This study focuses on analysing the heights of 10,953 Korean men aged 20 to 40 years who were measured during the Joseon dynasty, the Japanese colonialisation period, and the contemporary period, the latter including both North and South Korea. This study thus provides rare long-term statistical evidence on how biological living standards have developed over several centuries, encompassing Confucianism, colonialism, capitalism, and communism. Using error bar analysis of heights for each historical sample period, this study confirms that heights rose as economic performance improved. For instance, economically poorer North Koreans were expectedly shorter, by about 6 cm, than their peers living in the developed South. Similarly, premodern inhabitants of present-day South Korea, who produced a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita below the world average, were about 4 cm shorter than contemporary South Koreans, who have a mean income above the world average. Along similar lines, North Koreans, who have a GDP per capita akin to that of the premodern Joseon dynasty, have not improved much in height. On the contrary, mean heights of North Koreans were even slightly below (by about 2.4 cm) heights of Joseon dynasty Koreans. All in all, the heights follow a U-shaped pattern across time, wherein heights were lowest during the colonial era. Heights bounced back to Joseon dynasty levels during the interwar period, a time period where South Korea benefitted from international aid, only to rise again and surpass even premodern levels under South Korea’s flourishing market economy.

Substantial intergenerational transmission of diabetes mellitus (DM) risk exists. However, less is known regarding whether parental DM and DM among extended family members relate to adult offspring’s body mass index (BMI), and whether any of these associations vary by sex. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997 cohort (NLSY97), we assess the sex-specific relationship between DM present in first-degree parents and second-degree relatives and BMI among the parents’ young adult offspring.

Multivariate regressions reveal a positive relationship between parental DM and young adults’ BMI for both daughters and sons, and the magnitude of coefficients is somewhat larger for the same-sex parent. Further, we observe that the link between parental DM and young adults’ BMI is strongest when both parents have diagnosed diabetes. In contrast, the relationship between second-degree relatives with DM and the respondent’s BMI is weaker and appears to be sex-specific, through same-sex parent and respondent. Logistic regressions show the association is especially strong when assessing how parental DM status relates to young adults’ obesity risk. These results generally persist when controlling for parental BMI. The findings of this study point to the need to better distinguish the role of shared family environments (e.g., eating and physical activity patterns) from shared genes in order to understand factors that may influence young adults’ BMI. Young adult offspring of parents with diabetes should be targeted for obesity prevention efforts in order to reduce their risks of obesity and perhaps diabetes.

Weight abnormalities (underweight, overweight, and obesity) can cause life-threatening ailments. This study investigates disparities in the prevalence of underweight, overweight, and obesity between northern and southern Nigeria and their associated factors. Using the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), the study analysed a sample of 12,333 women with complete records of body mass index. The study found that southern women had lower odds of being underweight than women in the north, but the reverse was the case for overweight and obesity. The prevalence of underweight was 11.6%, and it varies from 6.9% in the southern state of Enugu to 31.6% in the northern state of Jigawa. The national prevalence of overweight was 17.9%, ranging from 6.7% in Jigawa State of the northern region to 39.9% in Lagos State of the south. Similarly, the prevalence of obesity in the north was 6.1% compared to 14.4% in the south, with Anambra State of the southern region recording the highest figure of 35.5% compared to 2.1% in the Yobe State of the northern region. In all, the rate of abnormal weight was significantly higher in the south than in the north. However, the type of weight abnormality varies between the two regions. Religion, education, use of contraceptives, and wealth were associated with the three forms of abnormal weights. However, while religion was significantly associated with obesity in the north, the association was not significant in the south. This study found that wealth and education have dissimilar influences on overnutrition. While the odds of being overweight and obese increase with wealth, being educated up to a secondary level significantly reduces the odds in Nigeria and across the two regions.

Around half of the population of Suriname, who are mainly of African and South Asian descent, migrated to the Netherlands at the end of the previous century, where they face higher perinatal and maternal mortality and up to 5 years lower life expectancy than European-Dutch. Analyses by ancestry are needed to address these inequalities, but the law prohibits registration by ancestry. Therefore, a list of Surinamese surnames was compiled and validated to identify the largest groups, African-Surinamese or South Asian-Surinamese ancestry in health research. A complete database of Surinamese surnames was provided by the National Population Registry of Suriname. Surname recognition by researchers of Surinamese ancestry was used. Disagreement was resolved using historical registers and through discussion. The list was further validated against contemporary lists of Surinamese surnames with self-defined ancestry, obtained during population and clinical studies in Suriname and the Netherlands. All 71,529 Surinamese surnames were encoded, as African-Surinamese (34%), South Asian-Surinamese (18%), Brazilian or other Iberian (17%), Indonesian-Surinamese (13%), Chinese-Surinamese (5%), First Nation (2%), and other (10%). Compared to self-defined ancestry, South Asian-Surinamese surname coding had 100% sensitivity, 99.8% specificity, and 99.9% accuracy. For African-Surinamese, who may have Dutch surnames, these values depended on geocoding. With a known Surinamese origin, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were, respectively, 97.3%, 100%, and 98.6%, but without this information, there was interference of African-Surinamese with European-Dutch surnames in the Dutch validation sample. In conclusion, the Surinamese Surname List has a high accuracy in identifying persons of Surinamese ancestry. This quick, inexpensive, and nonintrusive method, which is unaffected by response bias, might be a valuable tool in public health research to help address the profound health disparities by ancestry.

An extensive body of demographic literature has described Jews as ‘long-lifers’. From the mid-nineteenth century onwards, this pattern affected all age groups and was particularly well expressed among Jewish males but was also present among Jewish females. It held good independently of the Jews’ socio-economic position. This became known as ‘Jewish pattern of mortality’. This paper has two aims. The first aim is to show the impact of COVID-19 on Jewish mortality. This is a study of a global pandemic in the Jewish population which is, to the best of our knowledge, unique in its scope and quality. The second aim is to settle the finding of relatively high mortality from COVID-19 in certain Jewish communities (‘Jewish penalty’ in relation to COVID-19) with the notion of ‘Jewish pattern of mortality’. The author proceeds to show that the status of Jews as a low mortality group under a Western epidemiological regime, when mortality and morbidity are dominated by non-communicable diseases, does not stand in contradiction to a higher vulnerability among Jews to coronavirus. Thus, the paper further develops understanding of mortality of Jews and serves as a contribution to ethnic and religious demography and epidemiology.

Numerous studies have confirmed the relationship between individual risk and time preference and obesity. Nevertheless, none has studied the effect of these attitudes on chronic (long-term) obesity. This study used Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS) data from 16,366 individuals. It tracked their obesity status in 2007 and 2014 by calculating body mass index, the ratio between body weight and square of height. Besides the conventional risk-averse and risk-tolerant behaviour, the IFLS sample includes people who fear uncertainty related to the status quo bias. The ordered logit regression results show that past impatience, risk tolerance, and status quo bias behaviour (in 2007) are associated with transient or chronic obesity, while only current behaviour of status quo bias (in 2014) is associated with obesity. Furthermore, our study confirms that chronic obesity in Indonesia is prevalent among highly educated, high-income, and urban-centric individuals, exacerbated by impatience, risk tolerance, and uncertainty aversion. Thus, providing information on the risk of obesity and food calories, giving the incentive to avoid obesity, and improving the quality of built environments such as public parks, public transportation, and footpath could help prevent the rising obesity prevalence.

The N141I variant (PSEN1 gene) is associated with familial forms of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in descendants of Volga Germans, whose migration to Argentina is well documented. As a proxy for geographic origin, surnames can be a valuable tool in population studies. The 2015 Argentine Electoral Registry provided geographic data for 30,530,194 individuals, including 326,922 with Volga German surnames. Between 2005 and 2017, the Ministry of Health recorded 4,115,216 deaths, of which 17,226 were attributed to AD and related causes. The study used both diachronic and synchronic data to identify patterns of territorial distribution and co-spatiality, using Moran’s I and generalised linear model statistics. The frequency of surnames of Volga German origin accounts for 43.53% of the variation in deaths from AD and three clusters of high non-random frequency were found. Almost 150 years later, people descending from the Volga migration remain highly concentrated and may have a different risk of developing AD. The identification of spatial patterns provides reliable guidance for medical research and highlights the importance of specific health policies for particular populations.

Increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has become the leading cause of death and disability in Bangladesh. Therefore, this study aimed to measure the prevalence of and risk factors for double and triple burden of NCDs (DBNCDs and TBNCDs), considering diabetes, hypertension, and overweight and obesity as well as establish a machine learning approach for predicting DBNCDs and TBNCDs. A total of 12,151 respondents from the 2017 to 2018 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey were included in this analysis, where 10%, 27.4%, and 24.3% of respondents had diabetes, hypertension, and overweight and obesity, respectively. Chi-square test and multilevel logistic regression (LR) analysis were applied to select factors associated with DBNCDs and TBNCDs. Furthermore, six classifiers including decision tree (DT), LR, naïve Bayes (NB), k-nearest neighbour (KNN), random forest (RF), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) with three cross-validation protocols (K2, K5, and K10) were adopted to predict the status of DBNCDs and TBNCDs. The classification accuracy (ACC) and area under the curve (AUC) were computed for each protocol and repeated 10 times to make them more robust, and then the average ACC and AUC were computed. The prevalence of DBNCDs and TBNCDs was 14.3% and 2.3%, respectively. The findings of this study revealed that DBNCDs and TBNCDs were significantly influenced by age, sex, marital status, wealth index, education and geographic region. Compared to other classifiers, the RF-based classifier provides the highest ACC and AUC for both DBNCDs (ACC = 81.06% and AUC = 0.93) and TBNCDs (ACC = 88.61% and AUC = 0.97) for the K10 protocol. A combination of considered two-step factor selections and RF-based classifier can better predict the burden of NCDs. The findings of this study suggested that decision-makers might adopt suitable decisions to control and prevent the burden of NCDs using RF classifiers.

India has not only maintained its top position among countries with the largest number of underweight adults but has also jumped to a higher position among countries with largest increase in the proportion of overweight people in the last three decades. More studies focus on double burden of malnutrition among women than on men. This study uses the quantile regression model to analyse the covariates associated with low and high body mass index (BMI) primarily among men aged 20–54 years during 2015–2016 in India. Occupations that involve more manual work help in maintaining a normal BMI along with better education, dietary diversity, and less sedentary lifestyle. A gendered comparison of men and their spouses highlights the differences in the association of covariates with BMI for men and women. The results from this study will provide insights for behavioural change at an individual level and inputs for public health intervention for addressing ill health concerns arising from underweight, overweight, or obesity.

Despite the global decrease over the last two decades, stunting, also called ‘chronic malnutrition’, remains a public health issue affecting almost 150 million children under the age of 5 years globally. Defined by height-for-age, stunting is the consequence of poor nutrition, repeated infection, and inadequate psychosocial stimulation. Programmes and policies target undernutrition globally, and humanitarian and development actors invest great efforts to prevent stunting. This study uses multivariate analysis to examine the impact of financial assistance on the reduction of stunting in a refugee context, focusing on Syrian refugee children under the age of 5 years in Türkiye. Using a unique dataset, the 2018 Turkey Demographic and Health Survey Syrian Migrant Sample (2018 TDHS-SR), the findings indicate that financial assistance significantly reduces the incidence of stunting among refugee children under the control of economic, mother and children, environmental, health-related and nutritional and breastfeeding characteristics. However, having household members generate income is found to be another stronger predictor to reduce stunting. The paper also argues that the nutritional well-being of refugee children might improve if forced migration occurs towards a stable host country/region. In addition, adaptation over time also seems to have a positive influence.

Pakistan has a high burden of hereditary and congenital anomalies and their incidence rate almost doubles against the background of parental consanguinity. Consanguineous unions (CU) are customary in Pakistan and deeply rooted socio-cultural norms favour CU. This study aimed to elucidate the determinants and temporal change in CU in four northwestern populations of Pakistan. In a cross-sectional study, data on marital union types, bio-demographic factors, and paternal consanguinity were collected from 6,323 ever-married individuals in four districts of northwest Pakistan: Haripur, Muzaffarabad, Mansehra, and Shangla. We used descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression analysis. The CU were calculated to be 55%, and inbreeding coefficient F (ICF) was estimated to be 0.029. Eight factors, including district, rural origin, age of husband, occupational group of husband, literacy of husband, parental consanguinity, exchange marriage, and extended family type, were found to be significant predictors of consanguinity in the multivariable logistic regression analysis. The rate of consanguinity decreased significantly in the younger age categories of individuals. The rate of CU was seen to be declining over time and in marriages that started ‘before 1980’ and ‘after 2010’, respectively, and there was a decline in ICF from 0.030 to 0.027. These analyses also showed that the literacy rate improved, the average age at marriage increased, and the frequency of exchange marriages decreased over time. This study employs a sizable first-hand dataset to demonstrate a lowering CU rate in northwest Pakistan. It is anticipated that the burden of inherited and congenital anomalies may likely to diminish in the study populations along with the fall in ICF.

Functional health is arguably one of the most important health indicators for older adults, because it assesses physical, cognitive and social functions in combination. However, life-course circumstances may impact this multidimensional construct. The aim of the present study was to assess the relationship between life-course socio-economic status (SES) and different dimensions of functional health in older adults. Data on 821 Portuguese adults aged 50 years and over in 2013–2015 were analysed. Life-course SES was computed using participants’ paternal occupation (non-manual (nm); manual (m)) and own occupation (nm; m), resulting in four patterns: stable high (nm + nm), upward (m + nm), downward (nm + m) and stable low (m + m). Functional health included physical and mental functioning, cognitive function, handgrip strength, and walking speed. Linear (beta coefficients) and logistic regressions (odds ratios) were used to estimate the association between life-course SES and functional health.

Overall, those who accumulated social disadvantage during life-course presented worse functional health than those with stable high SES (stable low – SF-36 physical functioning: β = −9.75; 95% CI: −14.34; −5.15; SF-36 mental health: β = −7.33; 95% CI: −11.55; −3.11; handgrip strength: β = −1.60; 95% CI: −2.86; −0.35; walking time, highest tertile: OR = 5.28; 95% CI: 3.07; 9.09). Those with an upward SES were not statistically different from those in the stable high SES for most of the health outcomes; however, those with an upward SES trajectory tended to have higher odds of cognitive impairment (OR = 1.75; 95% CI: 0.96; 3.19). A downward SES trajectory increased the odds of slower walking speed (OR = 4.62; 95% CI: 1.78; 11.95). A disadvantaged life-course SES impacts older adults’ physical and mental functioning. For some outcomes, this was attenuated by a favourable adulthood SES but those with a stable low SES consistently presented worse functional health.

Considered the epidemic of the 21st century by the WHO, obesity is a global problem that is on the rise and will continue to increase in the coming years. Spain and Andalusia, in particular, are no exception to this pathology, which has tripled since the 1970s, representing a public health challenge. The aim of this study is to analyse the socioeconomic determinants of this pathology, with special emphasis on answering the question of what has a greater influence on overweight, education level, or income. For this purpose, we have used the European Survey of Health in Spain (ESHS-2020), a microdata base, with a total of 22,072 valid individual observations (of which 2,820 belong to the Andalusian population). Results we obtain in our estimations of qualitative response models reveal that, although both income and educational attainment could be effective in the fight against overweight, the social gradient of this health problem is greater with respect to educational attainment. Additionally, there are many other variables and other factors related to the individual’s overweight (mental health, subjective state of health, oral health, among others) which are much less explored and which must be considered in health policies to combat this disease.

Existing research on human growth in Mexico is regionally focused, creating a gap in the understanding of growth patterns of children and adolescents at national level and regional variation. The objective of the present study was to characterize the height growth curve of the Mexican population by geographic area and to cluster the states of the Mexican Republic according to their somatic maturation characteristics, based on a national representative sample of boys. Data on age, height, socioeconomic level, and geographic area of 18,219 boys were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Survey 2012 (ENSANUT) and ENSANUT 2018, carried out in 32 Mexican states. Both surveys had representative samples. Preece–Baines 1 model was applied to fit height growth curves. Biological parameters were estimated; principal component analysis and cluster analysis were performed to group Mexican states based on these biological parameters. The estimated age at peak height velocity (PHV) was 12.3 years in the sample. Significant regional differences in the timing and tempo of PHV among Mexican boys were observed. Boys in the northern region experienced PHV at an earlier age and had a shorter duration of growth compared with boys in the central and southern regions. Boys in the central region had a longer duration of growth and a later age of PHV compared with the boys in the southern region. The cluster that included the southern states of the country showed estimated lower adult height and earlier somatic maturation. A lower height was found in the low and low-middle socioeconomic levels compared with the medium-high and high socioeconomic levels. Future research in Mexico should focus on longitudinal studies to analyse the timing and tempo of growth and maturation, considering the impacts of environmental and genetic factors. Public health strategies should account for geographic variations.

Unsafe abortion refers to induced abortions performed without trained medical assistance. While previous studies have investigated predictors of unsafe abortion in India, none have addressed these factors with accounting sample selection bias. This study aims to evaluate the contributors to unsafe abortion in India by using the latest National Family Health Survey data conducted during 2019–2021, incorporating the adjustment of sample selection bias. The study included women aged 15 to 49 who had terminated their most recent pregnancy within five years prior to the survey (total weighted sample (N) = 4,810). Descriptive and bivariate statistics and the Heckman Probit model were employed. The prevalence of unsafe abortion in India was 31%. Key predictors of unsafe abortion included women’s age, the gender composition of their living children, gestation stage, family planning status, and geographical region. Unsafe abortions were typically performed in the early stages of gestation, often involving self-administered medication. The primary reasons cited were unintended pregnancies and health complications. This study underscores the urgent need for targeted interventions that take into account regional, demographic, and social dynamics influencing abortion practices in India.

Blood pressure (BP) control is a key intervention to decrease cardiovascular diseases (CVD), the main cause of death in low and middle-income countries (MIC). Scarce data on the determinants of BP control in Latin America are available. Our objective is to explore the role of gender, age, education, and income as social determinants of BP control in Argentina, a MIC with a universal health care system. We evaluated 1184 persons in two hospitals. Blood pressure was measured using automatic oscillometric devices. We selected those patients treated for hypertension. The average BP of less than 140/90 mmHg was considered a controlled BP. We found 638 hypertensive individuals, of whom 477 (75%) were receiving antihypertensive drugs, and of those, 248 (52%) had controlled BP. The prevalence of low education was more frequent in uncontrolled patients (25.3% vs. 16.1%; P < .01). We did not find association between household income, gender, and BP control. Older patients had less BP control (44% of those older than 75 years vs. 60.9% of those younger than 40; test for trend P < .05). Multivariate regression indicates low education (OR 1.71 95% CI [1.05, 2.79]; P = .03) and older age (OR 1.01; 95% IC [1.00, 1.03]) as independent predictors of the lack of BP control. We conclude that rates of BP control are low in Argentina. In a MIC with a universal health care system low education and old age but not household income are independent predictors of the lack of BP control.

In Colombia, the prevalence of obesity has been increasing in recent years due to changes in dietary and nutritional patterns. While previous studies have focussed on describing obesity and its associated factors, they have mainly used a cross-sectional methodology. Accordingly, this study aims to conduct a descriptive quasi-cohort analysis to capture age-specific cohort trends in body mass index (BMI) according to sex and ethnicity (indigenous, Afro-Colombian, and the remaining population). The study utilised data from the National Survey of the Nutritional Situation in Colombia (ENSIN) conducted in 2005, 2010, and 2015 that included 214,136 individuals aged 20–64 years after screening. Data on ethnicity were only available from the 2010 and 2015 surveys. Overall, the prevalence of obesity increased by 6.1 percentage points (from 15.2% to 21.3%) between 2005 and 2015 (men from 10.4% to 15.7%; women from 18.2% to 25.7%). Among Afro-Colombians, obesity rose 6.6 percentage points (from 19.4% to 26.0%), again more so in women than in men (2015: 35.2% versus 17.8%). Among indigenous people, the proportion increased by 5.3 percentage points (from 13.5% to 18.8%), with women reporting highest rates (2015: 23.7% against 12.6% in men). Age- and cohort-specific results also indicate that recent adult cohorts are experiencing sharp increases in BMI, for example, while 25–29-year-old males born in 1975–1979 had a BMI of 24.2 kg/m2, among 40–44-year-olds of the same cohort, this equalled 26.8 kg/m2. In the case of women, these age differences in BMI among the same cohort are even greater (24.4 and 28.0 kg/m2). In summary, the results of this study indicate that Colombia is still in the early stages of the obesity transition, urging the need to monitor obesity trends in Colombia from both an age and cohort perspective. To achieve this, longitudinal surveys or repeated cross-sectional surveys like the ENSIN could be utilised.

Menstruation is part of women’s normal life, which requires basic hygienic practices. Managing hygiene can be affected by several factors and situations such as natural disasters. Focusing on ‘super flooding’ in Pakistan’s Sindh Province, we pay attention to how this ‘natural disaster’ has affected hygienic practices of menstrual cycle of women. The study meticulously examines the dynamics of menstrual hygiene management, encompassing the nuanced encounters with feelings of shame and embarrassment among girls and women situated in flood camps, schools, and community shelters. It also intends to highlight women’s challenge and embarrassment to participate in the distribution process of essential resources such as pads. The insights garnered from this study hold potential relevance for various stakeholders, including policymakers, healthcare practitioners, and researchers, offering a nuanced comprehension of the intersection of menstrual hygiene, climate change, and well-being of women.

Nutritional impairment during adolescence may result in adverse physical and reproductive health outcomes. We investigated the prevalence and determined the factors associated with underweight and overweight/obesity among ever-married adolescent girls in Bangladesh. We used Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys data conducted in 2004, 2007, 2011, 2014, and 2017. A total of 7040 ever-married adolescent girls aged 15–19 years were included in this analysis. Prevalence of underweight (body mass index [BMI]<18.5 kg/m2) significantly decreased from 39.53% (95% CI = 36.71, 42.43) to 23.62% (95% CI = 21.35, 26.05) during 2004–2017 (p < 0.001). However, prevalence of overweight/obesity (BMI ≥ 23 kg/m2) significantly increased from 5.9% (95% CI = 4.67, 7.43) to 22.71% (95% CI = 20.39, 25.20) during the same period (p < 0.001). The girls with higher age (OR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.90, 0.99, p = 0.023), higher level of education (OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.43, 0.83, p = 0.002), and richest wealth quintile (OR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.62, 0.98, p = 0.035) had significantly lower risk of being underweight. Adolescent girls having more than one child (OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.15, 1.73, p = 0.001) were more likely to be underweight. Elderly adolescents with better economic status were more at risk of being overweight/obese (OR = 2.57, 95% CI = 1.86, 3.55, p < 0.001). Girls married to skilled/unskilled workers (OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.44, 0.77, p < 0.001) and persons involved in small businesses (OR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.49, 0.89, p = 0.007) had lower risk of having a high BMI. Using contraceptive (OR = 0.8, 95% CI = 0.69, 0.94, p = 0.006) was negatively associated with overweight/obese. Although prevalence of undernutrition among ever-married adolescent girls is declining, the proportion of being overweight/obese is increasing in Bangladesh warranting effective strategies to improve adolescent nutrition.