[Evaluation on the health education program regarding prevention of non-fatal drowning among school-aged children in Lianping county, Guangdong province].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the outcome of health education program on drowning prevention among primary and secondary school children in rural areas. METHODS: A township was selected and all the students from grade 3 to 5, grade 7 to 8, and grade 10 to 11 were selected to take part in the program. Twelve intervention measures on natural water safety and drowning prevention were carried out for one year. Information was collected using the same questionnaire before and after the intervention program. RESULTS: One year after the intervention was carried out, children's knowledge on drowning prevention improved significantly (13.21, 95%CI: 12.51 - 13.90), and a positive effect was also noticed among boys (12.77, 95%CI: 11.77 - 13.77), girls (13.80, 95%CI: 12.82 - 14.78), and among primary school children(15.51, 95%CI: 14.30 - 16.72), senior high school children (10.78, 95%CI: 9.50 - 12.05) and junior high school children (12.77, 95%CI: 11.84 - 13.71). Overall rates on risk behaviors dropped from 41.4% to 32.2% (by 22.2%) including 15.6% for boys, 35.2% for girls and 13.8%, 29.3%, 26.3% for primary school children, senior high school children, junior high school children, respectively. The incidence rates for non-fatal drowning decreased by 58.9% (from 5.6% to 2.3%). The person-times for treatment on sight, in emergency settings, in outpatient clinic or in the hospitals had a reduction from 399, 78, 36 to 175, 32, 14, respectively. CONCLUSION: Health education program could improve children's perception on water safety, and reduce their risk behaviors as well as on the incidence of non-fatal drowning in the rural areas.

[A cross sectional survey on serum lipid level and its influencing factors in children aged 3-14 years in Guangdong province].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the serum levels of cholesterol, triglyceride and high density lipoprotein cholesterol in children aged 3-14 years and its influencing factors. METHODS: The cross-sectional survey study population was a representative sample from Guangdong province obtained by multi-stage randomized cluster sampling. Serum lipids in 6188 children aged > or = 3 years were assayed using automatic biochemical instrument. The data of social and demographic status were collected by face-to-face interview, and height and weight were obtained by physical examination. RESULTS: The age-standardized and region-weighted means of serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were 0.80 mmol/L, 3.50 mmol/L and 1.28 mmol/L, respectively. For the mean of TG, there was no difference between metropolitan and middle city, nor between rich county and poor county. For TC, it was the highest in metropolitan, and there was no difference between rich and poor county. For HDL-C, the difference existed between every two regions. The age-standardized and region-weighted prevalence of high TG, high TC and low HDL-C were 2.2%, 2.1% and 8.0%, respectively. Metropolitan, rich county, low weight and age between 7.0-9.9 years are protecting factors for high TG, and the number of family between 3-4, age between 7.0-9.9, metropolitan, middle city and poor county are risk factors for high TC. Male, family income per year between 800-9999 RMB, middle city, rich county are protecting factors for low HDL-C. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of abnormal serum lipid was still low compared with other regions in China. The region, number of family member, age and sex may be the important factors influencing on serum lipid levels.

[Study on the epidemiological characteristics of overweight and obesity among population aged eighteen and over in Guangdong Province in 2002].

OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiological characteristics of overweight and obesity among people aged 18 and over in Guangdong province in 2002, and to identify the populations and regions under high risk. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey was used through sampling on multi-stage randomized clusters. Data of socialeconomic status were collected by face-to-face interview. Data on weight and height was obtained through physical check-ups. RESULTS: A sample size of 15 130 people and the mean body mass index (BMI) was 22.03 +/- 3.38 with no significant difference between males and females. However the significant difference was seen between cities and rural areas. The crude prevalence rate of overweight and obesity were 16.8% and 1.8%, and the age-adjusted rate were 15.0% and 1.7%, respectively. The crude rate of overweight in cities (24.8%) and males (17.5%) were higher than that in rural areas (9.4%) and females (16.2%). The crude rate of obesity in cities was seen higher than that in the rural areas, but not significantly different between females and males. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that the major risk factors influencing overweight would include household income, age, gender, smoking habits, physical exercises and location of residence. CONCLUSION: About one sixth of the citizens in Guangdong province were considered to be overweighted and obesive had become an important public health problem. Integrated measures must be taken for prevention and control.