Moffat Tina
Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L9, Canada.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2003 Sep;122(1):85-97. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.10258.
The differential impact of diarrhea, respiratory infections, and protozoan parasitism on growth is investigated among children under five years of age living in periurban Kathmandu, Nepal. The children's parents are all carpet-making workers who live in an environment with crowded living conditions, poor sanitation, and contaminated water. Anthropometric data, both cross-sectional and longitudinal, were collected over a 9-month period. Morbidity data were gathered from maternal reports, and a subsample of children's stools were examined for gastrointestinal parasites. In a comparison of current growth status and growth velocity for children with and without diarrhea and respiratory infections, it is found that body weight is most affected by infections, particularly for children under 24 months of age. For a subsample of children whose stools were tested for parasites, there is a statistically significant association between stunting (low height-for-age) and the presence of a protozoan gastrointestinal parasite. It is concluded that although growth faltering is associated with diarrhea and respiratory infections, the impact of these infections is of less importance for long-term linear growth retardation than is infection by protozoan gastrointestinal parasites.
在尼泊尔加德满都周边地区生活的五岁以下儿童中，研究了腹泻、呼吸道感染和原生动物寄生虫感染对生长发育的不同影响。这些儿童的父母均为地毯制作工人，生活环境拥挤、卫生条件差且水源受污染。在9个月的时间里收集了横断面和纵向的人体测量数据。发病数据来自母亲的报告，并对儿童粪便的一个子样本进行了肠道寄生虫检查。在比较有腹泻和呼吸道感染与无腹泻和呼吸道感染儿童的当前生长状况和生长速度时，发现体重受感染影响最大，尤其是24个月以下的儿童。对于粪便进行寄生虫检测的儿童子样本，发育迟缓（年龄别身高低）与原生动物肠道寄生虫的存在之间存在统计学上的显著关联。研究得出结论，虽然生长发育迟缓与腹泻和呼吸道感染有关，但与原生动物肠道寄生虫感染相比，这些感染对长期线性生长发育迟缓的影响较小。
