Background: Mortality in tropical countries varies considerably from season to season. As many of these countries have seen mortality moving from child to old-age mortality, we have studied seasonal variation in child and old-age mortality in a rural area in Ghana that currently undergoes an epidemiologic transition.
Methods: In an annual survey from 2002 through to 2011, we followed 29 642 individuals and obtained the cause and month of death from 1406 deceased individuals by making use of verbal autopsies.
Results: When comparing the seasons, we observed a trend for higher mortality during the wet season. When comparing separate months, we observed 34% more deaths than expected in September (95% CI 1.04-1.69; p = 0.024) at the end of the wet season and 43% more deaths in April (95% CI 1.13-1.80; p = 0.004) at the end of the dry season, while there were 42% less deaths than expected in December (95% CI 0.52-0.70; p = 0.003), shortly after the wet season. Cause-specific analysis indicated that the peak at the end of the wet season was due to excess mortality from infectious diseases in children and older people alike, whereas the peak in old-age mortality at the end of the dry season was due to non-infectious causes in older people only.
Conclusions: Taken together, our data suggest that during the epidemiologic transition, mortality not only shifts from child to old-age and from infectious to non-infectious, but also from the wet to the dry season.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/trstmh/tru007 | DOI Listing |
PLoS One
January 2025
Department of Business Economics, Centre of Competence on Ageing, Health and Social Care, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, Manno, Switzerland.
Background: In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the investigation of very old individuals. However, various challenges arise when collecting data from this age group. Given potential health and cognitive impairments and the difficulty of retrieving accurate self-reported data, involving individuals knowledgeable of the target person as proxy respondents are an invaluable solution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMucosal Immunol
January 2025
Gale and Ira Drukier Institute for Children's Health, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, United States; Department of Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, United States; Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program, Weill Cornell Graduate School, New York, NY 10065, United States. Electronic address:
Our immune system and gut microbiota are intricately coupled from birth, both going through maturation during early life and senescence during aging almost in a synchronized fashion. The symbiotic relationship between the human host and microbiota is critically dependent on a healthy immune system to keep our microbiota in check, while the microbiota provides essential functions to promote the development and fitness of our immune system. The partnership between our immune system and microbiota is particularly important during early life, when microbial ligands and metabolites shape the development of the immune cells and immune tolerance; during aging, having sufficient beneficial gut bacteria is critical for the maintenance of intact mucosal barriers, immune metabolic fitness, and strong immunity against pathogens.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMedicine (Baltimore)
January 2025
Department of Obstetrics, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province, Wuhan, China.
Although many studies based on different ethnic groups have analyzed the impact of maternal and infant weight on overall cesarean section rates in recent years, research on the impact of maternal and infant weight on emergency cesarean section (EmCS) rates is lacking, especially in the Chinese population. This study aimed to analyze whether maternal and fetal weight could influence the risk of EmCS. A total of 8427 nulliparous women who delivered vaginally (full-term, singleton, and cephalic presentation) were included in this study and divided into the normal vaginal delivery (VD) and EmCS groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPediatr Res
January 2025
LIFE - Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, Leipzig University, Philipp-Rosenthal-Strasse 27, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
Background: Higher weight represents a significant health concern in youth and may be influenced by socioeconomic and behavioral factors. We investigated the relationship between BMI and parental education, nutritional health, eating culture, organized and non-organized physical activity (PA), motives for PA (weight loss/maintenance, enjoyment), and screen-time in children and adolescents.
Methods: 677 2- to 11-year-olds (young-age-group) and 464 12- to 20-year-olds (old-age-group) from Leipzig, a city in Germany, participated.
Ann Endocrinol (Paris)
January 2025
Université Paris-Saclay, Inserm, Endocrine Physiology and Physiopathology, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Bicêtre, Service d'Endocrinologie et des Maladies de la Reproduction and Centre de Référence des Maladies Rares de l'Hypophyse HYPO, F-94270 Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France. Electronic address:
Primary hyperparathyroidism is rare in children. A germline mutation is identified in half of all children with primary hyperparathyroidism (70% of newborns and infants, and 40% of children and adolescents). The clinical manifestations of primary hyperparathyroidism in children are highly variable (often absent in newborns, rather severe and symptomatic in children and adolescents) and depend on the genetic cause, as well as the severity, rapidity of onset and duration of hypercalcemia.
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