The profile of the Greek 'XXL' family.

OBJECTIVE: To identify Greek families in which all members were overweight or obese (XXL families) and to describe their profile with regard to their socio-economic status and their eating behaviours and practices. DESIGN: A prospective cohort study. SETTING: The metropolitan area of Kavala. SUBJECTS: We recruited children aged 11 and 12 years from twelve primary schools, and their parents, from volunteers. Auxologic measurements of the children included height and weight. A structured questionnaire pertaining to information on the socio-economic status of the family, anthropometric values and educational status of parents, dietary habits and the availability of various food products and beverages at home, as well as dietary intake, physical activity, time spent sleeping and time spent watching television, was filled in by one of the parents of each child. A total of 331 families finally participated. RESULTS: In sixty-one families (18·43 %) both parents and child were either overweight or obese (XXL family), and in seven of these families all members were obese. Only twenty-eight families (8·46 %) had all members with a normal BMI. The XXL family was associated with lower educational status of both parents, whereas a higher percentage of XXL families resided in rural areas and had lower income. Skipping breakfast and spending more than 3 h in front of a screen every day were more frequently observed in XXL families. With regard to the availability of various food products and beverages at home, no significant differences were observed between XXL families and the rest of the studied families. CONCLUSIONS: Greek XXL families have lower educational status and lower annual income.

Sociodemographic and dietary risk factors for excess weight in a greek pediatric population living in Kavala, Northern Greece.

The aim of this research was to investigate the strength of potential risk factors (demography, socioeconomics, and nutrition) for childhood overweight or obesity in a pediatric population aged 11 and 12 years old from Kavala, Northern Greece. Auxologic measurements of the children included height and weight. A structured questionnaire concerning the socioeconomic status of the family, anthropometric values (weight and height) and educational status of parents, diet history, dietary habits, the availability and dietary intake of various food products and beverages at home, physical activity, time sleeping, and time watching television was completed by one of the parents of each child at home. 335 children participated (181 boys and 154 girls), with a mean age of 11.02 ± 0.60 years. The IOTF standards were used for the determination of overweight and obesity. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 33.73% and 15.82%, respectively. A significantly higher prevalence of obesity was recorded among both fathers and mothers of obese and of overweight children compared with parents of normal-weight children. Obese children had 3 meals or fewer per day in a significantly increased proportion compared with normal-weight or overweight children, whereas their meal duration was significantly reduced compared with both normal and overweight children (16.63 ± 7.15 minutes vs 20.08 ± 9.94 minutes and 19.64 ± 8.38 minutes, P = .007 and P = .02). Finally, 22.64% of obese children spent more than 3 hours per day in front of a screen compared with only 8.93% and 8.85% of normal-weight and overweight children.

Warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia following recurrent mycoplasma pneumonia infections in a child with Down syndrome.

Mycoplasma pneumonia (MP) is mainly associated with cold agglutinin syndrome, whereas both cold IgM and warm IgG autoantibodies have been identified in only two cases in the literature. The authors present an 8-year-old boy with Down syndrome, who suffered from recurrent episodes of MP infection, followed by episodes of hemolytic anemia with normal titer of cold agglutinins. The first 6 episodes were sequenced by nonimmune hemolytic anemia, whereas the latter 7 episodes were followed by episodes of warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia. This is believed to be the first described case of hemolytic anemia with warm IgG autoantibodies, following MP infection.