Prevalence of overweight, obesity and underweight among 5-year-old children in Saint Lucia by three methods of classification and a comparison with historical rates

BACKGROUND

The study aimed to determine if child obesity rates have risen in the Caribbean nation of Saint Lucia, as found globally, and whether under-nutrition coexists, as in other developing nations. The average adult in Saint Lucia is overweight, thus considerable child obesity might be expected, but there are no current data.

METHODS

Heights and weights were obtained from a sample (n= 425) of the 2001 birth cohort of Saint Lucian children measured during the nation-wide 2006/2007 Prior to School Entry Five-Year Assessment. Prevalence of overweight, obesity and underweight were estimated by Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Cole et al. and new World Health Organization (WHO) methods. Previously reported 1976 estimates, including children ≤60 months of age only, based on National Centre for Health Statistics curves, were adjusted to new WHO equivalents using an algorithm developed by Yang and de Onis, and compared with rates in our subsample of children ≤60 months of age (n= 99).

RESULTS

Regardless of classification method, overweight and obesity rates were high: 14.4% and 9.2% (WHO); 11.3% and 12.0% (CDC); and 9.9% and 7.1% (Cole et al.), respectively. Underweight estimates also varied: 4.7% (WHO); 11.3% (CDC) and 6.6% (Cole et al.). Obesity in our young subsample (15.2%; WHO) was more than 3 times the adjusted 1976 rate (4.3%).

CONCLUSIONS

Obesity among Saint Lucian pre-schoolers has tripled in 30 years. Our findings also suggest that this country, like many undergoing a 'nutrition transition', faces the dual challenge of over-nutrition and under-nutrition. Routine monitoring of overweight and underweight is needed in Saint Lucia, as is the implementation and evaluation of programmes to address these problems.

Birth outcomes associated with prenatal participation in a government support programme for mothers with low incomes

BACKGROUND

Women with low incomes are at higher risk to have low-birthweight (LBW) babies and less likely to participate in prenatal support programmes than women with higher incomes. This study examined birth outcomes among participants in the Newfoundland and Labrador Mother-Baby Nutrition Supplement (MBNS), a prenatal programme for women with low incomes that provides a monthly financial supplement and printed information on infant health and development, along with a referral to public health nursing services.

METHODS

Application data (e.g. mother's age, education) for those who applied between August 2002 and December 2004 were obtained from the Provincial Government. Birth outcomes (e.g. birthweight, weeks of gestation) were available for 1599 women. Of these, 862 were parity zero and subsequently delivered full-term infants. Comparisons were made on demographics, timeliness of enrolment and rates of full-term LBW.

RESULTS

Participants were more often single, younger and less educated than the average woman who gave birth in the Province or Canada in 2004. Women enrolled early were less likely to have a full-term LBW baby than those enrolled late (chi(2)((1)) = 4.03, P = 0.045). Mothers enrolled late had a higher rate of full-term LBW than was the case in the Province [risk ratio (RR) = 2.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.61-4.74] and Canada (RR = 2.53, 95% CI = 1.55-4.21) whereas those enrolled earlier, despite increased risk due to low income, age and education, single status and zero parity, had rates of full-term LBW on par with the Province (RR = 1.29, 95% CI = 0.71-2.32) and Canada (RR = 1.19, 95% CI = 0.68-2.08).

CONCLUSION

The MBNS is an effective intervention for improving birth outcomes in women considered at risk. The challenge is to enrol pregnant women as early as possible. Future research will examine what programme component or combination of components (e.g. financial, information, referral) affects birth outcomes.

The N-methyl-D-aspartate channel blocker ketamine does not attenuate, but enhances, locus coeruleus-induced potentiation in rat dentate gyrus

Norepinephrine (NE)-induced potentiation of the perforant path-evoked potential is blocked by N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonism in vitro. Does this occur in vivo? A saline and a ketamine micropipette monitored perforant path-evoked potentials in the dentate gyrus of urethane-anesthetized rats. Activation of locus coeruleus (LC) produced short- and long-term potentiation of the perforant path-evoked potential on both pipettes. Spike amplitude potentiation was enhanced on the ketamine pipette. In contrast high frequency-induced potentiation on the ketamine pipette was attenuated. LC-NE potentiation may not require NMDA channel activation in vivo.