Higher household income and the availability of electronic devices and transport at home are associated with higher waist circumference in Colombian children: the ACFIES study.

BACKGROUND: The current "epidemic" of childhood obesity is described as being driven by modern lifestyles with associated socioeconomic and environmental changes that modify dietary habits, discourage physical activity and encourage sedentary behaviors. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between household income and the availability of electronic devices and transport at home, and the values of waist circumference (WC), as an indicator of abdominal obesity, in children and adolescents from Bucaramanga, Colombia. METHODS: Cross-sectional study of public elementary and high school population, of low-middle socioeconomic status. RESULTS: A total of 668 schoolchildren were recruited. After adjusting for potential confounders, significant positive associations between waist circumference and higher household income (p = 0.011), and waist circumference and the availability of electronic devices and transport at home (p = 0.026) were found. CONCLUSIONS: In low-middle socioeconomic status schoolchildren in a developing country, those from relatively more affluent families had greater waist circumference, an association that is opposite to that observed in developed countries. This finding could be related to higher income family's ability to purchase electronic devices and motorized transport which discourage physical activity and for their children to buy desirable and more costly western fast food.

Calidad de vida de pacientes con enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica, participantes en un programa educativo integral / Quality of life of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease participating in a comprehensive educational program

Resumen Introducción: La Enfermedad Pulmonar Obstructiva Crónica (EPOC) es una enfermedad altamente prevalente que se caracteriza principalmente por la disnea, la cual genera un impacto sobre la calidad de vida del individuo. El programa de cuidado respiratorio integral ofrece una intervención esencialmente educativa, individualizada y multidisciplinaria enfocada en las necesidades del paciente y su familia, buscando mejorar la calidad de vida. Objetivo: Describir el efecto de un programa educativo de cuidado integral en la calidad de vida de pacientes con enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica. Materiales y métodos: Se realizó un estudio descriptivo transversal incluyendo pacientes con diagnóstico de EPOC en quienes se aplicó el cuestionario para medición de calidad de vida Saint George al ingreso y a los seis meses de estar vinculado al programa. Se realizaron pruebas estadísticas no paramétricas debido al comportamiento no gaussiano de las variables. Resultados: Se incluyeron un total de 31 pacientes con promedio de edad 82,7 años, 43,3% tenían antecedente de tabaquismo, de las variaciones en la encuesta Saint George se observó un cambio significativo en el dominio de actividad y en el puntaje global de la encuesta al ser aplicada a los seis meses de seguimiento. Conclusiones: La implementación del programa educativo integral parece apoyar la mejoría en la calidad de vida de los participantes con diagnóstico de EPOC. Futuros estudios prospectivos podrán validar esta hipótesis.

Abstract Introduction: The Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a highly prevalent disease, characterized mainly by dyspnea, which has an impact on the quality of life of the person. The program of comprehensive respiratory care offers an essentially educational, individualized and multidisciplinary intervention focused on the needs of the patient and its family, seeking to improve the quality of life and associated morbidities. Objective: To describe the quality of life in a comprehensive care program for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Methods: A cross-sectional retrospective descriptive study was carried out, including patients diagnosed with COPD, in whom the Saint George quality of life questionnaire was applied at admission and six months after being linked to the program. Student's t test was performed for the analysis by normality tests. Results: A total of 31 patients with an average age of 82.7 years were included, 43.3% had a history of smoking, variations in the Saint George survey showed a significant change in the domain of activity and in the overall score when applied to the six-month follow-up. Conclusions: The implementation of the comprehensive educational program seems to support the improvement in the quality of life of participants diagnosed with COPD. Future prospective studies may validate this hypothesis.