Mariana Butinof

Adaptación transcultural del cuestionario KIDSCREEN para medir calidad de vida relacionada con la salud en población argentina de 8 a 18 años

BACKGROUND Health related quality of life (HRQOL) measures are increasingly used in research and clinical practice. The KIDSCREEN is a questionnaire developed in Europe for an 8 to 18 year-old population. OBJECTIVE To cross-culturally adapt this questionnaire for the Argentinean population, and to evaluate its cultural adequacy and semantic equivalence against the original version. METHODS Forward and backward translation according to international recommendations for cross-cultural adaptation of questionnaires, including the translation by professional linguists, cognitive interviews with people of different ages, gender and socioeconomic status to analyze cultural adequacy, and comparison of the Argentinean with the original versions to establish semantic equivalence. RESULTS The language required adaptation in the use of pronouns and verb tenses. Most of the items were considered to have low translation difficulty and high semantic equivalence. Boys and girls 8-11 years (n= 7), 12-15 years (n= 7), and 16-18 years (n= 2) participated in the interviews, as well as 6 mothers. There were no major difficulties in understanding, but younger children being in the lower socioeconomic status had some difficulties to answer the questionnaire. Eight questions were modified to achieve greater semantic equivalence. CONCLUSIONS The Argentinean version of the KIDSCREEN questionnaire obtained through cross-cultural adaptation process, was equivalent to the European version. Future studies should establish its reliability and validity. It provides a useful measure of HRQOL for studies in clinical, school or community settings, with the possibility to establish international comparisons.

Cancer incidence pattern in Cordoba, Argentina.

Cancer is the second cause of death in Argentina; nevertheless the distribution of the cancer incidence rates throughout the country is unknown. This study was conducted to describe cancer incidence patterns in Córdoba Province. Incidence data were supplied by the Government Córdoba Cancer Registry. Demographic information (age, sex, and place of residence) and diagnosis, certified by a pathologist, about all incident cases from June 2003 to May 2005 by type and 5-year age groups were obtained. Comparison of the incidence rate of cancer in various counties was performed by using standardized incidence rates (SIR) per 100 000 inhabitants using the world standard population. Estimated SIRs were used to build up incidence maps. Two indicators were created: sex ratio and site-specific ratio. Mixed Poisson models were fitted. Taken as a whole for all counties, SIR was 121.42 and 141.57 for men and women, respectively. The most common sites in men were prostate (13.62), lung (10.12), colon (7.53), and bladder (7.03); in women were breast (22.51) and colon (3.31). The highest and lowest rates were in urban and rural areas, respectively. Cancer registry has a pivotal role in cancer control. Such information is the primary resource of information not only for epidemiological research on cancer determinants but also for planning and evaluating health services for the policies of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

Correlates of breastfeeding duration in an urban cohort from Argentina

Aim: To analyse factors associated with the duration of breastfeeding in a representative cohort of mothers and children, including socio‐demographic and cultural characteristics, breastfeeding antecedents, perinatal factors and perinatal healthcare practices. Methods: The study was conducted in the city of Cordoba, between 1993 and 1998. Mother‐child binomials from all public and private hospitals were asked to participate. Follow‐up consisted of home visits at 30 d, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 50 mo. Information was obtained on 650 healthy newborns. Cessation of breastfeeding during the first 24 mo of life was analysed using the Kaplan‐Meier method, and factors associated with weaning were studied using Coxs proportional risk regression. Results. The median duration of breastfeeding was 4 mo. Factors associated with weaning were: the introduction of artificial formulas within 30 d postpartum [relative risk (RR) = 2.27; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.82–2.82]; breastfeeding of a previous child for less than 6 mo (RR=1.64; 95% CI = 1.32–2.02); delay in the first mother‐child contact for over 90 min (RR=1.50; 95% CI = 1.17–1.93); mothers having completed primary or partially completed secondary education (RR= 1.40; 95% CI = 1.01–1.92) or completed secondary education or higher (RR= 1.59; 95% CI = 1.14–2.22); primiparous mother (RR= 1.39; 95% CI = 1.12–1.74) and; the mother recalling having been breastfed for less than 6 mo (RR = 1.27; 95% CI = 1.01–1.61).

Work Practices, Exposure Assessment and Geographical Analysis of Pesticide Applicators in Argentina

1.1 Argentina Argentina is the second largest country of South America. In its central-eastern region, there is a plain extending over more than 50 million hectares, whose high fertility and productivity provide significant comparative advantages for agriculture production (Hall et al., 1992, as cited in Manuel-Navarrete et al., 2009). This activity is one of the main axes of Argentinas economy, particularly the production of cereals and oilseeds, the primary export of Argentina, placing it among the main grain-producing countries of the world (United States Department of Agriculture, 2010). In the history of Argentina, agriculture has been a prime contributor to economic and social development. Among the factors that explain this process are the external economic environment, the political framework, domestic economic conditions and the behaviour of production and innovation. At the same time, it is important to analyse its impact both socially and environmentally. Several evolutionary periods can be noticed in Argentinean agriculture: a birth and expansion period (from 1862 to 1929); an agricultural recession period (from 1929 to 1950); a mechanization and modernization period (from 1950 to 1989) and the productive specialization and agriculturalization period (from 1990) (Stratta Fernandez & Rios Carmenado, 2010). In the latter two periods, from the mid-20th century, there was an important expansion of agricultural production, marked by technological transformations. Some highlights of this period are: a) the creation of INTA (National Institute for Agricultural Technology) in 1957;

SP6-50 Occupational pesticide exposure in Cordoba, Argentina. An assessment based on self-reported information of agricultural applicators

Occupational pesticide exposure is a global health concern in agricultural settings. During the last 20 years, Argentina has experienced a process of “agriculturalization” characterised by a strong and continuous increase in the land area dedicated to crop growing. Cordoba, located in the center of the country, is one of the most important cropping province; its cultivated area increased from 3.397.050 ha in 1994/95 to 6.810.500 ha in 2009/10. Moreover, an extensive agricultural model was set up based on the production with glyphosate-resistant transgenic soybean, no-till and intensive use of fertilisers and pesticides since 1996. In fact, a strong growth in the marketing of pesticides was observed: 155 million pounds in 1995 to 600 million pounds in 2007. Nevertheless, environmental impact and human health effects is poorly studied in this region. A population-based study of 880 agricultural applicators was carried out between 2007 and 2010. An exposure assessment was performed based on self-reported data. Workers completed a validated questionnaire describing several socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics, pesticide and personal protective equipment use, lifetime exposure years and their health conditions. The main results indicate that our population is composed by young men (34.9 y, SD 11.04); 71% of them have mixed/applied pesticides up to 10 years and 46.5% live <500 m with respect to the next sprayed crop. Furthermore, 67% do not use adequate PPE and 65% apply on an average of 7000 ha/year. Our research shows a risk scenario that warrants further evaluation particularly for chronic health effects occurrence.

Estilos de vida y percepción de riesgo en prácticas con plaguicidas

El trabajo problematiza las nociones estilos de vida y percepcion de riesgo y su utilidad para analizar las practicas con plaguicidas de los trabajadores horticolas del cinturon verde de la ciudad de Cordoba, Argentina. La construccion social del riesgo permite comprender como se deslizan las significaciones de los plaguicidas y como estos significados estan anudados en los estilos de vida de los sujetos.

Características conductuales de un grupo de niños de cuatro años, hijos de madres adolescents

Resumen Proponemos describir las características sociodemográficas de un grupo de madres menores de 20 años y las características conductuales de sus niños a la edad de 4 años y compararlas con un grupo de niños de la misma edad hijos de madres mayores de 20 años. La muestra es aleatoria, estadísticamente representativa de niños de la ciudad de Córdoba-Argentina estratificados socialmente (N=215) y sus familias. El estrato social muy bajo presenta el mayor número de madres adolescentes. Sólo un escaso número de conductas se presenta en forma significativamente mayor en el grupo de hijos de madres adolescentes. Se discuten algunas explicaciones para este hecho y posibles aplicaciones del estudio.