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Biomedical subjects

R R Frerichs

Publications and source records attributed to R R Frerichs.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Randomised, controlled trial of effectiveness of ampicillin in mild acute respiratory infections in Indonesian children.

The recommended treatment for mild acute respiratory infections (ARI) in children is supportive care only, but many physicians, especially in developing countries, continue to prescribe antibiotic treatment because they believe it prevents progression to more severe ARI. To find out whether ampicillin treatment conferred any benefit over supportive care alone, a randomised, controlled trial was carried out among 889 children (under 5 years) with mild ARI in Indonesia. 447 were randomly allocated ampicillin (25-30 mg/kg body weight three times daily for 5 days) plus supportive care (continued breastfeeding, clearing of the nose, and paracetamol to control fever); 442 were allocated supportive care only. The treatment groups were almost identical after randomisation in terms of age, sex, level of parental education, history of measles immunisation, and fever. After 1 week the percentages cured were nearly identical (204 [46%] ampicillin; 209 [47%] control), as were the percentages of cases progressing to moderate ARI (56 [13%] vs 53 [12%]). The effect of treatment was not modified by age, sex, measles immunisation status, or the educational level of the parents. At the 2-week follow-up, the percentages cured were 62% (277) in the ampicillin group and 58% (256) in the control group; 14% of both groups had progressed to moderate ARI; and 24% (107) and 28% (123), respectively, still had mild ARI. None of the differences in outcome between the ampicillin and control groups was statistically significant. Thus, ampicillin plus supportive care offers no benefit over supportive care alone for treatment of mild ARI in young Indonesian children.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1979

Serum high density lipoprotein and its relationship to cardiovascular disease risk factor variables in children--the Bogalusa heart study.

Serum high density lipoprotein is increasingly recognized as a negative risk for cardiovascular disease. The distribution and interrelationship of serum lipids, lipoproteins, anthropometric measurements and blood pressures were determined in some 5,000 children. Children had mean +/- S.D. alpha-lipoprotein cholesterol levels (mg/100 ml) of 36 +/- 15 at birth, 51 +/- 22 at 6 mo, 53 +/- 18 at 1 yr, 60 +/- 19 at preschool age (2 1/2-5 1/2 yr) and 68 +/- 22 at school age (5-14 yr), reflecting a sharp increase in alpha-lipoprotein between birth and school-age years, when these levels remained relatively stable through age 14. Although white children tended to have higher levels of total cholesterol and alpha-lipoprotein at birth than black children, during childhood this trend was reversed and the differences were pronounced in school-age children (p less than 0.0001). Unlike in adulthood, boys had slightly higher levels of alpha-lipoprotein than girls. The alpha-lipoprotein was negatively correlated with pre-beta-lipoprotein and to a lesser extent with beta-lipoprotein classes. There was an inverse relationship between alpha-lipoprotein and obesity with a consistently significant relationship (p less than 0.01) in older children (10-14 yr). Children with higher levels of alpha-lipoprotein have lower levels of blood pressure, beta-lipoprotein and a lower obesity index.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Path analysis of environmental and genetic influences on blood pressure.

Familial aggregation of a trait (determined by the intraclass correlation coefficient) may result from genetic influence or from environment common to a household. The authors used path analysis to separate aggregation into the proportion of population variability due to genetic influence (h2 = heritability) and the proportion due to environment common to a household (c2). They used data from full siblings and maternal half siblings, aged two to 18 years, from Bogalusa, Louisiana, a biracial community. The statistically significant aggregation they found could be explained by either h2 or c2 except for two cases: systolic measurement in the pooled (black and white) sample requires h2; diastolic measurement in the white sample requires c2. The authors present a simplified explanation of the techniques they used.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Equations for estimating percentage of body fat in children 10--14 years old.

Measurements of the percentage of body fat (derived by underwater weighing), height, weight, and triceps skinfold thickness were determined for a volunteer sample of 214 children, 10--14 years old. The bivariate correlations, by sex, of percentage of body fat with five obesity indices are highest with the triceps skinfold and least with weight-height. Five sets of equations are presented for predicting percentage of body fat based on measurements of either height and weight, triceps skinfold, or height, weight, and triceps skinfold. Cumulative frequency distributions of the percentage of body fat (based on height, weight, and triceps skinfold) are shown by race and sex for a total community of 10- to 14-year olds.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1978

Childhood sibling aggregation of coronary artery disease risk factor variables in a biracial community.

To analyze aggregation of risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD), the authors studied 4538 children from the biracial community of Bogalusa, Louisiana. Of these children ranging in age from two to 18 years, 2535 had at least one sibling, permitting the calculation of F-ratios and intraclass correlation coefficients. Those calculations revealed statistically signigicant F-ratios for all anthropometric, blood pressure and lipid variables studied. Of the lipoprotein variables studied only alpha-lipoprotein showed no statistically significant aggregation (for black children). The analysis failed to reveal any significant differences in intraclass correlations between black and white children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Relation of serum lipids and lipoproteins to obesity and sexual maturity in white and black children.

The interrelationships of serum lipids and lipoproteins with measures of body habitus and maturation stages were analyzed in a biracial population of 3151 children, ages 5--14 years. In general, triglycerides, pre-beta-lipoprotein, and beta-lipoprotein were positively correlated with body habitus and maturation while alpha-lipoprotein was negatively correlated. The relationships in most instances were more apparent in whites than in blacks, with the highest correlations observed in white boys. No significant correlations were observed between serum cholesterol and the anthropometric variables except in white boys. The most obese children tended to have higher levels of triglycerides, pre-beta-lipoprotein, and beta-lipoprotein, and lower levels of alpha-lipoprotein than the remaining population. In the total population, the multiple correlation coefficients with the children's age, race, sex weight-height index, triceps skinfold and maturation stage as the independent variables and the concentrations of the different serum variables as the dependent variables ranged from 0.04 to 0.11.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Serum lipids and lipoproteins at birth in a biracial population: the Bogalusa heart study.

The lipid profile, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and lipoproteins (beta-, pre-beta-, and alpha-) of cord blood, is presented for 419 black and white infants (94% of the eligible population) born during an 18-month period in Bogalusa, Louisiana. At birth, white neonates of both sexes had higher average levels than black neonates of total cholesterol and beta-lipoproteins. White girls among the four race-sex groups had the highest cord blood levels of total cholesterol, beta-lipoproteins, and alpha-lipoproteins. Neither stress at delivery, birthweight, socioeconomic status, nor season of the year had an observable effect on any of the lipid or lipoprotein levels. The magnitude and direction of the relationships between the respective lipids and lipoproteins in cord blood were similar to those we have observed in preschool and school-aged children in the same community. Total cholesterol was highly correlated with both beta- and alpha-lipoproteins; triglycerides were correlated with pre-beta-lipoproteins but inversely with alpha-lipoproteins. These observations suggest that basic biochemical relationships are already established at birth.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed1977

Anthropometric and maturation measurements of children, ages 5 to 14 years, in a biracial community--the Bogalusa Heart Study.

An epidemiological survey of anthropometric and maturation variables was conducted on 3,524 children from the biracial community of Bogalusa, Louisiana. These children, representing 93% of the population, were examined during the school year September 1973 through May 1974. Black boys differed slightly from white boys in height and weight; black girls were taller and heavier than white girls. The black children had longer upper arm lengths and smaller upper arm circumferences than the white children. The median ponderosity (weight divided by the cubed height) decreased with increasing heigth for the four race-sex groups, and a skewed distribution of ponderosity indicated an excess of heavy children among the tall. Based on the Tanner criteria for grading secondary sex characteristics, maturation occurred earlier in the more ponderous girls, although such was not the case for boys. Whereas the Tanner secondary sex characteristics appeared earlier in black girls, white girls reported menarche earlier. The racial and sexual differences known to exist in triceps skinfold were observed for this population. No statistically significant difference was observed overall for height and weight between children within this one community and those of the National Health Examination Survey. However, Bogalusa girls at the 95th percentile were heavier after age 11 than girls of the United States. Also, there was a tendency for white girls in this community to report reaching menarche at an earlier age than black girls, which contrasts slightly with the national sample.

Anthropometry↗