Effect of early feeding practices and eating behaviors on body composition in primary school children.

BACKGROUND: Understanding children's feeding practices and eating behaviors is important to determine etiology of childhood obesity. This study aimed to explore the relationship between early feeding practices, eating behavior and body composition among primary school children. METHODS: The data were collected from 403 primary school children. They were administered structured questionnaire, including sociodemographic characteristics, early feeding practices and Child's Eating Behavior Questionnaire. Anthropometric and blood pressure (BP) measurements were performed. RESULTS: Children with obesity and overweight showed higher food approach subscales and lower food avoidance subscales compared to a healthy and underweight child. Children who were exclusively or predominantly breast fed during the first 6 months had the lowest scores for the food approach subscales, food responsiveness (FR) and emotional overeating (EOE) and had the highest scores for the food avoidance subscales, satiety responsiveness (SR) and emotional under eating (EUE). Children who were introduced solid food after 6 months showed lower scores for FR, enjoyment of food and EOE but scored highest for SR, slowness in eating (SE) and EUE. All anthropometric measurements were positively correlated with all food approach subscales and negatively with SE, SR and food fussiness. All food approach subscales were positively correlated with BP percentiles. All food avoidance subscales were negatively correlated with both BP percentiles, except for EUE, which was negatively correlated with diastolic BP percentile only. Age, SR, SE and FR were predictors for child body mass index. CONCLUSION: Early feeding practices and eating behavior are considered as prevention approaches for obesity.

The 'Adapted ADAPTE': an approach to improve utilization of the ADAPTE guideline adaptation resource toolkit in the Alexandria Center for Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines.

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The ADAPTE methodology for adaptation of guidelines has been used by many organizations to develop high-quality clinical practice guidelines. Although it is a valid alternative for de novo development of guidelines, it might demand more time and resources in some institutions. The present study demonstrates the proposed 'adapted ADAPTE' methodology to support more clarity, simplicity and practicality. It also aims at avoiding duplication within the process and reducing the resources and time allocated to the CPG adaptation projects. METHODS: Clinical guidelines' adaptation in the Center for Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines at the Alexandria Faculty of Medicine and University Hospitals involves two stages: (1) cross-sectional or retrospective study to reveal the current practice and prescribing patterns concerning the selected health topic; (2) the 'adapted ADAPTE' methodology for CPGs adaptation that was based on the original ADAPTE Process. RESULTS: The 'adapted ADAPTE' included three modified tools, three new tools based on the original ADAPTE framework and alternatives for four ADAPTE steps to enhance utilization. The finalized adapted CPGs included nine high priority topics for paediatrics and two topics for emergency medicine. CONCLUSIONS: The ADAPTE methodology for guideline adaptation can be customized or 'adapted' to the local health care setting and resources. This proposal facilitates supports and improves the utilization and update of the ADAPTE process by CPG programmes or activities in health care organizations. This is of particular importance in health care systems in developing countries with limited resources in the Eastern Mediterranean region like Egypt.

Current status of breast-feeding in Alexandria governorate: a community-based study

This study was carried out to provide baseline data for various indicators measuring breast-feeding and bottle-feeding practices in Alexandria. In 1995, a total of 1080 children aged below 24 months, equally distributed among six age groups, were selected for a household 24-hour dietary survey. The findings indicated that only 42.2% of infants below 4 months were currently exclusively breast-fed, while 21.1% were predominantly breast-fed. Hence, the rate of breast-feeding was 63.3%. The prevalence rate of timely complementary feeding was 62.3%. Continued breast-feeding rate at 1 year was 64.4%, and at 2 years was 33.9%. The bottle-feeding rate [among infants less than 12 months] was 44.3%