Clustering of lifestyle and health behaviours in Australian adolescents and associations with obesity, self-rated health and quality of life.

OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of this study was to identify clusters of lifestyle and health behaviours and explore their associations with health outcomes in a nationally representative sample of Australian adolescents. METHODS: The study participants were 3127 adolescents aged 14-15 years who participated in the eighth wave of the birth cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). A latent class analysis (LCA) was performed to identify clusters based on the behaviours of physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking, diet, eating disorders, sleep problems and weight consciousness. Multinomial logistic regression models were fitted to the following health outcome variables: obesity, self-rated general health and pediatric health-related quality of life, to investigate their associations with LCA clusters. RESULTS: Based on the prevalence of health behaviour related characteristics, LCA identified gender based distinct clusters of adolescents with certain outward characteristics. There were five clusters for male and four clusters for female participants which are named as: healthy lifestyle, temperate, mixed lifestyle, multiple risk factors, and physically inactive (male only). Adolescents in the healthy lifestyle and temperate clusters reported low and moderately active health risk behaviours, for example, low physical activity, inadequate sleep and so on, while these behaviours were prevailing higher among adolescents of other clusters. Compared to adolescents of healthy lifestyle clusters, male members of physically inactive (OR = 3.87, 95% CI: 1.12 - 13.33) or mixed lifestyle (OR = 5.57, 95% CI: 3.15 - 9.84) clusters were over three to five times more likely to have obesity; while for female adolescents, members of only multiple risk factors clusters (OR = 3.61, 95% CI: 2.00 - 6.51) were over three time more likely to have obesity compared to their counterpart of healthy lifestyle clusters. Adolescents of physically inactive (b = -9.00 for male only), mixed lifestyle (b = -2.77 for male; b = -6.72 for female) or multiple risk factors clusters (b = -6.49 for male; b = -6.59 for female) had a stronger negative association with health-related quality of life scores compared to adolescents of healthy lifestyle clusters. CONCLUSION: The study offers novel insights into latent class classification through the utilisation of different lifestyles and health-related behaviours of adolescents to identify characteristics of vulnerable groups concerning obesity, general health status and quality of life. This classification strategy may help health policy makers to target vulnerable groups and develop appropriate interventions.

Association of maternal physical and mental health characteristics with the hazard of having any medical condition or disability in Australian children: A 15-year birth cohort study.

Any long-term medical condition or disability among children is a significant health issue. This study measured the incidence rate of any medical condition or disability among children from a nationally representative birth cohort, then used the random effect parametric survival regression model to assess whether the hazard of any medical condition or disability in children is associated with maternal physical and mental health characteristics (obesity, general health status, having a medical condition, stressful life events or mental illness). The study followed up 5019 children from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, assessing their time-to-event data from birth (2004) to 14 or 15 years of age (2018). The hazard rate of any medical condition or disability was 26.11 per 1000 person-years for all the children and 29.29 for the males-a noticeable gender difference. It was the highest (hazard rate: 62.90) among the children when their mothers had a medical condition, while the hazard rate was 22.40 per 1000 person-years among the children whose mothers had no medical conditions. The parametric panel regression results also suggested that the children of mothers with a medical condition during the 15-year study period were more likely to have a medical condition or disability (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.61, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.24-3.02) compared to the children of mothers with none. Similar trends were observed among children of mothers who had fair or poor general health (HR: 1.48, 95% CI: 1.15-1.91), obesity (HR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.18-1.66) or experienced stressful life events (HR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.06-1.43) over time compared to those whose mothers did not. These findings suggest that additional healthcare interventions targeting mothers with medical conditions, obesity, poor general health, or mental illness would help minimise the risk of medical conditions and disabilities among children.

The Healthcare Cost Burden of Asthma in Children: A Longitudinal Population-Based Study.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the extent of healthcare cost increase at population level due to childhood asthma. We aimed to investigate the cross-sectional relationship between asthma and healthcare costs among children aged 2 to 18 years and, in longitudinal analyses, whether costs increase with an increase in the duration of asthma prevalence. METHODS: Study participants are 4175 and 4482 children of birth and kindergarten cohorts from the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian Children for whom the linked Medicare cost data are available. The children were followed in all waves from the year 2004 to 2018. Generalized linear models were used to estimate the excess healthcare costs associated with asthma. The sum of Medicare Benefits Schedule and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme costs constitutes the total healthcare costs. RESULTS: Total excess healthcare costs associated with asthma among the 2- to 18-year-old children were A$4316 per child. At the population level, the estimated total excess Medicare costs associated with current asthma treatment among 2- to 18-year-old children were, on average, A$190.6 million per year (2018 population and price). Compared with the non-asthmatic children, peers with persistent asthma morbidity and treatment requirements had excess costs up to A$20 727 for the B cohort children until 14 years of age, whereas excess costs for the K cohort children were A$19 571 until 18 years of age. CONCLUSIONS: Asthma in children imposes a significant financial burden on the public health system. Higher excess healthcare costs of all asthmatic children than the costs of nonasthmatic children provide further economic justification for promoting preventive efforts at early ages.

The impact of gender and age on bullying role, self-harm and suicide: Evidence from a cohort study of Australian children.

There has been limited longitudinal investigation to date into the association between bullying, self-harm, and suicidality in Australia and the impact of specific demographic differences on this relationship. This is despite the continued rise in the incidence of bullying, self-harm, and suicide. As such, the current study draws on data from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian children (LSAC) to examine the association between bullying, self-harm, and suicidality and explore the impact of demographic differences across three bullying related behaviors (being bullied, bullying others and being both bullied and bullying others). The evidence indicates that bully-victims exhibit the highest risk of self-harm and suicidality in Australia. When considering demographic differences, it was identified that females and adolescents aged 16-17-years-of-age had the highest risk of self-harm and suicidality. Further, a direct curvilinear relationship between age and the categories of self-harm was identified with an inflection point around 16-17 years. The study supports the need for further investigation into the association between bullying, self-harm, and suicidality longitudinally with a particular focus on other moderators.

Association of infant and child health characteristics with the hazard of any medical condition or disability in Australian children.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of any medical condition (e.g., sight, hearing, and speech problems, blackouts, chronic pain etc.) or disability (e.g., limited use of arms or fingers, legs, and feet, or other physical long-term health condition limiting everyday activities etc.) have been increasing among Australian children in recent decades. OBJECTIVES: This study assessed whether infant or child health characteristics might be predictors of subsequent medical conditions or disabilities in children in the first 15 years of life. METHODS: Using time to event data of 5107 children, obtained from the Birth cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, the study estimated the incidence of any medical condition or disability using the survival analysis technique. This study followed up the children from birth to 14 or 15 years of age (2004-2018) and assessed the association of infant and child health characteristics (birthweight, gestational age, use of intensive care unit or ventilator during their neonatal age and obesity) with hazard of any medical condition or disability using the random effect parametric survival regression model. The infant characteristics were measured in the Wave 1 while the children were aged 0/1 year and obesity characteristics were measured longitudinally over all the waves up to 14/15 years of age. RESULTS: The hazard rate of any medical condition or disability for all participants was 26.13 per 1000 person-years among children in Australia. This hazard incidence rate was higher among low birthweight (39.07) children compared to the children of normal birthweight (24.89) children. The hazard rate also higher among obese (34.37) children compared to the normal weight children (24.82) and among those who had received after-birth ventilation or intensive care unit emergency services (36.87) compared to those who have not received these services (24.20). The parametric panel regression model also suggests that children with low birthweight were 1.43 times (Hazard Ratio: 1.43, 95% Confidence Interval: 1.05-1.94) more likely to have any medical condition or disability than children with normal birthweight. The time to event analyses also revealed that being recipient of after-birth emergencies (HR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.23-1.75), being male children (HR: 1.30, 95% CI: 1.14-1.48) or being obese (HR: 1.38, 95% CI: 1.07-1.79) significantly increased the likelihood of the incidence of a medical condition or disability among children. The regression model was adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics of children and mothers.. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings suggest that infants with low birth weight, hospital emergency service use and children with obesity would benefit from additional health care monitoring to minimize the risk of any medical condition or disability.

Disability, physical activity, and health-related quality of life in Australian adults: An investigation using 19 waves of a longitudinal cohort.

BACKGROUND: Any form of long-term physical or mental impairment might negatively influence health-related quality of life (HRQoL). HRQoL, as an independent concept, covers a wide range of characteristics that includes physical, mental, social, and spiritual functions. People with disabilities are continuously exposed to multiple barriers that deteriorate their HRQoL. It also creates impairment in performing physical activities. However, experts opine regular physical exercise as an intervention to help disabled people. This research aims to investigate the association between disability and physical activity with HRQoL among the adult population in Australia. DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study. METHODS: This study utilized the most recent 19 waves of data (2002-2020) from the nationally representative Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. Component summary scores such as physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS), and SF-6D utility scores were utilized to measure HRQoL. Random-effects GLS regression technique was fitted to estimate the association between disability and physical activity with HRQoL, after adjusting for a range of socio-demographic and health-related characteristics. RESULTS: Disability was negatively associated with the PCS (-5.95), MCS (-2.70) and SF-6D (-0.060) compared with non-disabled counterparts. However, respondents engaged in the recommended level of physical activity had substantial gain in PCS (b = 0.96), MCS (1.57), and SF-6D (0.021) scores. Besides, the results showed that performing the recommended level of physical activity in the presence of disability has lessen the negative effect of disability/ positive moderating effect of physical activity on PCS, MCS, and SF-6D scores by 1.84 points, 0.82 points, and 0.013 percentage points, respectively. CONCLUSION: This study found an inverse association between disability and HRQoL among Australian adults. However, physical activity was associated with improved HRQoL. Therefore, public health interventions, such as the orientation of physical activities, have a higher potential to dwindle the burden regarding HRQoL.

Nexus between maternal underweight and child anthropometric status in South and South-East Asian countries.

OBJECTIVES: Maternal underweight and childhood malnutrition are life-threatening public health concerns in several South and South-East Asian nations. The aim of this study was to better design interventions and prevent malnutrition of children in the region by exploring the association of maternal underweight with children's anthropometric status. METHODS: The Demographic and Health Survey's (DHS) most recent nationally representative data from eight South and South-East Asian states, collected between 2014 and 2018, were pooled for the present study. A multivariable logistic regression model was designed to explore the association between maternal underweight and child anthropometric status. Owing to the hierarchical structure of the DHS data, the study also employed the multilevel logistic regression technique. RESULTS: Among the total participants (N = 213 730), 22.66% of women were found to be underweight, whereas 39.03%, 35.88%, and 22.11% of their children had stunting, underweight, and wasting, respectively. The logistic regression model showed that the children from underweight mothers were 1.27 (95% confidence interval [CI]. 1.24-1.30), 1.69 (95% CI, 1.65-1.73), and 1.48 (95% CI, 1.45-1.52) times more likely to experience stunting, underweight, and wasting, respectively, than those with healthy-weight mothers. The significant association between maternal underweight and stunting, underweight, as well as wasting was additionally established by the multilevel logistic regression analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate that maternal underweight is positively associated with children's anthropometric status, such as stunting, underweight, and wasting. The information from this research will guide actors and policymakers to scale up interventions with all-inclusive nutritional issues and promote healthier weight status among mothers to ensure higher odds of healthier anthropometric status in their children in the South and South-East Asian countries.

A Bibliometric Analysis and Global Trends in Fascioliasis Research: A Neglected Tropical Disease.

Background: Fascioliasis is a zoonotic neglected tropical disease caused by Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica. In endemic regions, fascioliasis represents a huge problem in livestock production and significantly threatens public health. The present study was performed to assess the key bibliometric indicators, plot the global research outcome, and strive to find the research frontiers and trends in fascioliasis. Methods: A descriptive bibliometric and visualized study was conducted. The data were extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database. The WoSCC was searched using key terms covering a wide range of synonyms related to the causative agent (Fasciola) and the disease (fascioliasis). The database search was performed for the period from the inception of WoSCC until 3 October 2021. The downloaded data were exported into VOSviewer software version 1.6.17 for Windows to construct co-authorship countries, keywords co-occurrence, bibliographic coupling sources, and citation and documents network visualization. Results: A total of 4165 documents were included in this bibliometric analysis. The included documents were published between the years 1913 and 2021 from 116 countries, mainly from the United States of America (USA) (n = 482, 11.6%). The most prolific year was 2018 (n = 108). The journal that attracted the most publications was Veterinary Parasitology (n = 324), while the most productive author in this area was Rondelaud D (n = 156). In terms of total link strength (TLS), the most influential country was Spain (TLS = 236), followed by the USA (TLS = 178). Conclusion: This study is of value for veterinarians, doctors, and researchers to explore insights into research frontiers and trends in research on fascioliasis. The number of publications on fascioliasis has increased over time. Above 35% of publications have been produced by the USA, France, England, and Spain. "Fasciola hepatica" and "cattle" were the most dominant and widely used keywords. Research collaboration should be established among the researchers from developing countries with developed countries to learn new advancements and effective control strategies for fascioliasis.

Are wheezing, asthma and eczema in children associated with mother's health during pregnancy? Evidence from an Australian birth cohort.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the prevalence of wheezing, asthma, and eczema among Australian children using longitudinal data from birth to 15 years of age. This study also examined the association between maternal health status during pregnancy and their offspring's respiratory and allergic morbidities using sex-segregated data. METHODS: This study used data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) where approximately 5000 children of a birth cohort across Australia were surveyed in 2004. These children were followed biennially in eight waves up to their age of 15 years until 2018. The status of the children's wheezing, asthma, and eczema were reported by the mothers upon doctors' diagnosis (for asthma) or self-assessment (for wheezing or eczema). Binomial logistic regression models were used to analyse associations between maternal health during pregnancy and their children's health outcomes. RESULTS: Asthma prevalence among 0-1-year aged children was 11.7%, increased to 15.4% when the children were 10-11 years old, and then decreased to 13.6% when they were 14-15 years old. Wheezing and eczema were most prevalent when the children were 2-3 years old (26.0 and 17.8% respectively) and were least prevalent when the children were 14-15 years old (7.3 and 9.5% respectively). Maternal asthma, smoking during pregnancy, and pre-pregnancy obesity were significantly associated with an increased risk of wheezing and asthma in Australian children. Childhood eczema was associated only with maternal asthma. These associations were stronger among male children up to age 10-11 and during adolescence (12-15 years of age), female children were more prone to wheezing, asthma, and eczema. CONCLUSION: This is a comprehensive longitudinal study of Australian children (0-15 years of age) to assess the prevalence (with sex-specific differences) of wheezing, asthma and eczema as well as the association between these respiratory and allergic morbidities and maternal health during pregnancy. The study findings suggest that careful medical and obstetric monitoring, improved specific age-sex wise risk factor prevention for children and health promotion for pregnant women would help protect child health.

Clustering of asthma and related comorbidities and their association with maternal health during pregnancy: evidence from an Australian birth cohort.

BACKGROUND: The population-based classification of asthma severity is varied and needs further classification. This study identified clusters of asthma and related comorbidities of Australian children aged 12-13 years; determined health outcome differences among clusters; and investigated the associations between maternal asthma and other health conditions during pregnancy and the children's clustered groups. METHODS: Participants were 1777 children in the birth cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) who participated in the Health CheckPoint survey and the LSAC 7th Wave. A latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to identify clusters of children afflicted with eight diseases, such as asthma (ever diagnosed or current), wheezing, eczema, sleep problem/snoring/breathing problem, general health status, having any health condition and food allergy. Multinomial logistic regression was used to investigate the association between maternal asthma or other health conditions and LCA clusters. RESULTS: The study identified four clusters: (i) had asthma - currently healthy (11.0%), (ii) never asthmatic & healthy (64.9%), (iii) early-onset asthmatic or allergic (10.7%), and (iv) asthmatic unhealthy (13.4%). The asthmatic unhealthy cluster was in poor health in terms of health-related quality of life, general wellbeing and lung functions compared to other clusters. Children whose mothers had asthma during pregnancy were 3.31 times (OR 3.31, 95% CI: 2.06-5.30) more likely to be in the asthmatic unhealthy cluster than children whose mothers were non-asthmatic during pregnancy. CONCLUSION: Using LCA analysis, this study improved a classification strategy for children with asthma and related morbidities to identify the most vulnerable groups within a population-based sample.

Maternal health and health-related behaviours and their associations with child health: Evidence from an Australian birth cohort.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the associations between maternal health and health-related behaviours (nutrition, physical activity, alcohol consumption and smoking) both during pregnancy and up to 15 months from childbirth and children's health outcomes during infancy and adolescence (general health, presence of a chronic illness, and physical health outcome index). METHODS: This study used Wave 1 (2004) and Wave 7 (2016) data from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children (LSAC). We measured mothers' general health, presence of a medical condition during pregnancy and mental health during pregnancy or in the year after childbirth. We subsequently measured the children's general health, presence of a medical condition, and physical health outcome index at ages 0-1 (infancy) and 12-13 (adolescence). Binary logistic and linear regression analyses were performed to examine the association between the mothers' health-related variables and their children's health. RESULTS: Our results showed that poor general health of the mother in the year after childbirth was associated with higher odds of poor health in infants and adolescents in all three dimensions: poor general health (OR: 3.13, 95% CI: 2.16-4.52 for infants; OR: 1.39, 95% CI: 0.95-2.04 for adolescents), presence of a chronic condition (OR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.19-1.81 for adolescents) and lower physical health score (b = -0.94, p-value <0.05 for adolescents). Our study also revealed that the presence of a chronic condition in mothers during pregnancy significantly increased the likelihood of the presence of a chronic condition in their offspring during infancy (OR: 1.31, 95% CI: 1.12-1.54) and during adolescence (OR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.20-1.75). The study found that stressful life events faced by mothers increase the odds of poor general health or any chronic illness during adolescence, while stress, anxiety or depression during pregnancy and psychological distress in the year after childbirth increase the odds of any chronic illness during infancy. CONCLUSIONS: The present study found evidence that poor maternal physical and mental health during pregnancy or up to 15 months from childbirth has adverse health consequences for their offspring as measured by general health, presence of chronic health conditions, and physical health index scores. This suggests that initiatives to improve maternal physical and mental health would not only improve child health but would also reduce the national health burden.

Willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccination among adults with chronic diseases in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: People with chronic conditions such as cancer, kidney disease, lung disease, diabetes, dementia, obesity, and heart conditions are at elevated risk of developing severe complications, and are thus at greater risk of death due to COVID-19. The COVID-19 vaccine is an effective measure to manage the pandemic as it prevents severe illness and death. Nevertheless, many people are hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine due to fear of its side effects. The aim of this study was to identify the risk and protective factors of accepting COVID-19 vaccination among Saudi Arabian people with chronic diseases. METHODS: This study extracted data from an online cross-sectional self-reported questionnaire conducted on the acceptability of a COVID-19 vaccine in Saudi Arabia in December 2020. The study included a sample of 521 adults who self-reported that they had chronic diseases. Multivariable regression analyses were employed to identify the factors associated with accepting COVID-19 vaccination in Saudi Arabia. The estimates were adjusted for confounding variables, including socio-demographic factors. RESULTS: Among the sampled participants of Saudi adults with chronic diseases, approximately 52% indicated that they were willing to accept the COVID-19 vaccine. Participants had higher willingness to accept the vaccine if they received the seasonal influenza vaccination in the past [odds ratio (OR): 2.179; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.222-3.888], reported high or very high levels of concern about contracting COVID-19 (OR: 2.426; 95% CI: 1.209-4.867), or believed in mandatory COVID-19 vaccination (OR: 84.848; 95% CI: 37.651-191.207). Participants had lower willingness to be vaccinated if they had a history of vaccine refusal (OR: 0.211; 95% CI: 0.088-0.504). Among the socio-demographic factors, being male (OR: 2.153; 95% CI: 1.007-4.603), having a postgraduate degree (OR: 2.408; 95% CI: 0.985-5.886), and being unemployed (OR: 2.780; 95% CI: 0.876-8.827) were associated with an increased willingness of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study demonstrate that willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccination among Saudi Arabian adults with chronic conditions is low. Therefore, further policy measures are required to manage COVID-19-related infections and the death toll.

Interaction between the place of residence and wealth on the risk of overweight and obesity in Bangladeshi women.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of overweight and obesity in women has increased significantly over the last few decades in Bangladesh, a rapidly urbanising developing country. However, little is known regarding the association between the interaction of the place of residence and household wealth with overweight and obesity, particularly in women from developing countries. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to find the association between the interaction of the place of residence and wealth with overweight and obesity among Bangladeshi women. METHODS: This study utilised data from the four Bangladesh Demographic Health Surveys conducted in 2004, 2007, 2011 and 2014 with a total of 54337 women aged 15-49 years. Multivariate logistic regression was used for the analyses. RESULTS: The prevalence of overweight and obesity among women aged 15-49 years in Bangladesh has considerably increased from 9.96% in 2004 to 24.43% in 2014. The interaction between wealth and place of residence has been found to be associated with obesity. Urban wealthy and richest women were 4.23 (OR: 4.23, 95% CI: 1.25-14.34) and 5.99 (OR: 5.99, 95% CI: 1.91-18.74) times more likely to be obese compared to their rural counterparts in the period 2004. Urban richest were 2.94 times (OR: 2.94, 95% CI: 1.20-7.24) more likely to be obese against their rural counterparts for the survey year 2014. CONCLUSIONS: The place of residence is not associated with obesity, but its interaction with wealth is significant.

Determination of Heavy Metal Residues in Slaughtered Camels at Sokoto and Gusau Modern Abattoirs, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Heavy metals can pose health risks to both animals and humans. Objectives. To determine the concentrations of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and chromium (Cr) in samples taken from the kidney, liver, muscle, hide, and blood of camels slaughtered at both Sokoto and Gusau modern abattoirs. METHODS: The concentrations of Pb, Cd, and Cr in tissues and organs of camels slaughtered at both Sokoto and Gusau modern abattoirs were determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. A total of 120 samples were collected. RESULTS: All the samples collected tested positive for Pb, Cd and Cr. The overall mean concentrations of Pb, Cd and Cr in tissues and organs of slaughtered camels at Sokoto modern abattoir ranged from 0.11 mg/kg to 0.35 mg/kg, 0.05 to 0.8 mg/kg and 0.41 to 0.59 mg/kg, respectively, while at Gusau modern abattoir, the overall mean concentrations of Pb, Cd and Cr ranged from 0.20 mg/kg to 1.17 mg/kg, 0.01 to 0.14 mg/kg and 0.13 to 0.51 mg/kg, respectively. DISCUSSION: The concentration of Pb in the tissues and organs of camels slaughtered at Gusau modern abattoir was high compared to in camels slaughtered at Sokoto modern abattoir, while the concentrations of Cd and Cr in the tissues and organs of camels slaughtered at Sokoto modern abattoir were high compared to those in tissues and organs of camels slaughtered at Gusau modern abattoir. There were significant differences (P<0.05) in the concentration of Pb, Cd, and Cr in samples taken from the kidney, liver, muscle, hide, and blood of slaughtered camels at both Sokoto and Gusau. CONCLUSIONS: Camels slaughtered at both Sokoto and Gusau modern abattoirs were exposed to Pb, Cd, and Cr.The tissues and organs of camels slaughtered at both Sokoto and Gusau contain Pb, Cd, and Cr. Prolonged exposure through consumption of these tissues and organs should be avoided. COMPETING INTERESTS: The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Determination of heavy metal contents in water, sediments, and fish tissues of Shizothorax plagiostomus in river Panjkora at Lower Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

The present study was conducted to investigate the contamination of water, sediments, and fish tissues with heavy metals in river Panjkora at Lower Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Water, sediments, and fish (Shizothorax plagiostomus) samples were collected from September 2012 to January 2013 at three different sites (upstream site at Sharigut, sewage site at Timergara, and downstream site at Sadoo) of river Panjkora. The concentrations of heavy metals in water were in the order Zn > Cu ≈ Pb > Ni ≈ Cd with mean values of 0.30, 0.01, 0.01, 0.0 and 0.0 mg/l, respectively, which were below the maximum permissible limits of WHO for drinking water. In sediments, heavy metals were found in the order Cu > Zn > Ni > Pb > Cd with mean concentrations of 50.6, 38.7, 9.3, 8, and 0.4 mg/kg, respectively. Ni and Cd were not found in any fish tissues, but Zn, Cu, and Pb were detected with the mean concentration ranges of 0.04-1.19, 0.03-0.12, and 0.01-0.09 µg/g, respectively. The present study demonstrates that disposal of waste effluents causes a slight increase in the concentration of heavy metals in river Panjkora as revealed by variation in metal concentrations from upstream to downstream site. Sewage disposal was also found to change physicochemical characteristics of Panjkora water. At present, water and fish of river Panjkora are safe for human consumption, but the continuous sewage disposal may create problems in the future.