Prolonged elevated body mass index in preschool children after the Great East Japan Earthquake

Prolonged body weight gain, lifestyle changes and health-related quality of life in children during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown: A follow-up study

BACKGROUND

Further investigation is needed to define the impact of long-term pandemic lockdown in children.

OBJECTIVES

To examine changes in body mass index z-score (zBMI), lifestyle, Health-Related Quality of Life and proportion of overweight or obesity (OW/OB) in 6- to 9-year-old children in Argentina.

METHODS

Observational study with baseline measurements prior to lockdown and follow-up after eight months of strict restrictive measures (November 2020, first visit, n = 144) and after ten months of partial reopening (September 2021, second visit, n = 108). Anthropometric changes from baseline to first visit in lockdown group (LG) were compared with a historical control group (HCG, n = 134). Follow-up visits included anthropometric measures, lifestyle questionnaire and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory.

RESULTS

Change in zBMI was higher in LG [median, IQR: 0.46 (-0.00; 0.83)] vs HCG [median, IQR: 0.02 (-0.31; 0.27)]; p < 0.001, particularly in children with pre-existing OW/OB. In LG, zBMI was higher at first and second visit vs baseline (p < 0.001) and in second visit vs first visit for boys (p = 0.037) but not for girls. The proportion of children with OW/OB increased from baseline (43.5%) to first (56.5%) and second visit (58.3%) (p = 0.029). Unlike girls, the proportion of boys with OW/OB increased from baseline to first and second visit (p = 0.045). Change in zBMI was higher in children with less healthy habits (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Weight gain continued to increase in boys when lockdown measurements were eased, although sedentary behaviors decreased and quality of life improved, indicating that the effects of pandemic lockdown could be difficult to reverse.

Supporting adolescents' mental health during COVID-19 by utilising lessons from the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake

Historical data can determine how adolescents recover from difficult situations such as the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study analysed 3 years of data obtained from high-school students who had been affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and consequently evidenced the importance of increasing resilience among affected adolescents. This involved identifying factors contributing to resilience through a model that assessed for each tsunami disaster. This model was determined by assessing the correlation between survivors' resilience scores and their measured psychological and lifestyle scores. This approach showed that, in all tsunami damage models, resilience was most affected by the depressed emotions. Thus, our approach suggests that interventions for improving the depressed mood may improve resilience in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Revisiting the Geographical Distribution of Thyroid Cancer Incidence in Fukushima Prefecture: Analysis of Data From the Second- and Third-round Thyroid Ultrasound Examination

BACKGROUND

After the first-round (Preliminary Baseline Survey) ultrasound-based examination for thyroid cancer in response to the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011, two rounds of surveys (Full-scale Survey) have been carried out in Fukushima Prefecture. Using the data from these surveys, the geographical distribution of thyroid cancer incidence over 6 or 7 years after the disaster was examined.

METHODS

Children and adolescents who underwent the ultrasound-based examinations in the second- and/or third-round (Full-scale) survey in addition to the first-round survey were included. With a discrete survival model, we computed age, sex, and body mass index standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) for municipalities. Then, we employed spatial statistics to assess geographic clustering tendency in SIRs and Poisson regression to assess the association of SIRs with the municipal average absorbed dose to the thyroid gland at the 59-municipality level.

RESULTS

Throughout the second- and third-round surveys, 99 thyroid cancer cases were diagnosed in the study population of 252,502 individuals. Both flexibly shaped spatial scan statistics and maximized excess events test did not detect statistically significant spatial clustering (P = 0.17 and 0.54, respectively). Poisson regression showed no significant dose-response relationship: the estimated relative risks of lowest, middle-low, middle-high, and highest areas were 1.16 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52-2.59), 0.55 (95% CI, 0.31-0.97), 1.05 (95% CI, 0.79-1.40), and 1.24 (95% CI, 0.89-1.74).

CONCLUSION

There was no statistical support for geographic clustering or regional association with radiation dose measures of the thyroid cancer incidence in the cohort followed up to the third-round survey (fiscal years 2016-2017) in Fukushima Prefecture.

Early excessive growth with distinct seasonality in preschool obesity

OBJECTIVES

Healthy-weight children tend to gain weight during winter but lose weight during summer. However, overweight elementary school children have shown accelerated summertime weight gain. Whether this seasonal growth variation occurs during preschool period is of substantial interest.

METHODS

Data were derived from a nationwide retrospective cohort of nursery school children. Eight consecutive sets of longitudinal measurements on height and weight were obtained from 15 259 preschool children. Thereafter, growth in height, weight and body mass index (BMI) over a period of 6 months was calculated. Summertime growth was defined as that from April to October, whereas wintertime growth was defined as that from October to April of the following year. Longitudinal growth seasonality was analysed by classifying children according to their BMI status at the age of elementary school entry.

RESULTS

Accelerated summertime weight and BMI gain were observed among children with obesity. This distinctive growth seasonality was detected from around age 2. Children having this growth seasonality at approximately 2 years of age tended to be obese at the age of elementary school entry (OR: 3.7; 95% CI: 2.9 to 4.6; p<0.0001). In height gain, obese children were growing apparently faster than those in the other groups at all ages.

CONCLUSION

Early excessive growth with distinct seasonality was observed in preschool obese children. These findings suggest that individuals involved in child healthcare should pay closer attention to early excessive growth with distinct seasonality in preschool obesity.

Effect of the Fukushima earthquake on weight in early childhood: a retrospective analysis

OBJECTIVE

There have been no reports evaluating the physical growth in early childhood in Fukushima Prefecture after the Great East Japan Earthquake. We retrospectively investigated the health examination data in early childhood (aged 0-3 years).

METHODS

We divided the affected children into respective groups according to the interval from the disaster to the time of health examination and age as follows: group I, birth to 3-4 months in boys (1.81 (range, 0-6 months)) and girls (1.79 (range, 0-7 months)); group II, 3-4 months to 6-10 months in boys (6.37 (range, 3-9 months)) and girls (6.35 (range, 3-9 months)); group III, 6-10 months and 18 months in boys (16.2 (range, 5-22 months)) and girls (16.9 (range, 5-22 months)); and group IV, 18 months to 36-42 months in boys (21.0 (range, 18-24 months)) and girls (21.0 (range, 18-24 months)). Using height and body mass index, the health status of each group was compared with that of unaffected controls (ie, children who experienced the disaster after their health examination at 36-42 months).

RESULTS

The change in body mass index between the health examinations at 18 months and 36-42 months was significantly increased in group I (95% CI: all boys, 0.192 to 0.276 vs -0.006 to 0.062, P<0.001 and all girls, 0.108 to 0.184 vs -0.109 to -0.035, P<0.001) and group II (95% CI: all boys, 0.071 to 0.141 vs -0.006 to 0.062, P=0.002 and all girls, -0.042 to 0.024 vs -0.109 to -0.035, P=0.013).

CONCLUSIONS

Children who were affected by the disaster in Fukushima Prefecture in early childhood were overweight. The use of pre-existing information, such as health examination data, was beneficial for investigating the physical growth of affected children.