Food-based dietary guidelines for optimizing calcium intakes for reproductive-aged women in Ethiopia using local foods.

Increasing dietary calcium intakes of Ethiopian women of reproductive age (WRA) is a public health priority for reducing pre-eclampsia in pregnancy. Using linear programming, we determined whether locally available foods consumed by WRA in nine regions (urban and rural) and two administrative cities of Ethiopia could provide 1000 mg/day of dietary calcium, and we identified food-based recommendations (FBRs) to improve dietary calcium adequacy in each region. Results showed that diets providing 1000 mg/day of calcium were feasible in eight regions (40%) of the target populations examined.

Impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection and mitigation strategy during pregnancy on prenatal outcome, growth and development in early childhood in India: a UKRI GCRF Action Against Stunting Hub protocol paper.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has offset some of the gains achieved in global health, particularly in relation to maternal, child health and nutrition. As pregnancy is a period of plasticity where insults acting on maternal environment have far-reaching consequences, the pandemic has had a significant impact on prenatal outcomes, intrauterine and postnatal development of infants. This research will investigate both the direct and indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic during pregnancy on prenatal outcomes, growth and development in early childhood.

Investigating market-based opportunities for the provision of nutritious and safe diets to prevent childhood stunting: a UKRI-GCRF action against stunting hub protocol paper.

Background: Inadequate access to affordable, safe, desirable and convenient nutrient-dense food is one of the underlying causes of child stunting. While targeted nutrition-sensitive interventions (eg, backyard 'nutri-gardens') may increase dietary diversity within farming households, such interventions have limited scalability across the wider food system where markets remain underdeveloped. This research aims to develop and assess market-based interventions for key nutrient-dense foods to help improve the diets of women and children in the first 1000 days of life.

Eggs for Improving Nutrition, cognitive development and reducing linear growth retardation among Infants and young Children (ENRICH): protocol of an egg supplementation trial among children aged 9-18 months in Hyderabad, India.

Introduction: Evidence on the impact of nutrient-rich animal source foods such as eggs for improving child growth and cognition is inconsistent. This study aims to examine the impact of an egg intervention in children, along with behaviour change communication (BCC) to the mother, on linear growth and cognition, and nutritional status in children aged 9-18 months.

Methods And Analysis: A 9-month open-labelled randomised controlled trial will be conducted in three urban slums in Hyderabad, India, as a substudy of an observational cohort study (n=350) following pregnant women and their children until 18 months of age in a population at risk of stunting.

Anthropometric, biochemical, dietary, morbidity and well-being assessments in women and children in Indonesia, India and Senegal: a UKRI GCRF Action Against Stunting Hub protocol paper.

Introduction: Child stunting has a complex aetiology, especially in the first 1000 days of life. Nutrition interventions alone have not produced expected impacts in reducing/preventing child stunting, indicating the importance of understanding the complex interplay between environmental, physiological and psychological factors influencing child nutritional status. This study will investigate maternal and child nutrition, health and well-being status and associated factors through the assessment of: (1) anthropometry, (2) biomarkers of nutrition and health status, (3) dietary intakes, (4) fetal growth and development, (5) infant morbidity, (6) infant and young child feeding (IYCF) and (7) perinatal maternal stress, depression and social support.

The role of loneliness on hearing ability and dementia: A novel mediation approach.

Background: To determine the potential mediating role of loneliness in the relationship between hearing ability and dementia.

Methods: Design: Longitudinal observational study.

Setting: English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA).

Longitudinal mediation analysis of time-to-event endpoints in the presence of competing risks.

This proposal is motivated by an analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), which aims to investigate the role of loneliness in explaining the negative impact of hearing loss on dementia. The methodological challenges that complicate this mediation analysis include the use of a time-to-event endpoint subject to competing risks, as well as the presence of feedback relationships between the mediator and confounders that are both repeatedly measured over time. To account for these challenges, we introduce path-specific effect proportional (cause-specific) hazard models.

Vision Impairment and Risk of Dementia: Findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Objectives: To determine whether vision impairment is independently associated cross-sectionally and longitudinally with dementia.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Walking Speed, Cognitive Function, and Dementia Risk in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Objectives: To determine the relationships between walking speed, cognitive function, and the interaction between changes in these measures and dementia risk.

Design: Longitudinal observational study.

Setting: English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Factors influencing recording of drug misuse in primary care: a qualitative study of GPs in England.

Background: Drug misuse is a serious public health problem. Evidence from previous epidemiological studies show that GPs are recording drug misuse in electronic patient records (EPR). However, although the recording trends are similar to national surveys, recording rates are much lower.