Abstract

Introduction

Household water fetching elevates physical and emotional harms, and these are generally assumed to accrue to women due to gendered labor assignments. But even in cases like India where fetching remains a highly feminized task, there are households where the primary responsibility is assumed by men.

Methods

We test the proposition that men's responsibility for water fetching is predicted by greater gender equity, reflected in measures of wives' empowerment. We used an extremely large, nationally representative Demographic and Health Survey dataset from India (2019–2020), narrowed to only households in which spouses co-reside with off-plot water sources (N = 10 616), and applying a multinomial regression approach.

Results

In >20% of households, men are the primary fetchers. They are more likely to have primary responsibility when water is more distant, privately purchased, or transported by vehicle. Contrary to predictions, men assume greater responsibility for household water fetching as their wives' empowerment measures decrease and when they want to control their movement.

Conclusion

Married men in India sometimes assume responsibility for water fetching, but this is not explained by greater household gender equity. The findings also suggest that when men are responsible for fetching they have heightened risk of some forms of physical trauma but less relative psychological harm. Detailing why men fetch water matters for identifying and mitigating the physical and emotion harms of bearing responsibility for water labor, with implications for how gender should be conceptualized in water interventions intending to improve health and well-being.

Abstract

Objective

To analyze changes in height, weight, and body mass index (BMI = kg/m²) from 1986 to 2022 in 3–11 year old children from Dzeal, a rural Maya community in Yucatan, Mexico.

Materials and Methods

From October-2022 to February-2023 (third-wave survey), we obtained anthropometric measurements of children (n = 80) and family socioeconomic data and compared them with data obtained in 1986 (n = 38) and 2000 (n = 76). Comparisons of anthropometric parameters by sex between years of measurement were performed graphically and through one-way ANOVA, splitting children into two age groups: 3–7 and 8–11. Bonferroni adjustments for multiple comparisons were used when ANOVAs were statistically significant (p < .05).

Results

In girls, significant increases in height and weight between surveys were found in 3–7 and 8–11 age groups; in boys, significant increases were only found in the 8–11 age group. Regarding BMI, there were increases in 2022 compared with 1986/2000 in both sexes from 8 years onwards. Differences indicate increases of 3.9 and 4.4 cm per decade in girls aged 3–7 and 8–11, respectively, and increases in weight of 1.1 and 3.3 kg per decade, respectively. Increases in boys 8–11 years were 2.3 cm and 2.4 kg per decade.

Conclusion

Significant increases in growth parameters were observed in specific-age children in the community studied in the context of changes in livelihoods and improvements in household material conditions.

Abstract

Background

Physical fitness is a health marker in youth and is associated with current and future health.

Objective

Present the healthy fitness zone (HFZ) prevalence and age-specific fitness profile of young people from seven European countries.

Methods

This study used data from the European Fitness Monitoring System project. The sample comprised 4965 (51.4% boys) youths aged 9 to 18 years. Fitness data were collected by physical education teachers using field-based tests. Raw data from the fitness tests were used to calculate the prevalence and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of participants in the HFZ.

Results

The overall prevalence of boys and girls in the HFZ for all tests was 16.6% (95% CI = 14.7, 18.1) and 14.9% (95% CI = 13.2, 16.6), respectively. Boys have a mainly positive HFZ profiles, except for the 9-year-olds in the sit and reach (z-score difference = −1.20) and the 20 m run for boys 13–18-year-olds (z-score difference range: −0.09 to −0.01). Girls have worse HFZ profiles than boys, being out of the HFZ in several tests. Furthermore, a decreasing trend in z-score difference from the HFZ with age was observed in VO₂ peak for boys and girls and sit and reach for girls. Notwithstanding, several country-related, sex and age differences were observed.

Conclusions

Boys presented mostly healthy age-specific fitness profiles in several fitness tests and ages. These differences should be considered when promoting youth's health through physical activity and fitness, as different fitness levels may require different approaches to implementing health-enhancing physical activity policies.

Abstract

Objectives

Reliable measurements of health-related fitness—cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular endurance, muscular strength, body composition, and flexibility—are imperative for understanding and tracking health-related fitness from the preschool age. This study aimed to examine the test–retest reliability of field-based (i.e., sit and reach [standard and back-saver], standing long jump, grip strength); and laboratory-based (i.e., Bruce Protocol Treadmill Test, Wingate Anaerobic Test) assessments of health-related fitness in preschool aged children (4–5 years).

Methods

Forty-two typically developing children participated in both assessment time points separated by 2–3 weeks. All fitness assessments were administered individually and repeated in the same order by the same assessor. Heteroscedasticity was examined for each parameter. Intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated to assess test–retest reliability.

Results

All parameters were homoscedastic. Test–retest reliability for the field-based tests and Bruce Protocol Treadmill Test parameters were moderate to good. Test–retest reliability for the Wingate Test parameters were good to excellent for maximum pedal rate, peak power, and peak power/kg; mean power and fatigue measured at 10 and 30 s demonstrated moderate to excellent test–retest reliability.

Conclusion

The standard sit and reach, grip strength, and short-term muscle power from the Wingate test are reliable assessments of health-related fitness in preschool-aged children.

Abstract

Objectives

To study and analyze the impact of socio-economic factors on secular changes in height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) among Moscow's youth over the time interval from the late 19th–early 20th century to the present.

Methods

Anthropometric data, including height, weight, and BMI, were collected through surveys conducted on youths aged 17–20 years in Moscow from the 1880s for males and from the 1920s for females to the present. The dataset includes information on 6434 individuals surveyed from 2000 to 2019, as well as previously published mean values. Economic development indicators, such as gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, monthly average income per capita, and the Gini coefficient, were examined to analyze the association between secular trends in body size and socio-economic conditions.

Results

A positive secular trend in height and weight has been observed among Moscow's youth from the early 20th century to the present. Substantial increases in height occurred during the second half of the previous century, stabilizing in the 2000s. Over the analyzed period, both average body weight and BMI values showed a consistent rise. The pattern for BMI exhibited a U-shaped trend, with a decline from the 1970s to the mid-1990s, followed by a subsequent increase. Strong correlations were found between the secular changes in body size among Moscow's youth and temporal fluctuations in key socio-economic indicators, including GDP per capita, monthly average income per capita, and the Gini coefficient.

Conclusion

The study demonstrates the significant influence of socio-economic conditions on intergenerational changes in body size, as evidenced by the positive secular trend in physique indicators (height, weight, and BMI) among Moscow's youth.

Abstract

Background

The current knowledge about the molecular mechanisms underlying the health benefits of exercise is still limited, especially in childhood. We set out to investigate the effects of a 20-week exercise intervention on whole-blood transcriptome profile (RNA-seq) in children with overweight/obesity.

Methods

Twenty-four children (10.21 ± 1.33 years, 46% girls) with overweight/obesity, were randomized to either a 20-week exercise program (intervention group; n = 10), or to a no-exercise control group (n = 14). Whole-blood transcriptome profile was analyzed using RNA-seq by STRT technique with GlobinLock technology.

Results

Following the 20-week exercise intervention program, 161 genes were differentially expressed between the exercise and the control groups among boys, and 121 genes among girls (p-value <0.05), while after multiple correction, no significant difference between exercise and control groups persisted in gene expression profiles (FDR >0.05). Genes enriched in GO processes and molecular pathways showed different immune response in boys (antigen processing and presentation, infections, and T cell receptor complex) and in girls (Fc epsilon RI signaling pathway) (FDR <0.05).

Conclusion

These results suggest that 20-week exercise intervention program alters the molecular pathways involved in immune processes in children with overweight/obesity.

Abstract

Objectives

Human milk content varies across mother–child dyads, environments, and populations. Among the hormones in milk is cortisol, a glucocorticoid; its impact on the breastfeeding child is unknown. Milk cortisol may constitute a signal to the child's developing physiology which can shape characteristics (e.g., growth, temperament) to prevailing environmental conditions. This exploratory study evaluated the maternal, breastfeeding, and infant characteristics associated with milk cortisol.

Methods

We evaluated archived milk specimens for cortisol using enzyme immunoassay and employed an information-theoretic approach to assess associations between milk cortisol and participant characteristics with linear regression modeling. Because we employed secondary data, information for some variables likely to impact milk cortisol variation (e.g., time of day, socioeconomic status, maternal or infant body mass index, milk energy density) was unavailable.

Results

Participants were 48 lactating mothers from upstate New York, aged 21–40 years. Milk cortisol ranged from 0.098 to 1.007 μg/dL. Child age ranged from 1 to 26 months. In linear regression employing best fit modeling criteria, milk cortisol increased with child age (B: 0.069; p: .000; a 7.1% increase in milk cortisol for each month of child age), while child symptoms of illness (B: −0.398; p: .057; a 33% decrease) and consumption of complementary foods (B: −.525; p: .020; a 41% decrease) were associated with lower milk cortisol.

Conclusions

We speculate that increasing milk cortisol with child age plays a role in signaling development (e.g., as increasing independence increases risk for injury and other negative health outcomes), independent of the maternal stressors we could capture.

Abstract

Objectives

To examine the secular trends and urban–rural disparities in height of Chinese adolescents aged 18 years from 1985 to 2019.

Methods

Data were extracted from the Chinese National Surveys on Students' Constitution and Health from 1985 to 2019, and the heights of a total of 76 554 boys and 75 908 girls aged 18 years were measured. The Mann–Kendall trend test was used to analyze the secular trends in height. Changes in different periods and urban–rural disparities were tested by z-tests and calculating the ratios of the coefficient of variation (CV) of height.

Results

The height of Chinese boys and girls aged 18 years increased from 168.21 and 157.10 cm in 1985 to 172.15 cm and 160.11 cm in 2019, respectively, with a larger increase in rural areas. The secular trends in height were the largest for boys from 1995 to 2005 and for girls from 2014 to 2019, and the same results were observed in urban and rural areas. The urban–rural disparities for boys and girls decreased by 1.79 and 0.91 cm, respectively, with significant decreases for boys in all regions and for girls in the eastern region. The overall CVs of height increased by 0.13% and 0.25% for boys and girls, respectively, with the largest increase among rural girls.

Conclusions

The height of Chinese adolescents aged 18 years continued to increase between 1985 and 2019. The urban–rural disparities narrowed, and inequalities within rural areas for girls increased.

Abstract

Objective

Determine if relative body fat (%BF) remains a biological norm in physically active, non-obese American men and women and determine reference values for other components of body composition.

Methods

Participants (n = 174 men, 70 women) were physically fit U.S. Marine 2nd Lieutenants, in their third decade of physical maturity (age 21–30). Body composition was assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA); and body images were obtained by 3D body scans.

Results

For men and women, respectively, %BF averaged 16.2 ± 4.1 (median 15.3), 24.3 ± 4.5 (median 23.8); fat-free mass (FFM): 67.7 ± 7.2, 49.4 ± 5.3 kg; FFM index: 21.5 ± 1.8, 18.3 ± 1.6 kg/m²; and body mass index (BMI): 25.5 ± 1.9, 24.1 ± 2.2 kg/m². Bone mineral content (BMC) was 5% of FFM; total body water (TBW) was 70%–72% of FFM. Physique remained similar between median and higher percentiles of %BF. Only small changes in key measures were noted across the six-month training program.

Conclusions

Mean %BF of healthy active men and women in 2021 remains very similar to the 15% and 25% posited in 1980, suggesting that relative body fat has a normal fat-lean relationship in physically mature humans. These data may bring new attention to sex-appropriate %BF.