS: exclusively, the use of intravenous administration of diltiazem led to the solution of this complication. Even if medical therapy is generally efficacious for this complication, the diagnosis is very complicated when it appears in the operating room immediately after cardiac surgery because of the lack of any useful device. The difficulty of diagnosis in the operating room might compromise patient outcome. In our opinion, when ECC weaning is complicated by several episodes of malignant tachyarrhythmia and there is the suspicion of underlying ischemic cause without other obvious causes, CAS must be considered and empirical therapy with calcium channel blockers should be used.