Sri Lanka nutrition status survey, 1975.
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Age Factors↗
Biomedical subjects
N W Staehling
Publications and source records attributed to N W Staehling.
Sahel nutrition survey, 1974.
In time of food shortage, accurate assessment of nutrition status is important so that effective aid may be directed to those in greatest need and, in the future, the impact of this aid on the nutritional situation may be assessed. Using a population proportional sampling method and the index weight for height (which is relatively independent of sex, race, and age) as a criterion of nutritional status, CDC investigators determined that about 10% of the sampled population (aged about 6 months through 6 years) in Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Upper Volta and over 20% in the sampled population in Chad were severely and acutely undernourished. Apparently younger children were affected first, but as the food shortage became more severe the prevalence of undernourished older children increased. This method of nutrition surveillance has proven itself during a stressful period and should be considered a fundamental tool when rapid assessment of acute undernutrition in children in developing nations is required.
Anthropometry↗
Nutritional status of children in Nepal, 1975.
Using a random start, fixed interval method of population proportionate sampling, the survey teams visited 219 villages in rural Nepal and collected data on height, weight, and age from 6501 preschool children. During training and at specific times during the survey, systematic standardization methods were utilized to improve the quality of the collected data. Using 80% of the reference median weight-for-height as the cut-off point, the prevalence of acute undernutrition was 6.7%. Using 90% of the reference median height-for-age as the cut-off point, the prevalence of chronic undernutrition was 52%. The prevalence of chronic undernutrition was significantly higher in the hilly areas. Mean haemoglobin values of blood samples collected from one-fifth of the survey population increased with age with no difference between hill and terai areas. A Nepal urban elite population was measured for comparison. The survey method used indicators that are economical in terms of money, time, and personnel and that provide objective data on the extent and distribution of protein/energy undernutrition and of low haemoglobin values in preschool children.
Body Height↗
Neuropsychological dysfunction in children with chronic low-level lead absorption.
To investigate the relation between low-level absorption and neuropsychological function, blind evaluations were under-taken in forty-six symptom-free children aged 3-15 years with blood-lead concentrations of 40-68 mug. per 100 ml. (mean 48 mug. per 100 ml.) and in seventy-eight ethnically and socioeconomically similar controls with levels greater than mug. per 100 ml. (mean 27 mug. per (100 ml). All children lived within 6-6 km. of a large, lead-emitting smelter, and in many cases residence there had been lifelong. Mean age in the lead group was 8-3 years and in the controls 9-3. Testing with Wechsler intelligence scales for schoolchildren and preschool children (W.I.S.C. and W.P.P.S.I.) showed age-adjusted performance I.Q. to be significantly decreased in the group with higher lead levels (mean scores, W.I.S.C. plus W.P.P.S.I., 95 v. 103). Children in all ages in the lead group also had significant slowing in a finger-wrist tapping test. Full-scale I.Q., verbal I.Q., BEHAVIOUR, AND HYPERACTIVITY RATINGS DID NOT DIFFER.
Absorption↗
Epidemic lead absorption near an ore smelter. The role of particulate lead.
Blood lead levels were determined on a random sample of persons in all age groups living near a lead-emitting smelter in El Paso, Texas. A blood lead level of greater than or equal to 40 mug per 100 ml, which was considered indicative of undue lead absorption, was found in 53 per cent of the children one to nine years old living within 1.6 km of the smelter and in 18 per cent of those from 1.6 to 6.6 km; beyond that distance in older persons levels were lower. Children in the first 1.6 km with blood levels of greater than or equal to mug per 100 ml were exposed to 3.1 times as much lead in dust as children there with lower blood values (6447 vs 2067 ppm). There was also airborne lead exposure (8 to 10 mug per cubic meter, annual mean). Paint, water, food, and pottery were less important as sources. The data suggest that particulate lead in dust and air accounted for most of the lead absorption in El Paso children. The smelter was the principal source of this lead, especially within 1.6km of itself.
Adult↗