Ethnic and secular influences on the size and maturity of seven year old children living in Guatemala City

Three groups of children, those of European parentage, those of Guatemalan parentage, and those of mixed European-Guatemalan parentage were measured for height, weight, and skeletal maturity. The children were born between 1945 and 1965, they were all of high socioeconomic status, and they all attended the same private school in Guatemala City. At 7 years, the boys of the European group were significantly taller than boys of the Guatemalan group. European and mixed European-Guatemalan girls were significantly taller than Guatemalan girls. These results are maturity independent. The influence of skeletal age was removed statistically by analysis of covariance. Girls of the mixed group were significantly heavier than girls of European and Guatemalan groups. Mixed group girls also had more significantly advanced skeletal ages than European girls. When the patterns of size and maturity status are analyzed by sex, there is evidence for a relatively greater environmental influence on the boys and a relatively greater genetic influence on the girls. Dividing the data into two birth year cohorts, 1945 to 1955, and 1956 to 1965, does not provide evidence for secular trends in growth or maturation. These results are similar to those from studies in developed nations that report an end to the secular trend for the “well off” population of those countries.     

Growth status of disadvantaged urban Guatemalan children of a resettled community

This paper reports the physical growth and body composition from the first year of longitudinal study of 519 Guatemalan children, and their families, from a disadvantaged urban community consisting largely of refugees of the 1976 earthquake. Four cohorts are described, composed of children of 1,3,5, and 7 years at examination. The children are smaller, weigh less, and have reduced fat stores compared either to NCHS reference data or to upper SES Guatemalan children. Stature (or length) and head circumference deviate more from reference data than do triceps or upper arm muscle circumference. Greater deviations are found in the linear dimensions of males than of females. These children are the smallest yet described from Guatemala City, though they are slightly larger than available rural samples. This suggests a continuum of environmental effects acting upon the growth of children of differing socioeconomic levels.     

Body composition and nutritional status of urban Guatemalan children of high and low socioeconomic class

The effects of socioeconomic differences on the nutritional status of two groups of urban living children are considered via an anthropometric assessment of body composition. The sample consists of 981 Guatemala City children, 7.00 to 13.99 years old, of high and low socioeconomic status (SES). High SES children have larger median values for triceps skinfold, subscapular skinfold, arm circumference, and estimated mid-arm muscle and fat areas than low SES children. Compared with children of a US reference sample, the high SES children generally have larger values for all variables and the low SES children have smaller values. However, the differences between the low SES children and the children of the other two samples are greater for arm fat area than for arm muscle area. The analysis suggests that low SES Guatemalan children suffer to a greater extent from chronic energy, rather than protein, undernutrition. A similar pattern of energy malnutrition has been observed for rural Guatemalan children. These combined data suggest that estimates of fat reserves of the arm provide a useful indication of nutritional status for Third-World children. Results from rural Costa Rican and Honduran studies have been taken to mean that muscle reserves are better than fat reserves as indicators of nutritional status in developing countries. But, those studies did not estimate cross-sectional muscle and fat areas and only considered the extremes of the population distribution for muscle and fat.     

Interaction of nutritional and socioeconomic status as determinants of cognitive development in disadvantaged urban Guatemalan children

The relationship between nutritional status, measured by height for age, and cognition, measured by WISC full-scale IQ, was studied in a longitudinal sample of 459 urban Guatemalan children, aged 4-9 years, from a disadvantage community of the fringe of Guatemala City, examined annually over a 3 year period. Socioeconomic status (SES) was controlled by developing a composite index for each home. The mean IQ differed significantly from the lowest to the highest quartiles of stature, the difference between the two extreme quartiles being approximately 0.3 SD of IQ. There was a significant interaction between SES and stature in their effects on IQ. Whereas nutritional status and SES affected IQ in an additive fashion in the upper three SES quartiles, there was no difference in IQ attributible to stature among children from the most disadvantaged homes. This analysis indicates that the mild-to-moderate protein-energy malnutrition (defined by height for age) that is prevalent among children from disadvantaged environments in developing countries is significantly related to cognitive development. However, in the poorest homes, SES is seen as a more important determinant of cognitive development than stature.     

Height, weight, and lines of arrested growth in young Guatemalan children

A cross-sectional study of height, weight and skeletal maturity as judged from radiographs of hand and wrist, of 1,412 children under seven years of age (694 boys and 718 girls) living in rural Guatemala was performed. Height and weight were compared to standards prepared by the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP). Skeletal age was assessed by the Tanner-Whitehouse and the Greulich and Pyle methods. All x-rays were read by the senior author. The children surveyed were significantly shorter and lighter than well noruished Guatemalan children. Differences were evident by age six months and at a maximum by age five years. Both methods showed skeletal age to lag behind chronological age so that the Guatemalan rural children mature at slower rates than either the British children or the Ohio, U.S.A., children, from whom the two sets of standards were developed. Children of both sexes with radio-opaque transverse lines at the metaphysis showed a consistent tendency to be shorter than children without such lines. Boys but not girls showed similar trends for weight. In general, the data are consistent with the view that the physical development in boys is more severely retarded by an adverse environment than that of girls.     

Rapid morphological change in living humans: implications for modern human origins

Human body size and body proportions are interpreted as markers of ethnicity, 'race,' adaptation to temperature, nutritional history and socioeconomic status. Some studies emphasize only one of these indicators and other studies consider combinations of indicators. To better understand the biocultural nature of human size and proportions a new study of the growth of Maya-American youngsters was undertaken in 1999 and 2000. One purpose of this research is to assess changes in body proportion between Maya growing up in the US and Maya growing up in Guatemala. Height and sitting height of 6-12-year-old boys and girls (n=360) were measured and the sitting height ratio [sitting height/height]x100, a measure of proportion, was calculated. These data are compared with a sample of Maya of the same ages living in Guatemala and measured in 1998 (n=1297). Maya-American children are currently 10.24 cm taller, on average, and have a significantly lower sitting height ratio, (i.e. relatively longer legs, averaging 7.02 cm longer) than the Guatemala Maya. Maya-American children have body proportions more like those of white children in the US than like Maya children in Guatemala. Improvements in the environment for growth, in terms of nutrition and health, seem to explain both the trends in greater stature and relatively longer legs for the Maya-Americans. These findings are applied to the problem of modern human origins as assessed from fossil skeletons. It has been proposed that heat adapted, relatively long-legged Homo sapiens from Africa replaced the cold adapted, relatively short-legged Homo neandertalensis of the Levant and Europe [J Hum Evol 32 (1997a) 423]. Skeletal samples of Maya adults from rural Guatemala have body proportions similar to adult Neandertals and to skeletal samples from Europe with evidence of nutritional and disease stress. Just as nutrition and health status explains the differences in the body proportions of living Maya children, these factors, along with adaptation to climate, may also explain much of the differences between the Neandertal and African hominid samples.     

Growth status, age, and grade as predictors of school continuation for Guatemalan Indian children

Schooling is considered by many researchers and agencies as an important contributor to individual and national development for populations living in the less developed countries. Accordingly, programs to increase school enrollment and continuation from grade to grade are being developed for many of these countries. This paper investigates the relationship of physical growth status (height, weight, and body composition), grade in school, and age to school continuation for a sample of Indian children living in a village near Guatemala City. It was found that physical growth status, a reflection of health and nutritional status, does not predict school continuation. A child's age and current grade in school do predict continuation. Most children leave school after reaching 9 years of age or after completing the second grade. It is suggested that children may learn enough to satisfy their parents' expectations by this age or grade. Also, the child's economic value to his or her family may be a significant reason for school drop-out.     

Growth status of school-age Mayan children in Belize,Central America

This paper reports the growth status of a sample of Mopan Maya school children living in a rural village in Belize. These children exhibit a growth pattern typical of chronic undernutrition, in that a high percentage are stunted (66%), but virtually none are wasted by WHO criteria. The Belize Maya children are compared to four other Amerindian groups and found to be shorter and lighter than a semi-urban group from Guatemala, but taller and heavier than three rural groups from Guatemala and Mexico. The Belize children exhibit the largest arm circumferences among all five groups. This pattern of growth is discussed in light of current ideas concerning the contribution of genetics vs. environment to childhood growth and population wellbeing. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Seasonal pattern in the rate of growth in height of children living in Guatemala.

Monthly increments of height for a sample of 164 Guatemala City school children are analyzed for the presence of a seasonal pattern in rates of growth. It is found that pre and post adolescent children follow a seasonal pattern of growth but adolescent children do not. It is suggested that the results are due to an effect of seasonal changes in ultraviolet light availability and the synthesis of vitamin D3 as mediated by the level of maturation of each child.     

Economic and anthropological assessments of the health of children in Maya immigrant families in the US.

Immigration from developing countries to the US generally increases access to health care and clean water, but it also introduces some unhealthy lifestyle patterns, such as diets dense in energy and little regular physical activity. We present a transdisciplinary model of child health and examine the impact of immigration on the physical growth and health of Maya children in Guatemala and the US. Maya-American children are much taller and have longer legs, on average, than their counterparts in Guatemala. This suggests that immigration to the US improves their health. However, the Maya-American children also are much heavier than both Guatemalan Maya and White American children, and have high rates of overweight and obesity. Quantile regression analysis indicates that Maya are shorter except in the upper tail of the stature distribution, and have higher Body Mass Index (BMI) in the tails, but not in the middle of the BMI distribution. Leisure time spent in front of a television or computer monitor tends to raise BMI in the middle and lower tail of the distribution, but not in the upper tail.     

Monthly changes in the gain and loss of growth in weight of children living in Guatemala.

Monthly increments of weight growth for a sample of 246 Guatemala City private school children are analyzed for the presence of a seasonal pattern in rates of growth. Neither a seasonal pattern nor any other periodic rhythm is found. It is observed that a significantly greater number of children aged 5.0 to 6.9 years experience their minimum annual growth rate during the dry season, with up to 60% of them losing or not gaining weight in any one month. Patterns of diet, exercise and disease cannot explain this trend. A possible association between minimum weight growth and maximum growth in height is discussed.     

ISOZYMATIC VARIATION IN GUATEMALAN RACES OF MAIZE

Isozymatic data taken from 67 Guatemalan collections of maize were subjected to numerical taxonomic analyses to elucidate systematic relationships among the 19 maize races and subraces described for Guatemala by Wellhausen et al. As with Bolivian and Mexican races, isozymatic variation in Guatemalan maize was strongly associated with altitude. Guatemalan lowland races were in general isozymatically distinct from races of higher elevations. Two middle elevation Guatemalan races proved difficult to place taxonomically. As a group, Guatemalan highland races were isozymatically more diverse than races from lower elevations, and were rather weakly differentiated from Mexican highland races. Notably, variational patterns evident from phenetic analyses of isozyme data were generally congruent with those apparent in phylogenetic analyses. The data reported here, and in earlier studies, suggested that divergent combinations of isozymatic, karyotypic, and morphological features have evolved in local maize races from Mexico, Guatemala, and Bolivia, perhaps as the result of the different selective regimens indigenous cultivators have imposed on different regional phylogenetic lineages.     

Length and weight in rural Guatemalan Ladino children: birth to seven years of age.

The present study reports 5,029 length and weight measurements as well as percentile distributions for a mixed longitudinal series of 1,119 rural Guatemalan Ladino children. The study sample, birth through seven years, is representative of children in clinically good health, but of suboptimal nutrition. Boys are longer and heavier than girls over the age range. Guatemalan children of both sexes are smaller than American white children from Denver. Differences are least at birth, and increase through two years of age. Between two and five years, differences between the rural Guatemalan Ladino and Denver samples are rather stable, but then increase through seven years. Despite these differences there is a linear weight for length relationship which is the same across all preschool ages, both sexes, and for both the Guatemalan and Denver populations. This implies that age, sex, ethnic differences between the two groups compared, and mild-to-moderate protein-calorie malnutrition do not affect the relationship between weight and length in preschool children.     

Longitudinal analysis of adolescent growth of ladino and Mayan school children in Guatemala: effects of environment and sex.

The rate of growth in height and the timing of adolescent growth events are analyzed for two samples of Guatemalan children. One sample includes Mayan school children, 33 boys and 12 girls between the ages of 5.00 to 17.99 years, living under poor conditions for growth and development. The second sample includes ladino children, 78 boys and 85 girls of the same age range, living under favorable conditions for growth. The Preece-Baines model I function is used to estimate mean values for rates and timing of childhood and adolescent growth events for the two groups. Significant statistical contrasts (t-tests) of these means show Mayan boys reach the age of "take-off" (TO; the onset of the adolescent growth spurt) 1.45 years later, achieve peak height velocity (PHV) 1.68 years later, and continue growing for about 2.0 years longer than do the ladino boys. Despite the Mayan boys' increased duration for growth they grow significantly more slowly than the ladinos. Mayan boys are 6.60 cm shorter than ladinos at the age of TO and are estimated to be 7.71 cm shorter than the ladinos at adulthood. Mayan girls reach the age of TO 0.93 years later than do the ladina girls, but the two groups do not differ in the age at PHV or the age at adulthood. The mean height of Mayan girls is significantly less than that of ladinas at the age of TO (6.5 cm), and this difference increases to an estimated 11.14 cm at adulthood. Possible causes of these ethnic and sex-related differences in amounts and rates of growth are discussed in relation to hypotheses about the genetic and environmental determinants of human development.     

Relative Validity of Three Food Frequency Questionnaires for Assessing Dietary Intakes of Guatemalan Schoolchildren

ObjectiveTo determine the relative validity of three food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) compared with results from 24-hour dietary recalls for measuring dietary intakes in Guatemalan schoolchildren.DesignA cross-sectional study of primary caregivers (mothers or grandmothers) of 6–11 year-old children. Caregivers completed one of three constructed FFQs to measure the child’s dietary consumption in the last week: FFQ1 did not incorporate portion sizes; FFQ2 provided portion sizes; and FFQ3 incorporated pictures of median portion sizes. During the same week, each caregiver also completed three 24-hour dietary recalls. Results from the FFQ were compared with corresponding results from the 24-hour dietary recalls.SettingSanta Catarina Pinula, peri-urban Guatemala City.SubjectsCaregivers (n = 145) of 6–11 year-old children: 46 completed FFQ1, 49 completed FFQ2, and 50 completed FFQ3.ResultsThe mean values for all nutrients obtained from the 24-hour dietary recall were lower than for those obtained from the FFQs, excluding folic acid in FFQ3, cholesterol and zinc in FFQ2, and cholesterol, folic acid, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and zinc in FFQ1. Energy-adjusted Pearson correlation coefficients ranged from 0.07 (protein) to 0.54 (cholesterol) for FFQ1 and from 0.05 to 0.74 for FFQ2 and FFQ3. Agreement by both methods (FFQ and 24-hour dietary recalls) of classifying children into the same or adjacent quartiles of energy-adjusted nutrient consumption ranged from 62.0% for cholesterol to 95.9% for vitamin B12 across all three FFQs.ConclusionsOur FFQs had moderate to good relative validity in measuring energy and nutrient intakes for 6–11 year-old Guatemalan children. More evidence is needed to evaluate their reproducibility and applicability in similar populations.     

Socioeconomic status, sex, age, and ethnicity as determinants of body fat distribution for Guatemalan children

The distribution of subcutaneous fat at the triceps and subscapular skinfold sites is described for four groups of children living in Guatemala. These groups are high socioeconomic status (SES) children of Ladino (mixed Spanish and Indian) ancestry, high SES children of European ancestry, low SES Ladino children, and very low SES Indian children. The method of Healy and Tanner (1981) is used, employing regression and principal components analysis of log transformed skinfold values to divide "fatness" into two uncorrelated variables: size (amount of fat) and shape (fat pattern). Significant differences exist between groups in size, with lower SES groups having less fat than higher SES groups. No significant difference in fat pattern exists between the high SES Ladino and high SES European children. Significant differences do exist between the high SES groups and the low SES groups. The relative amount of subscapular fat increases from the high SES Ladinos and high SES Europeans, to the low SES Ladinos, to the very low SES Indians. In the high SES European and high SES Ladino samples, girls have significantly more arm fat than boys. There is no significant difference in fat patterning between boys and girls in the two low SES samples. Finally, the relative amount of subscapular fat tends to increase with age in all four samples. These results indicate that fatness and fat patterning are independent anatomical characteristics, SES influences fat patterning; low SES children of both Ladino and Indian ancestry show greater reductions in arm fat than in trunk fat compared to high SES children, sexual dimorphism in fat patterning is SES dependent.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Microsatellite markers in avocado (Persea americana Mill.): genealogical relationships among cultivated avocado genotypes

Twenty-five microsatellite markers uniquely differentiated 35 avocado cultivars and two wild relatives. Average heterozygosity was high (60.7%), ranging from 32% in P. steyermarkii to 84% in Fuerte and Bacon. In a subset of 15 cultivars, heterozygosity averaged 63.5% for microsatellites, compared to 41.8% for restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs). A neighbor-joining tree, according to average shared allele distances, consisted of three clusters likely corresponding to the botanical races of avocado and intermediate clusters uniting genotypes of presumably racially hybrid origin. Several results were at odds with existing botanical assignments that are sometimes rendered difficult by incomplete pedigree information, the complexity of the hybrid status (multiple backcrossing), or both. For example, cv. Harvest clustered with the Guatemalan race cultivars, yet it is derived from the Guatemalan x Mexican hybrid cv. Gwen. Persea schiedeana grouped with cv. Bacon. The rootstock G875 emerged as the most divergent genotype in our data set. Considerable diversity was found particularly among accessions from Guatemala, including G810 (West Indian race), G6 (Mexican race), G755A (hybrid Guatemalan x P. schiedeana), and G875 (probably not P. americana). Low bootstrap support, even upon exclusion of (known) hybrid genotypes from the data matrix, suggests the existence of ancient hybridization or that the botanical races originated more recently than previously thought.     

Albumin Mexico (Al Me ) in the Guatemalan highlands

The examination of the sera of two samples of Guatemalans (total n = 386) revealed the presence of albumin Mexico (Al^Me) among unrelated individuals from the western highlands near the Mexican border. The frequency in the putatively less admixed sample, from Quiché, was 0.008. This is the first report of albumin polymorphism among American Indians south of Mexico. The presence of the Al^Me allele among Indians of the Guatemalan highlands argues for a zone of gene flow between contiguous groups of Mexico and Guatemala. The failure to detect albumin polymorphism among lowland populations of the Yucatan peninsula may likewise be significant, but more testing of samples is required before definitive statements can be made with respect to contacts among and within highland and lowland groups.     

A molecular phylogeographic study based on DNA sequences from individual metacercariae of Paragonimus mexicanus from Guatemala and Ecuador

A molecular phylogeographic study of Paragonimus mexicanus collected from Guatemala and Ecuador was performed. Genomic DNA was extracted from individual metacercariae, and two gene regions (partial mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) and the second internal transcribed spacer of the nuclear ribosomal gene repeat (ITS2)) were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Sequences segregated in a phylogenetic tree according to their geographic origins. ITS2 sequences from Ecuador and Guatemala differed at only one site. Pairwise distances among CO1 sequences within a country were always lower than between countries. Nevertheless, genetic distances between countries were less than between geographical forms of P. westermani that have been suggested to be distinct species. This result suggests that populations from Guatemala and Ecuador are genetically differentiated perhaps at the level of subspecies.     

The Growth Attainment,Hematological, Iron Status and Inflammatory Profile of Guatemalan Juvenile End-Stage Renal Disease Patients

BackgroundStunting, anemia and inflammation are frequently observed in children with end-stage renal disease (ESRD).ObjectivesTo assess anthropometric, hematological and inflammatory data and to study their potential interrelationship in Guatemalan juveniles undergoing hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD).Methods54 juveniles 7–20 years of age were recruited in FUNDANIER, Guatemala City: 27 on HD and 27 PD. Hemoglobin, serum iron, transferrin, serum transferrin receptor (sTfR), serum ferritin, transferrin saturation and iron-binding capacity, white blood cell count (WBC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), as well as IL-6, IL-1 and TNF-α, weight and height were determined by standard methods. Hepcidin–25 (Hep-25) was assessed by weak cation exchange time-of-flight mass-spectrometry.Results92% and 55% of HD and PD children, respectively, were stunted and 95% and 85% were anemic. Among iron status biomarkers, serum ferritin was massively increased and significantly higher in the HD group compared to the PD group. Hep-25 was also greatly elevated in both groups. 41% of HD patients showed increments in three or more inflammatory biomarkers, while it was 2 or less in all PD subjects.ConclusionsThe degree of stunting, the prevalence and severity of anemia in Guatemalan juvenile ESRD far exceed the national statistics for this low-income Central American country. Ferritin and Hep-25 concentrations were elevated, with the latter to an extraordinary magnitude. Additional biomarkers of inflammation not directly related to iron status were elevated as well. The role of both disease- and environment-related factors in combination best explains the magnitude of the biomarker abnormalities.