Is there a relationship between overweight and obesity and mental health problems in 4- to 5-year-old Australian children?

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between overweight and obesity, and mental health problems in Australian 4- to 5-year-old children. METHODS: The study used data from wave 1 (2004) of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). The participants were 4983 4- to 5-year-old children (2537 boys and 2446 girls) with a mean age of 56.9 months (standard deviation 2.6 months; range 51-67 months). Children were classified as nonoverweight, overweight, and obese on the basis of International Obesity Task Force definitions. Mental health problems were assessed by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) completed by parents and teachers. RESULTS: Although obese 4- to 5-year-old boys had more mental health problems than nonoverweight boys, differences between the groups were small and substantially reduced when analyses controlled for children's sociodemographic characteristics. Parents reported that overweight/obese girls had more peer problems, whereas teachers reported they had more conduct problems. Children in all weight groups had mean scores within the normal range of scores on all the SDQ subscales. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in rates of mental health problems experienced by young children of different weight status appear relatively small. Higher rates of mental health problems experienced by more obese boys may reflect differences in their sociodemographic characteristics rather than their weight status per se. Policies that reduce the number of young children living in poverty or experiencing other adverse social circumstances have the potential to reduce rates of mental health problems experienced by older children with overweight/obesity.     

Chronic exposure to dibromoacetic acid, a water disinfection byproduct, diminishes primordial follicle populations in the rabbit.

To determine if dibromoacetic acid (DBA) affects ovarian folliculogenesis, four groups of female Dutch-belted rabbits were exposed daily to 0, 1, 5, or 50 mg DBA/kg body weight in drinking water beginning in utero from gestation day 15 throughout life. Functionality of the endocrine axis was assessed by measuring serum concentrations of gonadotropins following an im injection of 10 microg GnRH at 12 (prepubertal; n = 6/dose group) and 24 (postpubertal; n = 10/dose group) weeks of age. A day after GnRH challenge, number of ovulation sites and ovarian weights were determined at necropsy. Left ovaries were processed for histopathology, serially sectioned at 6 microm, and every twelfth section stained with hematoxylin and eosin was evaluated. All healthy follicles were categorized as primordial, primary, small preantral, large preantral, or small antral follicles. The area of each section evaluated was measured and the number of follicles in each category expressed per mm2 unit area. In prepubertal animals, DBA caused a reduction in number of primordial follicles (p < 0.05) and total healthy follicles (p < 0.05) at 50 mg/kg dose level. In adult animals, there were fewer primordial follicles in both the 5 (p < 0.01) and 50 (p = 0.1) mg/kg dose groups. No profound changes in gonadotropin profiles were observed. Although chronic exposure to DBA did not appear to have an effect on late follicular development or ovulation, DBA did reduce the population of primordial follicles. The long-term health consequences of diminished primordial follicles are unknown, but it is very likely that reproductive senescence would occur earlier.     

An assessment of the construct validity of the CHU9D in the Australian adolescent general population

Purpose  

To assess the construct validity of the CHU9D in an adolescent general population sample. The CHU9D is a new generic preference-based measure of health-related quality of life developed specifically for application in the economic evaluation of health care treatments and interventions for young people.