Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m 2 . In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, the...

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in different regions using data from 2896 population-based studies with 187 million participants. Changes in the prevalence of underweight and total obesity, and to a lesser extent severe obesity, are largely driven by shifts in the distribution of BMI, with smaller contributions from changes in the shape of the distribution. In East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the underweight tail of the BMI distribution was left behind as the distribution shifted. There is a need for policies that address all forms of malnutrition by making healthy foods accessible and affordable, while restricting unhealthy foods through fiscal and regulatory restrictions.

Our study demonstrates that there is an oxidant antioxidant imbalance in COPD patients and suggests the importance of GPx in maintaining lung function.

The development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, upon exposure to tobacco smoke, is the cumulative effect of defects in several genes. With the aim of understanding the genetic structure that is characteristic of our patient population, we selected forty two single nucleotide polymorphisms of twenty genes based on previous studies and genotyped a total of 382 samples, which included 236 patients and 146 controls using Sequenom MassARRAY system. Allele frequencies of rs2276109 (MMP12) and rs1800925 (IL13) differed significantly between patients and controls (p = 0.013 and 0.044 respectively). Genotype analysis showed association of rs2276109 (MMP12) under additive and dominant models (p = 0.017, p = 0.012 respectively), rs1800925 (IL13) under additive model (p = 0.047) and under recessive model, rs1695 (GSTP1; p = 0.034), rs729631, rs975278, rs7583463 (SERPINE2; p = 0.024, 0.024 and 0.012 respectively), rs2568494, rs10851906 (IREB2; p = 0.026 and 0.041 respectively) and rs7671167 (FAM13A; p = 0.029). The minor alleles of rs1695 (G), rs7671167 (T), rs729631 (G), rs975278 (A) and rs7583463 (A) showed significant negative association whereas those of rs2276109 (G), rs2568494 (A), rs10851906 (G) and rs1800469 (T; TGF-β) showed significant positive association with lung function under different genetic models. Haplotypes carrying A allele of rs2276109, G allele of rs1695 showed negative correlation with lung function. Haplotypes carrying major alleles of rs7671167 (C) of FAM13A and rs729631 (C), rs975278 (G), rs7583463 (C) of SERPINE2 had protective effect on lung function. Haplotypes of IREB2 carrying major alleles of rs2568494 (G), rs2656069 (A), rs10851906 (A), rs965604 (C) and minor alleles of rs1964678 (T), rs12593229 (T) showed negative correlation with lung function. In conclusion, our study replicated the results of most of the previous studies. However, the positive correlation between the minor alleles of rs2568494 (A) and rs10851906 (G) of IREB2 and lung function needs further investigation.

To understand whether oxidants contribute to the initiation and/or promulgation toward aging, the present study has been undertaken on 220 healthy male volunteers aged 20-80 years selected from the defined electoral area (suburbs of Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India) to evaluate the concentrations of free radicals (superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide), lymphocyte antioxidant enzymes (glutathione S-transferase, superoxide dismutase, catalase), and DNA damage in relation to obesity and smoking (lifestyles). A two fold increase of lymphocyte free radical generation (DNA damage) was observed in older age groups with a reduced antioxidant potential, forming a link between cigarette smoking and oxidative stress represented by an antioxidant imbalance. Body mass index had a positive relationship with oxidative stress, but antioxidant levels did not vary with body mass index. The findings conclude that free radical-mediated oxidative stress and DNA damage accelerate with lifestyle variations under reduced antioxidant potential.