SEVERITY OF IRON DEFICIENCY ANEMIA AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO GROWTH AND MORBIDITY IN A POPULATION OF PRE-SCHOOLERS IN RURAL GUATEMALA (IRON DEFICIENCY, MORBIDITY, GROWTH)

The objectives of this study were to determine the nature of the relationship between severity of iron deficiency anemia, response to iron treatment, respiratory and gastrointestinal illness and weight change. Seventy-five pre-school children from rural Guatemala received daily oral iron therapy for an eleven week period, and were classified into one of three groups having different degrees of iron deficiency anemia. Anthropometric and biochemical data were collected prior and after iron treatment; morbidity data were collected throughout the period of treatment. The outcome variables were percentage weight change, percentage of total days ill with any type of symptom, percentage of total days ill with gastrointestinal symptoms, percentage of total days ill with respiratory symptoms, percentage of total days ill with combination syndrome symptoms. Age, sex and socio-economic status, were independent of any of the independent or outcome variables used. On the other hand, the level of hemoglobin covaried with the height of the children, the smallest children were the most severely anemic. The relationships between hemoglobin levels and weight change, frequency of morbidity (gastrointestinal, respiratory and combination syndrome) and total number of days ill with any symptomatology were investigated. No statistical significance was found in these analyses except when contrasting children with normal hemoglobin levels to iron deficient children, where the findings indicated the normal children experienced more gastrointestinal morbidity. The same relationship were again analyzed but including delta hemoglobin as covariate in the analysis, this latter one was found to be significant at 7% when the percentage of days ill from gastrointestinal morbidity was tested against the hemoglobin groups. The relationship found indicates that, all other covariates accounted for, the percentage of days ill from gastrointestinal morbidity will decrease approximately 1% for each 1% increase in delta of hemoglobin. ^

Is sexual violence associated with symptoms of depression and suicide attempts

Sexual assault, depression, and suicide are all very serious issues among youth today. This study sought to quantify the association between sexual violence, symptoms of depression, and suicide attempts through the use of 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data. The YRBS is a nationally representative dataset of United States high school students, grades 9-12. It was hypothesized that sexual violence is significantly associated with symptoms of depression and suicide attempts. Through multivariate logistic regression, it was determined that students who had ever experienced forced sex were 3.10 (2.7-3.6) times as likely to be depressed, in the past 12 months, and 4.22 (3.5-5.1) times as likely to have attempted suicide. Female victims were 3.43 (2.9-4.0) times as likely to be depressed; male victims were 5.40 (3.7-7.9) times as likely to have attempted suicide. Sexual violence is significantly associated with both symptoms of depression and suicide attempt when stratified by gender, grade, and race/ethnicity. These results indicate that further study of the association between sexual violence and symptoms of depression and suicide attempts need to be conducted in order to establish temporality.^

Is obesity associated with increased symptoms of psychiatric morbidity among Indian adolescents?

The relationship between obesity and mental health disorders has not been explored among adolescents in India. Although evidence from western countries has failed to demonstrate conclusive associations, a tremendous increase in the prevalence of obesity and overweight among urban adolescents in India, along with an absolute lack of studies into mental health of Indian adolescents, necessitate the need for research in this population. This present study used data collected from 861 urban 6th and 8th graders from Delhi, India and tested for the associations of weight status with psychiatric symptomatology and other weight related behaviors. The Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) was used to collect data on psychiatric symptoms. Falling into the overweight or obese category was hypothesized to be associated with borderline or abnormal scores on the SDQ scales. Results indicated a high prevalence for overweight/obesity among the population (>30%). No significant associations were demonstrated between weight status and borderline/abnormal SDQ scores on all the scales. However, significant associations were found between sedentary behaviors (screen time >2 hrs daily), positive and negative weight-control behaviors and borderline/abnormal SDQ scores on various scales. In light of these new findings, a further exploration of the relationship in this population is indicated.^

Prevalence of symptoms of neurotoxicity and potential occupational pesticide and solvent exposures among high school students in Starr County, Texas: A pilot study

Numerous harmful occupational exposures affect working teens in the United States. Teens working in agriculture and other heavy-labor industries may be at risk for occupational exposures to pesticides and solvents. The neurotoxicity of pesticides and solvents at high doses is well-known; however, the long term effects of these substances at low doses on occupationally exposed adolescents have not been well-studied. To address this research gap, a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data was completed in order to estimate the prevalence of self-reported symptoms of neurotoxicity among a cohort of high school students from Starr County, Texas, a rural area along the Texas-Mexico border. Multivariable linear regression was used to estimate the association between work status (i.e., no work, farm work, and non-farm work) and symptoms of neurotoxicity, while controlling for age, gender, Spanish speaking preference, inhalant use, tobacco use, and alcohol use. The sample included 1,208 students. Of these, the majority (85.84%) did not report having worked during the prior nine months compared to 4.80% who did only farm work, 6.21% who did only non-farm work, and 3.15% who did both types of work. On average, students reported 3.26 symptoms with a range from 0-16. The most commonly endorsed items across work status were those related to memory impairment. Adolescents employed in non-farm work jobs reported more neurotoxicity symptoms than those who reported that they did not work (Mean 4.31; SD 3.97). In the adjusted multivariable regression model, adolescents reporting non-farm work status reported an average of 0.77 more neurotoxicity symptoms on the Q16 than those who did not work (P = 0.031). The confounding variables included in the final model were all found to be factors significantly associated with report of neurotoxicity symptoms. Future research should examine the relationship between these variables and self-report of symptoms of neurotoxicity.^

Stressful life events and their contributions to symptoms of anxiety and depression in adolescents

There are several innovative aspects to this thesis that extend our current knowledge of the relations between stress and psychiatric symptoms in adolescents. First, distal and proximal stressors are differentiated. This approach allows one to specifically examine the role of early childhood stressors as well as stressors experienced more recently as they impact the expression of depression and anxiety during adolescence. Second, a state-of-the-art assessment instrument was used to examine proximal stressors, helping to distinguish several aspects of stress, including objective stress and subjective stress. Third, the parent study from which these data were derived was designed to examine the role of familial risk for depression and related risk factors for the initial development of depression and alcohol use disorders. This allowed for a very thorough collection of demographic characteristics of the study population. Accordingly, this thesis examines the initial prodromal expression of anxiety and depressive symptoms as they are originally expressed prior to the development, if any, of a full-blown psychiatric disorder.^