Effects of land titling on child health

This paper examines the impact of urban land titling on child health. We hypothesize that land titling may translate into positive effects on health through its impact on housing investments and household structure. To address selection concerns, we take advantage of a natural experiment of land occupation in a suburban area of Buenos Aires, Argentina, that ensures that the allocation of property rights is exogenous to the characteristics of the squatters. Our results show that in the titled parcels children enjoy better weight-for-height scores (but similar height-for-age scores), and teenage girls have lower pregnancy rates than those in untitled parcels.     

Child health in rural Colombia: determinants and policy interventions

We study the determinants of child anthropometrics on a sample of poor Colombian children living in small municipalities. We focus on the influence of household consumption, and public infrastructure, taking into account the endogeneity of household consumption using two different sets of instruments: household assets and municipality average wage. We find that both household consumption and public infrastructure are important determinants of child health. We have also found that the coverage of the piped water network positively influenced child health if the parents have some education.     

Comparison of self-reported and measured height and weight: Implications for obesity research among young adults

BACKGROUND: The use of self-reported data in epidemiological surveys leads to misclassification of the prevalence of obesity as the participants overestimate or underestimate height, weight and/or both. Such misclassifications vary according to gender, age, status and ethnicity. OBJECTIVES: To estimate on a sample of youth of both sexes (1) the difference between self-reported data and measured height and weight and (2) the extent of misclassification of BMI deriving from such differences. METHODS: Self-reporting in questionnaires and subsequent measurements of height and weight conducted by trained personnel. The mean values and the BMIs were calculated. RESULTS: Both sexes overestimate height (2.1 and 2.8cm for males and females, respectively), and underestimate weight (1.5 and 1.9kg for males and females, respectively). Consequently the BMI is underestimated (1.1 and 1.5 points for males and females, respectively). The classification of BMI from self-reported data shows underestimation of overweight in both sexes (8 percentage points) and of obese males (3.3 percentage points), an overestimation of normal weight (12.2 and 4.3 percentage points for males and females, respectively) and an excessive underweight in the girls (4.3 percentage points). CONCLUSIONS: There is a difference between self-reported and measured data and self-reported biases are reflected in the classification of the participants in the 4 categories of BMI.     

Infant and child mortality in Bangladesh

Socioeconomic differences and trends in infant and child mortality in Bangladesh are examined using data from the 1975 World Fertility Survey and 1979 Contraceptive Prevalence Survery. There is evidence of some recent decline in infant mortality and child mortality. Logit analysis of infant and child mortality indicates that sociodemographic variables such as mother's education, recent period, or higher birth orders, has significant independent effects upon the reduction of infant and child mortality. Other variables such as fetal loss, father's education, or land ownership had no consistent significant effect. On the other hand the effect of urban residence on infant and child mortality was positive after the control of sociodemographic variables. Mere concentration on the supply of modern medical services may bring limited returns unless they are reinforced by appropriate social changes, in particular those affecting the socioeconomic status of women. Educated mothers are likely to belong to higher income households, have better knowledge of how to care for children, and can bring more resources to the care of a sick child.     

Estimation of total water and fatness from weight and height: inaccurate for lean women

Mellits and Cheek have provided a regression equation which predicts total water, and by extension, fat, from weight and height of women. The equation has been used by many researchers as a convenient means to estimate fat when more complicated body composition estimation techniques are not possible. It is an essential component of evidence provide by Frisch for the critical fat hypothesis. The equation has not been validated on another sample, however, and has a large standard error. I test the Mellits and Cheek equation on five samples of young women, two of which show a normal range of heights and weights. The other three are athletic samples composed of lean women. In the normal samples mean fat percent determined by density (from underwater weighing) is closely approximated by the weight and height equation but not in the lean samples. When measured fat is regressed on estimated fat, correlations are low, and standard errors are high, suggesting that the Mellits and Cheek equation predicts poorly the body fat percentage of individual females. In summary, the Mellits and Cheek equation is moderately useful for the prediction of group means for body composition on samples with normal ranges of height and weight. It does not produce acceptable results on groups selected for extreme leanness or obesity. It is not recommended for fat prediction of individuals.     

The role of maternal cognitive ability on child health

Little is known about the mechanisms through which mother's cognitive ability operates in enhancing her children's health. This paper analyzes how maternal returns to cognitive ability on children's height reflect contemporaneous endowments and childhood background of the mother. Results suggest that maternal returns to cognitive ability on child height are less likely to reflect observed mother's childhood endowments as measured by parental transmission of knowledge or school quality, but are more likely to be associated with learning to be a mother, and with a better capacity to take advantage of household and community available resources.     

The evolutionary biology of child health

I apply evolutionary perspectives and conceptual tools to analyse central issues underlying child health, with emphases on the roles of human-specific adaptations and genomic conflicts in physical growth and development. Evidence from comparative primatology, anthropology, physiology and human disorders indicates that child health risks have evolved in the context of evolutionary changes, along the human lineage, affecting the timing, growth-differentiation phenotypes and adaptive significance of prenatal stages, infancy, childhood, juvenility and adolescence. The most striking evolutionary changes in humans are earlier weaning and prolonged subsequent pre-adult stages, which have structured and potentiated maladaptations related to growth and development. Data from human genetic and epigenetic studies, and mouse models, indicate that growth, development and behaviour during pre-adult stages are mediated to a notable degree by effects from genomic conflicts and imprinted genes. The incidence of cancer, the primary cause of non-infectious childhood mortality, mirrors child growth rates from birth to adolescence, with paediatric cancer development impacted by imprinted genes that control aspects of growth. Understanding the adaptive significance of child growth and development phenotypes, in the context of human-evolutionary changes and genomic conflicts, provides novel insights into the causes of disease in childhood.     

Infant and child mortality in rural Egypt.

This research examines determinants of infant and child mortality in rural Egypt, primarily the effects of household economic status and the availability of health services. Certain features of the health service environment affect survival in the neonatal period. In early childhood, survival chances improve markedly as income increases and if the household depends almost exclusively on employment income. In infancy and in early childhood, mortality is strongly associated with region of residence and maternal demographic characteristics, and is weakly associated with parental schooling.     

Height and weight in Germany, evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel, 2002

This paper examines the socio-economic variation in height and weight using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. Results reinforce previous research insofar as height is associated with socio-economic differences. For example, a low maternal schooling level or a lower position in the income distribution is negatively correlated with the height of West Germans. Furthermore, there is a west-east and a north-south gradient in height in Germany. BMI is also determined by individuals' characteristics with similar underlying patterns. That is, in both West and East Germany, women with low income and low education have a higher BMI whereas the better educated women weigh less.     

Infant and child mortality in Pakistan--some trends and differentials

Data from reproductive histories collected in the Population, Labor Force and Migration Survey (PLM) of 1979 are used to analyze trends and differentials in infant and child mortality in Pakistan. Comparisons with the Pakistan Fertility Survey (PFS) findings are also presented. The main concern is to provide from the latest national data, the PLM, direct measures of infant and child mortality and to demonstrate the relatively static and low chances of survival for children in Pakistan. The apparent trends from the PLM and the PFS are similar and seem to confirm that infant and childhood mortality has ceased to decline, at least rapidly, since 1965-69. Neonatal mortality is higher at levels of 70-85 deaths/1000 compared to postneonatal mortality of 40-60 deaths/1000. Improvements in neonatal rates from 1950 until 1975 are only approximately 1/2 of those for postneonatal rates for that period. The relationship between maternal age and mortality in the PLM data confirms that children of youngest mothers experienced the highest rates of infant mortality; mortality is again higher for children of oldest mothers aged 35 and above. The pattern of mortality in the 2 surveys is similar except that in the PFS there was little variation among births higher than 5th order. Sex differentials in mortality are very clear in both surveys. Boys have higher chances of dying in the 1st month of life but then the probability of their surviving from age 1 to 5 years is higher, reflecting the behavioral preference for the male sex in this society. The data also demonstrate an almost monotonic decline in infant and child mortality associated with longer birth intervals. Childhood mortality shows a less clear association with preceding birth interval than does infant mortality. While neonatal mortality is much higher in rural than in urban areas, there are negligible differences in the postneonatal rate. The urban-rural differential continues into childhood, reflecting lower health care and nutrition of children in rural areas. The data confirm the importance of parental education, particularly that of mothers, as a contributor to the health and mortality of infants. Mortality between age 1 and 5 years for children of the rural educated group is lower than that for the urban uneducated indicating the strong influence that education of mothers can have in preventing child loss. The combined evidence from the PFS and PLM data stresses the importance of improving health facilities in the rural areas, in aneffort to reduce the differences in mortality by area of residence. The data from both surveys also suggest the need to restrict motherhood to between the ages of 20 and 34, when obstetrical and health risks are minimal, and indicate the definite advantages of increasing the spacing between children.     

Height, weight and earnings among coalminers in India

This paper analyses earning/wage differentials by height among coalmine workers in India. Our findings suggest that workers of above average height earn 9-17% more than their shorter counterparts and 6-13% more than average reference height. The results suggest that long-term investments in health human capital might ensure increase of labour productivity and thereby earnings, particularly in underdeveloped economies.     

Infant and child mortality in Burma by ethnic group

Abstract

Using three recent samples of American married couples of childbearing age, we examined the relative contribution of male and female age to the decline in the frequency of marital intercourse with age. Contrary to the widely held belief that only male age contributes to the decline, we found a substantial contribution of female age. In the 1965 sample, the contribution of each sex was about the same. In the 1974 sample, the contribution of female age was much more important than the contribution of male age. Two alternative explanations are offered.     

Integration of child mental health services to primary care: challenges and opportunities

In the first decade of this new millennium, health professionals are faced with a rapidly increasing need for child mental health services and changing models of service provision. This gives us a unique opportunity to make provision for services where it has not been available before, or to improve upon the existing services. This paper examines the challenges and opportunities while attempting to integrate child mental health services to primary care.     

Geography and culture matter for malnutrition in Bolivia

The prevalence of health problems and malnutrition in Bolivia is exceptionally high, even in comparison to other underdeveloped countries. This study analyzes the relationship between a two measures of child health--height-for-age and weight-for-age z-scores--and a set of physical and cultural determinants of child nutrition, including mother's characteristics, household assets and access to public services. The ultimate aim is to identify the most important determinants of child health and to measure the relative impact of each factor on the height and weight z-scores. A sequential strategy was adopted in order to estimate a two-equation linear model with correlated error terms. A major finding points to geographical and cultural variables as main causes of nutritional status and highlights the role of mother's anthropometrical characteristics. This study uses data on over 3000 children gathered from a Demographic and Health Survey (DHS).     

Private and public determinants of child nutrition in Nicaragua and Western Honduras

We present a multivariate regression model of nutritional indicators, including interactions between education levels and overall community development, as well as estimates of community fixed effects, for two data sets: the first one is from a 2001 nationwide household survey in Nicaragua while the second set was collected in the Western regions of Honduras in 2002, as part of an evaluation process for a family entitlement program. Maternal stature, age difference with an older sibling, household size and income are seen as the main determinants of anthropometric development. Within the more homogeneous communities of Western Honduras, woman's education is also related to the child's nutritional status. The importance of individual community variables is much lower and the inclusion of community fixed effects does not alter the other parameters. However, in the Honduran sample, overall community development (assessed through the community fixed effects) has a small but significant and synergistic effect on the impact of child and household variables. The characteristics of this study and the complex design of entitlement programs prevent an adequate evaluation of those interventions within the poverty reduction strategies. The improvement of intra-community targeting seems to be a key orientation for redesign. An improved socio-economic situation, sound population and family policies, and an appropriate preventive public health care still are safe investments towards improvement of child health and nutrition.     

Infant and child mortality in three culturally contrasting states of India.

Using cross-sectional, individual-level survey data from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh collected under the Indian National Family Health Survey programme of 1992-93, statistical modelling was used to analyse the impact of a range of variables on the survival status of children during their first 2 years of life. Attention was focused on the potential impact of the mother's autonomy. The strongest predictors of mortality were demographic and biological factors, breast-feeding behaviour, and use and knowledge of health services. Variables that can be interpreted as being related to maternal autonomy, such as the presence of a mother-in-law in the household, did not have a significant direct effect on child survival at the individual level, and their indirect effects were very limited.     

Reducing child malnutrition in Tanzania. Combined effects of income growth and program interventions.

Malnutrition is associated with an inadequate diet, poor health and sanitation services and inadequate care for young children. A combination of income growth and nutrition interventions are therefore suggested to adequately tackle this issue [Haddad, L., Alderman, H., Appleton, S., Song, L., Yohannes, Y., 2003. Reducing child malnutrition: how far does income growth take us? World Bank Econ. Rev., 17, 107-131.], yet evidence to support this claim is often not available, especially for African settings. This paper evaluates the joint contribution of income growth and nutrition interventions towards the reduction of malnutrition. Using a four round panel data set from northwestern Tanzania we estimate the determinants of a child's nutritional status, including household income and the presence of nutrition interventions in the community. The results show that better nutrition is associated with higher income, and that nutrition interventions have a substantial beneficial effect. Policy simulations make clear that if one intends to halve malnutrition rates by 2015 (the MDG objective), income growth will have to be complemented by large scale program interventions.     

Infant and child mortality in India in the last two decades: a geospatial analysis

BACKGROUND: Studies examining the intricate interplay between poverty, female literacy, child malnutrition, and child mortality are rare in demographic literature. Given the recent focus on Millennium Development Goals 4 (child survival) and 5 (maternal health), we explored whether the geographic regions that were underprivileged in terms of wealth, female literacy, child nutrition, or safe delivery were also grappling with the elevated risk of child mortality; whether there were any spatial outliers; whether these relationships have undergone any significant change over historical time periods. METHODOLOGY: The present paper attempted to investigate these critical questions using data from household surveys like NFHS 1992-1993, NFHS 1998-1999 and DLHS 2002-2004. For the first time, we employed geo-spatial techniques like Moran's-I, univariate LISA, bivariate LISA, spatial error regression, and spatiotemporal regression to address the research problem. For carrying out the geospatial analysis, we classified India into 76 natural regions based on the agro-climatic scheme proposed by Bhat and Zavier (1999) following the Census of India Study and all estimates were generated for each of the geographic regions. RESULT/CONCLUSIONS: This study brings out the stark intra-state and inter-regional disparities in infant and under-five mortality in India over the past two decades. It further reveals, for the first time, that geographic regions that were underprivileged in child nutrition or wealth or female literacy were also likely to be disadvantaged in terms of infant and child survival irrespective of the state to which they belong. While the role of economic status in explaining child malnutrition and child survival has weakened, the effect of mother's education has actually become stronger over time.     

Biological rhythm and emotional and behavioral problems among schoolchildren in Southern Brazil

Emotional and behavioral problems have been considered an indicative of mental disorder in children. Mental health problems affect 10–20% of children and adolescents living in low-income and middle-income countries. Evidence suggests that disruptions in the biological rhythm may be a primary cause of emotional and behavioral changes, which affects several psychological functions and moods. Thus, this study aimed at verifying the association between biological rhythm and emotional and behavioral problems in schoolchildren living in Southern Brazil. This is a cross-sectional study with a school-based sample conducted between August 2015 and November 2016. The presence of emotional and behavioral problems in children was verified by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), parents’ version. This is a 25-item assessment questionnaire used to screen mental health problems in children and adolescents (from 4 to 17 years of age) in the last 6 months. The Biological Rhythm Interview of Assessment in Neuropsychiatry-Kids (BRIAN-K) was used to measure the degree of biological rhythm disruption. The BRIAN-K consists of 20 items; from among these, 17 items are added to generate a quantitative measure, with greater scores indicating more biological rhythm disruption. The final score can also be divided into four subscales: sleep, social rhythm, eating pattern and overall activities. A total of 609 children responded to the assessment instruments. With regard to parents or primary caregiver, 596 completed the assessment and 13 (2%) were not located or refused to participate in the study. Thus, 596 dyads were included in the analysis. Children with emotional and behavioral problems presented higher scores in all domains of BRIAN-K: sleep, social, activity, eating pattern and total score (p < 0.001). The following variables remained associated with emotional and behavioral problems after adjusted analysis: BRIAN-K total score (p < 0.001) and all subscales sleep (p < 0.001), social (p < 0.001), activity (p < 0.001) and eating pattern (p < 0.001). Children with emotional and behavioral problems presented higher biological rhythm disruption when compared with children without emotional and behavioral problems. Our study emphasizes the importance of biological rhythm and its influence on emotional and behavioral problems in schoolchildren. Early detection of any biological rhythm disruption may enhance further assessment of any eventual emotional and behavioral problem and even a psychopathology.