Pattern and characteristics of growth faltering in early infancy in an urban sub-Saharan African setting.

Objective: To determine the pattern of and factors associated with changes in nutritional status in early infancy in a resource-poor setting.

Methods: A cohort study in Lagos, Nigeria, in which the nutritional status at birth was compared with status at the first postnatal check-up routinely scheduled for 6-8 weeks based on the World Health Organization's multicenter growth reference and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2000 growth charts. Factors associated with improved, worsened or steady nutritional status at follow-up based on z-scores for weight-for-age, length-for-age and weight-for-length were determined with multinomial regression analysis.

Is home birth a marker for severe malnutrition in early infancy in urban communities of low-income countries?

This matched case-control study set out to determine the association between place of delivery and severe undernutrition in early infancy in a low-income country. All infants (aged 0-3 months) with severe undernutrition attending four well-child clinics for routine immunization in inner-city Lagos, Nigeria were matched for age and sex with well-nourished peers. The main outcome measures were the adjusted-matched-odds ratios from conditional logistic regression analysis of undernutrition based on z-scores below -3 for weight-for-age, height/length-for-age and body-mass-index-for-age using current World Health Organization's Multicentre Growth Reference (WHO-MGR).

Predictors of growth velocity in early infancy in a resource-poor setting.

Objective: To determine the pattern and predictors of growth velocity in early infancy in a resource-poor setting.

Methods: Weight velocity between birth and first postnatal visit was determined in a cohort of preterm and full-term infants in Lagos, Nigeria using three mathematical methods reported in the literature. Maternal and infant factors predictive of weight velocity were identified by multiple linear regression analysis.

Relationship between Painful Crisis and Serum Zinc Level in Children with Sickle Cell Anaemia.

Sickle cell anaemia (SCA) is associated with zinc deficiency; zinc supplementation may ameliorate some of its clinical manifestations including the relief of painful crisis. Subjects and Methods. Serum zinc levels were determined in 71 children with SCA and painful crisis and in equal numbers in steady state.

Prevalence, pattern and risk factors for undernutrition in early infancy using the WHO Multicentre Growth Reference: a community-based study.

This cross-sectional study set out to determine the prevalence, pattern and risk factors for undernutrition during early infancy in a setting with substantial non-hospital births against the backdrop of limited evidence on nutritional status in the first three months of life based on an exclusively breast-fed reference population. Undernutrition based on z-scores below -2 for weight-for-age, height/length-for-age and body-mass-index-for-age among infants (0-3 months) attending clinics for routine Bacille de Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunisation in Lagos, Nigeria from July 2005 to March 2008 was determined using current World Health Organisation's Multicentre Growth Reference (WHO-MGR). Maternal and infant factors associated with undernutrition were explored with multivariable logistic regression analyses.

Sexual maturation and psychiatric morbidity among persons with sickle cell anaemia in a Nigerian teaching hospital.

Background: Sickle Cell Anaemia (SCA), an inherited HbSS disease, is common in Nigeria with attendant high morbidity and mortality most especially in the setting of poor health care services. Impaired physical and sexual development is one of the prominent complications of SCA; and with attendant secondary psychiatric sequelae.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at the haematology clinic of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), among adolescent attendees (10-19 years) with SCA.