Health Status and Permanent Loss to Follow up of Ellisras Longitudinal Study Subjects: Rural South African Context

Abstract

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are responsible for two out of three deaths worldwide with their profile changing from one country to another. But evidence to sustained these changes are still very limited in rural South African population. The well-characterized Ellisras Longitudinal Study (ELS) provides a unique opportunity of mapping some of these changes in vulnerable adolescent and young adults. The objective is we determined the extent of NCD risk factors derived from anthropometric and blood pressure measurements affected Ellisras Longitudinal Study (ELS) subjects over time for those who died or permanently lost to follow-up. A total of 2238 subjects aged 3-10 years (born between 1994 and 1986) were randomly selected to take part of the Ellisras Longitudinal Study (ELS) in November 1996. The attrition rate of ELS subjects based on death ranges between 0.71 and 3.73% for boys and 0.75 and 4.89% for girls. The prevalence of sever undernutrition ranges from 3.2 to 53%, moderate undernutrition ranges from 9.7 to 28.8%, while mild undernutrition ranges from 17.9 to 59.1% for both males and females. The prevalence of undernutrition was high while hypertension, obesity, and overweight were low in the population. The identification of appropriate NCD indicators for mortality in rural South African population needs more consideration and evaluation.