PLoS medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of scheduled antimicrobial and nicotinamide treatment on linear growth in children in rural Tanzania: A factorial randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
Stunting among children in low-resource settings is associated with enteric pathogen carriage and micronutrient deficiencies. Our goal was to test whether administration of scheduled antimicrobials and daily nicotinamide improved linear growth in a region with a high prevalence of stunting and enteric pathogen carriage. ⋯ In this study, we observed that neither scheduled administration of azithromycin and nitazoxanide nor daily provision of nicotinamide was associated with improved growth in this resource-poor setting with a high force of enteric infections. Further research remains critical to identify interventions toward improved early childhood growth in challenging conditions.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Evaluation of an mHealth-enabled hierarchical diabetes management intervention in primary care in China (ROADMAP): A cluster randomized trial.
Glycemic control remains suboptimal in developing countries due to critical system deficiencies. An innovative mobile health (mHealth)-enabled hierarchical diabetes management intervention was introduced and evaluated in China with the purpose of achieving better control of type 2 diabetes in primary care. ⋯ The mHealth-enabled hierarchical diabetes management intervention effectively improved diabetes control in primary care and has the potential to be transferred to other chronic conditions management in similar contexts.
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Comparative Study Observational Study
Body muscle gain and markers of cardiovascular disease susceptibility in young adulthood: A cohort study.
The potential benefits of gaining body muscle for cardiovascular disease (CVD) susceptibility, and how these compare with the potential harms of gaining body fat, are unknown. We compared associations of early life changes in body lean mass and handgrip strength versus body fat mass with atherogenic traits measured in young adulthood. ⋯ In this study, we found that muscle strengthening, as indicated by grip strength gain, was weakly associated with lower atherogenic trait levels in young adulthood, at a smaller magnitude than unfavourable associations of fat mass gain. Associations of muscle mass gain with such traits appear to be smaller and limited to gains occurring in adolescence. These results suggest that body muscle is less robustly associated with markers of CVD susceptibility than body fat and may therefore be a lower-priority intervention target.
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Comparative Study
Incidence, co-occurrence, and evolution of long-COVID features: A 6-month retrospective cohort study of 273,618 survivors of COVID-19.
Long-COVID refers to a variety of symptoms affecting different organs reported by people following Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. To date, there have been no robust estimates of the incidence and co-occurrence of long-COVID features, their relationship to age, sex, or severity of infection, and the extent to which they are specific to COVID-19. The aim of this study is to address these issues. ⋯ Long-COVID clinical features occurred and co-occurred frequently and showed some specificity to COVID-19, though they were also observed after influenza. Different long-COVID clinical profiles were observed based on demographics and illness severity.
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Short stature, defined as height for age more than 2 standard deviations (SDs) below the population median, is an important indicator of child health. Short stature (often termed stunting) has been widely researched in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), but less is known about the extent and burden in high-income settings. We aimed to map the prevalence of short stature in children aged 4-5 years in England between 2006 and 2019. ⋯ In this study, we observed a clear social gradient and striking regional variation in short stature across England, including a North-South divide. These findings provide impetus for further investigation into potential socioeconomic influences on height and the factors underlying regional variation.