Germán Briceño

Promotion of Cardiovascular Health in Preschool Children: 36-Month Cohort Follow-up

BACKGROUND Educational interventions in preschool children could improve dietary behavior and physical activity, and prevent unhealthy body weights in low- and middle-income countries. Previously, we have reported the beneficial impact of an educational intervention in preschoolers in a 6-month trial. We now report extended results after 36 months. METHODS Evaluating the cohort of previously intervened children, baseline measurements were made in May 2009 in 14 preschool facilities in Usaquén (Bogotá, Colombia). Follow-up measurements were performed at 18 and 36 months. The primary outcome was the mean change in childrens knowledge and attitudes scores regarding healthy eating and living an active lifestyle, including habits scores related to physical activity. Secondary outcomes were the change over time of childrens nutritional status and the mean change in parents knowledge, attitudes, and habits. RESULTS We included 1216 children, 3-5 years of age, and 928 parents. After adjusting by sex and age of children, socioeconomic status, age of parents, and age and education level of teachers, we found a significant increase in mean knowledge, attitudes, and habits scores at 36 months, compared with baseline: 87.94 vs 76.15 (P <.001); 86.39 vs 57.03 (P <.001); and 66.29 vs 48.72 (P <.001), respectively. We observed a similar increase in knowledge and attitude scores in parents: 73.45 vs 70.01 (P <.001); and 78.08 vs 74.65 (P <.001). The proportion of eutrophic children increased from 62.1% at baseline to 75.0% at 36 months (P <.0001). CONCLUSIONS After 36 months, the educational intervention maintained a beneficial trend toward a healthy lifestyle in children and their parents.

Colombian reference growth curves for height, weight, body mass index and head circumference.

Published Growth studies from Latin America are limited to growth references from Argentina and Venezuela. The aim of this study was to construct reference growth curves for height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and head circumference of Colombian children in a format that is useful for following the growth of the individual child and as a tool for public health.

Protocolo del estudio para establecer estándares normativos de crecimiento de niños colombianos sanos

Resumen Antecedentes El crecimiento infantil esta condicionado por factores geneticos, ambientales, sociales y economicos, por lo que es util elaborar graficas de crecimiento locales. La Fundacion Cardio-Infantil, Instituto de Cardiologia, y la Asociacion Colombiana de Endocrinologia Pediatrica, con el apoyo del Karolinska Institutet en Suecia y de Colciencias estan desarrollando los estandares normativos de crecimiento para evaluar la expresion del potencial biologico para ninos en Colombia. Objetivo Establecer datos antropometricos/auxologicos de referencia para ninos y adolescentes residentes en Bogota, Medellin, Cali y Barranquilla, y elaborar graficas de referencia de crecimiento para la poblacion colombiana. Metodos Se trata de un estudio de corte transversal, excepto el primer ano, en el que sera longitudinal. El estudio se adelantara en Bogota, Medellin, Cali y Barranquilla. Se incluiran ninos y ninas de 0 a 20 anos, sanos, de estrato 3 en adelante (para limitar factores que pueden bloquear la expresion del potencial biologico). Se excluiran menores con cualquier condicion que afecte el crecimiento (incluso medicamentos) o hijos de ambos padres extranjeros. Se planea incluir 26.500 (250 ninos y 250 ninas para cada grupo de edad) seleccionados mediante muestreo probabilistico, estratificado bietapico de elementos. En los ninos incluidos se mediran talla, peso, perimetro cefalico, circunferencia abdominal y talla en posicion sedente. Se obtendran desviaciones estandar de referencia y las curvas de percentiles, reportando el cambio de distribucion por tres curvas (mediana, coeficiente de variacion y coeficiente de sesgo).

High prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors in a pediatric population

INTRODUCTION Cardiovascular disease risk factors begin in childhood. Their presence may predict cardiovascular disease in adulthood. OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors in a group of nurses´ children at a health facility in Bogotá, Colombia. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross-sectional, population-based observational study among 3-17 year-old individuals evaluated between June, 2011, and July, 2012. RESULTS A total number of 118 children were included. The mean age was 7.4 years, with a standard deviation of 3.86; 72.0% of the children had a normal weight. Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors was distributed as follows: inadequate food habits, 89.0%; sedentary lifestyle, 78.8%; family history of cardiovascular disease, 16.1%; overweight, 15.3%, and obesity, 12.7%. There were no significant differences in risk factors between boys and girls. Among overweight and obese children, sedentary lifestyle was present in 90.9%, and among normal-weight children, in 36.5% (p<0.001). Inadequate food habits were present in 84.8% of the overweight and obese children, and in 42.4% of those with normal weight (p<0.001). Among the study population, 97.5% had at least one risk factor and 42.4% presented 3 or more. The presence of 3 or more cardiovascular disease risk factors was higher in obese children, when compared to overweight (p<0.001) and normal-weight children (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS The results of this study indicate that there was a substantial burden of cardiovascular disease risk factors in the 3-17 year-old children included, particularly in those who were obese or overweight.

Effect of liquid cow manure amendment on dimethenamid persistence in a volcanic soil

The effect of liquid cow manure (LCM) on dimethenamid persistence was studied using amended soils with various stabilization times and LCM doses corresponding to specific field applications. Soils were amended with LCM doses equivalent to 100,000, 200,000, and 300,000 L ha -1 . Dimethenamid (2-chloro-N-(2, 4-dimethyl- 3-thienyl)-N-(2-methoxy-1-methylethyl) acetamide) was applied in a field dose. The study was conducted under controlled conditions using an Andisol without the prior application of the herbicide and LCM. Respiratory activity, fluorescein diacetate (FDA) activity, and residual dimethenamid were measured within a specific time period. The respiratory activity and FDA studies showed that LCM-amended soils were stabilized after 20 days in incubation and displayed no significant differences after applying dimethenamid. The half-life (t 1/2 ) of dimethenamid in soil was 28 days; however, in LCM-amended soils, the half-life ranged from 13 to 21 days. In the amended soil, the t 1/2 decreased significantly to 13 days in soils that contained the highest levels of LCM at 10 days of pre-incubation. The results show that both the dose and stabilization time of LCM-amended soils change the half-life of dimethe- namid. Larger LCM doses are not recommended for field application. Dimethema - nid should be applied 20 days after the soil amendment to increase dimethenamid efficacy.