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Biomedical subjects

L Mo-suwan

Publications and source records attributed to L Mo-suwan.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Determinants of overweight tracking from childhood to adolescence: a 5 y follow-up study of Hat Yai schoolchildren.

OBJECTIVE: To study the determinants of overweight tracking from childhood to adolescence of Hat Yai schoolchildren. DESIGN: A longitudinal study. SETTING: Primary and secondary schools of Hat Yai municipality, southern Thailand. SUBJECTS: 2252 schoolchildren recruited in 1992 and follow-up for 5y. MEASUREMENTS: Child's annual body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) from 1992 to 1997; parental BMIs, parental income, and family history of diseases by a questionnaire completed by parents in 1992. RESULTS: Prevalence of overweight of males using the 85th percentile of the U S First National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey reference for age and sex as a cut-off point increased from 12.4% in 1992 to 21% in 1997, whereas that of females went down from 15.2 to 12.6. At the end of the fifth year, 11.8% of children remained overweight while 4.5% became overweight. Comparing to the non-overweights, the risk for becoming an overweight adolescent of an overweight boy was 8.2 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 6, 11.2) whereas that of the overweight girls was 20 (95% CI = 12.4, 32.3). The generalized estimating equations model predicted an increase in child BMI associated with having a father or a mother with high BMI, a family history of obesity, a monthly income greater than 5000 baht, and a lower level of exercise than their peers. Secular increase in BMI was also observed. CONCLUSION: Predictors of overweight tracking found in this study would be useful to select children at risk for preventive intervention.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

School performance and weight status of children and young adolescents in a transitional society in Thailand.

OBJECTIVE: To study the association between current or previous weight status and school performance among children and young adolescents of Hat Yai municipality, southern Thailand. DESIGN: Cross-sectional and longitudinal study. SETTING: Primary and secondary schools of Hat Yai municipality, southern Thailand. SUBJECTS: 1207 grades 3-6 and 587 grades 7-9 students. MEASUREMENTS: Body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) calculated from weight and height measurement of subjects in 1992 and 1994; parental education level and occupation, and monthly income, by questionnaire performed in 1992; grade-point-average (GPA) and grades of mathematics and Thai language from the school records of final examinations in 1994. RESULTS: Overweight subjects (BMI value > 85th percentile of the NHANES-I data for age and gender) in grades 7-9 had a mean GPA 0.20 point (95% confidence internal (CI) = 0.04, 0.37) lower than that of the normal weight children after controlling for gender, age, school and grade. They were twice more likely to have low grades (lower than 2 on the scales of 0-4) of mathematics and Thai language than normal weight children. There were no associations between GPA or individual subject grades and previous BMI status in 1992. Children in grades 7-9 who became overweight over the two years, had a mean GPA of 0.48 point lower than those who did not become overweight (95% CI = 0.12, 0.84). In grades 3-6 subjects, however, becoming overweight had no effect on GPA and individual subject scores. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that being overweight and becoming overweight during adolescence (grades 7-9) was associated with poor school performance, whereas such an association did not exist in children (grades 3-6).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Secular increases in weight, height and body mass index among school children of Hat Yai, Thailand: a 5 years follow-up study.

Upward trend of growth and overweight has been reported from developed countries. As Thailand has been undergoing rapid economic transition over the previous decade, we conducted an analysis to demonstrate the secular changes of growth over five years follow-up. Subjects were a cohort of 2,252 primary school children recruited in 1992 for the Hat Yai childhood obesity study. Baseline demographic and family data were collected by a questionnaire completed by parents. To quantify the cohort effect, a generalized estimating equations analysis for a cross sectional time series data was undertaken with weight, height, and body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) as a dependent variable and containing a quadratic term of age, sex, year of birth and family variables. One thousand and ninety-four (48.5%) children completed 6 anthropometric measurements. Graphs of median weight, height, BMI and overweight prevalence of each birth cohort against age showed secular increases of growth and overweight, and an age effect. For each one-year younger cohort, the median weight, median height and median BMI increased by 1.22 kg, 1.25 cm and 0.23 kg/m2, respectively. An increasing trend of childhood overweight reported here may signify a need for preventing overweight and reducing weight in childhood adolescence in the future.

Body Height↗
PubMed1998

Effects of a controlled trial of a school-based exercise program on the obesity indexes of preschool children.

Exercise has been found to be effective for prevention of weight gain and maintenance of a stable weight in adults. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a school-based aerobic exercise program on the obesity indexes of preschool children. Subjects were 292 second-year elementary school pupils from 2 kindergartens in Hat Yai municipality, Songkhla province, southern Thailand. A specially designed exercise program, including a 15-min walk before beginning the morning class and a 20-min aerobic dance session after the afternoon nap, 3 times a week, was conducted for 29.6 wk. Weight, height, and triceps skinfold thickness were measured 4 times. At the end of the study, the prevalence of obesity, using 95th percentile National Center for Health Statistics triceps-skinfold-thickness cutoffs, of both the exercise and control groups decreased. That of the exercise group decreased from 12.2% at baseline to 8.8% (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, P = 0.058), whereas that of the control group decreased from 11.7% to 9.7% (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, P = 0.179). A sex difference in the response of body mass index (BMI) to exercise was observed. Girls in the exercise group had a lower likelihood of having an increasing BMI slope than the control girls did (odds ratio: 0.32; 95% CI: 0.18, 0.56). In conclusion, our study suggests that a 29.6-wk school-based exercise program can prevent BMI gain in girls and may induce a remission of obesity in preschool-age children.

Anthropometry↗
PubMed1996

Risk factors for childhood obesity in a transitional society in Thailand.

OBJECTIVE: To identify factors associated with childhood obesity among the population of Hat Yai municipality, a transitional society in Thailand. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SUBJECTS: 2161 primary schoolchildren, aged 6-13 completed years. MEASUREMENTS: Weight-for-height of children by measurement, parental weight and height, parental income, family history of disease and children's activities by questionnaire. RESULTS: Prevalence of obesity was 14.1%. Using polytomous logistic regression, statistically significant associations with obesity were found for family history of obesity (relative rate ratio, RRR = 3.1), low exercise level (RRR = 2.6 vs normal), obesity in mother and father (RRR = 1.9 and 2.2, respectively vs normal weight status). Significant trends of increased risk were associated with higher family income and smaller family size. The highest population attributable fraction was that for family history of obesity (34%), followed by those for low exercise level (12%) and an obese or overweight mother (10%). CONCLUSION: As the parental and family factors identified in this study cannot be readily modified, increasing exercise may be the most appropriate intervention to prevent obesity in childhood.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Bowel habits of normal Thai children.

Bowel habits were assessed in 400 healthy Thai children aged 1-72 months. The study was undertaken principally because information concerning the bowel habits of children living on a non-Western diet is lacking. Ninety-four percent of the children moved their bowels at least once a day. Mean frequency of bowel actions per day was maximal in the newborn period (3.3 stools) and declined to once a day from ages of 48 to 72 months. Most infants younger than 2 months old produced running stools; however, a change in stool consistency from runny to formed was evident in most children by 4 months of age. With increasing age, children produced larger stools: mean volume of stool was 16.6 +/- 2.3 ml at 1 month of age and increased to 35.4 +/- 7.6 ml at 48-72 months. In comparison with Western children, it seems that Thai children pass larger, softer, and more frequent stools. That difference in the bowel habits between the two ethnic groups may reflect the difference in the amount of natural fiber in their diets.

Child↗
PubMed1994

Effects of piped water supply on the incidence of diarrheal diseases in children in southern Thailand.

Simple piped water supply (PWS) is increasingly popular in rural areas of southern Thailand where diarrheal diseases are quite common. The current study was carried out in 1990 in the southern part of Thailand to determine whether the use of PWS could significantly reduce the incidence rate of diarrheal diseases among the children under two years of age. A dynamic cohort study started in January 1990 in seven Muslim villages where PWS was installed for some time and there was a mixture of PWS users and non-users in each village. The cohorts comprised 126 and 137 children using and not using PWS, respectively. They were followed up weekly for one year. The crude incidence rates of diarrhea episodes for children using and not using PWS were 2.54 (SE = 0.21) and 3.52 (SE = 0.18) episodes per child-year, respectively (p < 0.01). The number of diarrheal attacks in each week was modeled as a Poisson variate using a generalized estimating equation, adjusting for correlation within the child. The analysis was carried out for each village separately and meta-analysis was used to combine these analyses. The rate ratio of PWS, adjusted for concurrent age and season, food supplement and common cold, was 0.74 (95% CI = 0.59-0.93), indicating a statistically significant reduction of one quarter. However, the proportion of users decreased with time due to management failure. It was concluded that diarrheal disease in the study area was mild but the incidence rate was high. The effect of PWS on the incidence rate of diarrhea varied with locality.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Cohort Studies↗
PubMed1994

Physical fitness of obese school children in Hat Yai, southern Thailand.

259 primary school children (average age 9.2 years) were randomly selected from three groups of children whose weights-for-height were 90-110% (normal 111), > 110-120% (over weight 25), and > 120% (obesity 123) of reference values for Bangkok children. They underwent physical fitness tests which included measurement of speed (50 meters run), flexibility (sit-reach), abdominal strength and endurance (30 seconds sit-up), vital capacity (spirometer), and indirect maximum oxygen uptake (VO2 max-submaximal bicycle ergometer). The results showed that all physical fitness tests were statistically significantly different (p < 0.05) between groups, except for flexibility in boys. But for the girls, only 50 meters run, sit-up and VO2 max showed statistically significant differences (p < 0.05). In the comparison of physical fitness tests between sexes, normal weight boys did better than girls (p < 0.05) for all tests except flexibility. There were no statistically significant differences between sexes in overweight and obese children. This study demonstrated that physical fitness of obese children was worse than that of normal children in both sexes, especially as measured by 50 meters run, sit-up and VO2 max tests. Thus, promotion of exercise in obese children should be stimulated to develop better physical fitness and weight reduction. In comparison of physical fitness between the sexes, boys had better physical fitness than girls, significant in the normal weight group only. There is no definite explanation as to why increase in weight results in no difference of physical fitness between sexes. Lifestyle, physical skills, and genetic determinants should be considered for interpretation of physical fitness.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1993

Increasing obesity in school children in a transitional society and the effect of the weight control program.

Childhood obesity is an increasing problem in developed countries. Its persistence into adulthood with accompanied health risks has raised many concerns. In a country with rapid growing economy and changing life styles such as Thailand, the natural history of obesity in school children aged 6-12 years was investigated. Yearly weight and height measurements were performed from 1991 onwards. Of 1,156 primary school children enrolled in 1991, two year follow-up was possible in 1,106 cases. Prevalence of obesity, as diagnosed by weight-for-height > 120% of the Bangkok reference, rose from 12.2% in 1991 to 13.5% in 1992 and 15.6% in 1993. In two years, 74 non-obese children became obese while 28 obese children showed the opposite trend. For those obese children who attended the weight control program, their body mass indices and triceps skinfold thickness increased significantly less than those of the non-attendees in the first year. These findings persisted in the second year but were of a smaller magnitude. Results of this study demonstrate the trend of increasing obesity in school children in the transitional society and the short term benefit of a weight control program.

Body Mass Index↗
PubMed1993

Evaluation of village piped water: a case study in southern Thailand.

This study was conducted in a district of southern Thailand to evaluate village piped water (VPW) systems with respect to the process of planning and operation. Of 67 villages in the district, 31 were installed with one or more VPW systems using water obtained from artesian wells and distributed through the pipe with neither prior filtering nor chlorination. Seven systems were found to have stopped functioning for more than 6 months. The direct causes of failure were lack of participation from the villagers, mechanical problems and serious conflicts among the leaders. Of the running systems, only 4 were operating with meters for individual households. The charge rates were probably too low to cope with sustainable maintenance costs. The water had rust, unpleasant odors, slightly salty taste and oily surface in 50, 33, 29 and 4% of the systems respectively. Among VPW users, 8% drank water from shallow wells and 77% drank unboiled water. It was concluded that VPW in the study area was not effective for several reason. Prior assessment of management feasibility and proper community education were lacking. The running costs were probable too high, not well recognized and not covered. This led to failure in gaining participation from the villagers, which eventually led to failure or potential failure of the system and waste of capital investment. These pitfalls should be prevented prior to installation of any VPW system in the future.

Community Participation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Growth pattern and age at menarche of obese girls in a transitional society.

Childhood obesity is an increasing problem in a transitional society such as Thailand. To study physical growth and puberty in obese children, a cross-sectional survey of growth and age at menarche was carried out in schoolgirls aged between 8 and 16 years old. The 3,120 girls were divided into two groups based on weight-for-height criteria. Girls with weight-for-height between 80 and 120% were classified as normal stature (2,625; 84.1%) and those more than 120% were obese (495; 15.9%). Using probit analysis, age at menarche in obese girls was 0.9 year earlier than normal stature girls (11.5 years vs 12.4 years). At age 12, obese girls were reaching menarche 2.8 times more when compared with the normal stature girls. In terms of growth pattern, obese girls were taller and grew faster during the prepubertal period, and then reached their final height earlier than the normal stature girls (13 years vs 15 years). The final height in obese girls was significantly shorter (153.0 cm and 155.0 cm, p = 0.01). We conclude that: 1) obese girls grow faster, have earlier menarche and then stop growing earlier, and 2) obese girls tend to be shorter as adults, compared with normal stature girls.

Adolescent↗