Comparison of Prevalence of Nutritional Status of Thai Children in the First 2 Years of Life Using National and International Growth Charts.

Objective: Identify the difference of the nutritional status of Thai children from birth to 24 months of age using the national and international growth charts.

Material And Method: The analytic sample was of 4,224 children from the Prospective Cohort Study of Thai Children (PCTC). Age-specific prevalence of malnutrition was estimated using the NCHS, WHO, and Thai growth charts.

Socioeconomic determinants of infant growth: The Perspective Cohort Study of Thai Children.

Aim:   The present study is based on the Prospective Cohort Study of Thai Children (PCTC), and focuses on socioeconomic factors including maternal age, maternal education, living with parents, family size, family income, locality, and sex that affect the growth outcomes of infants at 1 year of age.

Methods:   Data was collected among 3679 pairs of mothers and infants in the PCTC cohort in rural and urban locations during 2001-2002. Data collection was performed by interviewing mothers in their 7th to 8th month of pregnancy using family profile questionnaires.

Allergic family history as a protective determinant to helminthic infection.

Objective: Investigate the resistance to helminths in children with an allergic family history.

Material And Method: The study was undertaken as part of the Prospective Cohort Study of Thai Children (PCTC) that followed all births in the year 2001 from rural districts in Thailand. The family histories of allergic diseases were validated by the physicians'diagnoses and medical record reviews.

Revising the WHO verbal autopsy instrument to facilitate routine cause-of-death monitoring.

Objective: Verbal autopsy (VA) is a systematic approach for determining causes of death (CoD) in populations without routine medical certification. It has mainly been used in research contexts and involved relatively lengthy interviews. Our objective here is to describe the process used to shorten, simplify, and standardise the VA process to make it feasible for application on a larger scale such as in routine civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems.

Consistency analysis of parenting styles in Thailand during children's first year.

This descriptive study identifies and examines the consistency of parenting styles during the first year of their children's lives. The data were collected from interviewing 4088 parents or primary care takers of the 6 month old infants during the third wave of data collection of The Prospective Cohort of Thai Children project. The instrument used was the Infant Parenting Styles Questionnaire, developed by the researchers, which reflected parental responses to infant care in five different situations.

Sleep quality in infants with atopic dermatitis: a community-based, birth cohort study.

Background: Sleep disturbance has been reported in both pre-school and older children with atopic dermatitis (AD). There have been no studies examining whether sleep disturbance occurs at the onset of the AD, or develops later.

Objective: To evaluate sleep characteristics in infants with AD.

Prevalence and incidence of child stunting from birth to two years of life in Thai children: based on the Prospective Cohort Study of Thai Children (PCTC).

Objective: To determine the percentages of prevalence and incidence in child stunting at birth, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months of age and to investigate the association between factors and child stunting outcome

Material And Method: The Prospective Cohort Study of Thai Children (PCTC) was carried out during 2000-2002, data from five districts were examined, and anthropometric measurements were performed by the physician and research assistants. WHO's growth reference standard year 2005 was used.

Results: Four thousand two hundred forty five children were included at the start of the present study of which 3,898 were in the final analysis.

Effect of helminthic infections together with mite allergen exposure on the risk of wheeze in preschool children.

Although some studies have indicated that helminthic infections and house dust mite exposure may have an alleviating effect on wheeze, an interaction effect of both risk factors has not been examined in Thailand. The objective of this study was to investigate whether exposure to helminthic infections together with house dust mite allergen was associated with wheeze in children aged 18-36 months, living in an area of southem Thailand where helminthic infections are endemic. This study was undertaken as a part of The Prospective Cohort Study of Thai Children which recruited 1,076 children born between December 2000 and November 2001.

Television viewing in Thai infants and toddlers: impacts to language development and parental perceptions.

Background: Effects of television to language development in infants and toddlers, especially in the Asian children, are inconclusive. This study aimed to (a) study time spent on television in Thai infants and toddlers (age < 2 years), (b) investigate the association between time spent on television (as recommended by the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP), < 2 hours per day) and language development in Thai 2-year-old children, and (c) explore parental perceptions on television toward their child's development.

Methods: Two hundred and sixty children and their parents were recruited into the study.

Perinatal death pattern in the four districts of Thailand: findings from the Prospective Cohort Study of Thai Children (PCTC).

Objective: To determine the magnitude and investigate causes of perinatal deaths of a cohort of the Prospective Cohort Study of Thai Children.

Material And Method: A semi-structured verbal autopsy questionnaire and review of medical records were used to ascertain the causes of deaths during the perinatal period in four districts of Thailand.

Results: The total numbers of 3,522 babies (with 28 pairs of twins) were born from 3,494 pregnant women.

Prevalence and associated factors of passive smoking in Thai infants.

Background: Passive smoking or exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is associated with an increased risk of several respiratory illnesses for infants.

Objective: To assess the prevalence and the associated factors of ETS exposure in Thai infants.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey based on interviews with parents of infants aged 1 year old, conducted during October 2001-August 2003, under the Prospective Cohort study of Thai Children.

A population-based cohort study of effect of maternal risk factors on low birthweight in Thailand.

Objectives: To determine the maternal risk factors of low birthweight (LBW) in Thailand and to address the possible activities to reduce the incidence of LBW.

Material And Method: The data were obtained from the Prospective Cohort Study in Thai Children (PCTC). Three thousand five hundred twenty two pregnancies initiated the follow-up in the year 2000 at four districts across Thailand The birthweight was retrieved from the Delivery Summary Sheet of the hospitals.

Differences in socio-economic status, service utilization, and pregnancy outcomes between teenage and adult mothers.

Background: Teenage pregnancies put mothers at high-risks to many health-related complications and newborn infants to poor birth-outcomes.

Objective: The present study aimed to explore the relationship of socio-economic status, service utilization, and pregnancy outcomes between teenage and adult mothers.

Material And Method: The study design was a population-based prospective cohort study conducted in four districts located in different geographical areas of Thailand All pregnancies occurring within one year, in each of the selected districts as of October 2000, were identified and recruited as the study's cohorts.