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Background: The burden of childhood trauma (violence, injury/illness, loss) in low-resource settings is high, although the effect of trauma on children's mental and cognitive health is under-researched. Child gender may moderate the association between trauma and outcomes; boys are more likely to experience trauma, but girls are more likely to show distress following trauma., Methods: We draw on data from the Bachpan cohort (n = 888), a sample of mother-child dyads in rural Pakistan, to investigate these associations among 6-year-old children in a South Asian, low-resource setting. Mothers reported on children's lifetime exposure to 15 possible traumas and their current mental health. In addition, children were assessed for their verbal skills, working memory, and inhibitory control. We estimated trauma prevalence and used generalized estimating equations to test the association between number of traumatic events and child mental health and cognitive skills in the overall sample and by gender., Results: 90.5% of children experienced at least one trauma. The most common traumas were death of a loved one (47%) and hearing about war/terrorism on the TV/radio (48%). On average, boys experienced more traumas (M = 3.00) than girls (M = 2.67). Specifically, boys were more likely than girls to experience an injury or hospitalization (30% vs. 21%, p < .05) and to hear about war/terrorism on the TV/radio (52% vs. 43%, p < .05). Trauma was associated with increased mental health difficulties and increased anxiety scores. There was little evidence that trauma exposure was associated with child cognitive skills. The strength of association between trauma and outcomes was similar for boys and girls., Conclusions: Findings show that childhood trauma exposure is common in this setting and associated with worse mental health problems among young boys and girls. Results suggest that trauma-informed interventions are important for supporting child mental health in South Asia., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Parent-child relationship quality can have long-term impacts on child mental health into adulthood. The impact of parental behaviors on the future mental health of children has been understudied in South Asia, where parenting approaches differ from the dominant western approaches often represented in the literature., Methods: Mothers in rural Pakistan (N = 828) reported on their own mothers' parenting behaviors using the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) and were assessed for depression using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders (SCID). The PBI includes scales for warmth (care scale) and over-control (protection scale), as well as subscales for behavioral control and psychological control. We used structural equation modeling to test the associations between depression and all PBI scales/subscales., Results: Increased parental care was associated with lower probability of depression (B = -0.19, SE = 0.09). Parental protection was associated with higher probability of depression (B = 0.25, SE = 0.11). Among the protection subscales, behavioral control was associated with increased risk of depression (B = 0.24, 95 % SE = 0.11) and psychological control was associated with decreased risk of depression (B = -0.28, SE = 0.12)., Limitations: This cross-sectional study used retrospective self-reports of parenting experiences. Participants only reported on their mothers, not fathers or other caregivers., Conclusions: In a rural Pakistani sample, maternal warmth was protective against adulthood depression. The association between maternal control and depression varied based on the type of control (behavioral or psychological), emphasizing the importance of nuanced measures of parental control in this context., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to report., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have significant impacts on the next generation with links to negative birth outcomes, impaired cognitive development, and increased socioemotional problems in children. However, not all types or levels of adversity are similarly deleterious and research from diverse contexts is needed to better understand why and how intergenerational transmission of adversity occurs. We examined the role of maternal ACEs on children's growth, cognitive, and socioemotional development at 36 months postpartum in rural Pakistan. We used data from 877 mother-child dyads in the Bachpan Cohort, a birth cohort study. Maternal ACEs were captured using an adapted version of the ACE-International Questionnaire. Outcomes at 36 months of age included child growth using the WHO growth z-scores, fine motor and receptive language development assessed with the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, and socioemotional and behavioral development measured with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Socioemotional and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. To estimate the associations between maternal ACEs and child outcomes, we used multivariable generalized linear models with inverse probability weights to account for sampling and loss to follow-up. Over half of mothers in our sample (58%) experienced at least one ACE. Emotional abuse, physical abuse, and emotional neglect were the most commonly reported ACEs. We found null relationships between the number of maternal ACEs and child growth. Maternal ACEs were associated with higher fine motor and receptive language development and worse socioemotional and behavioral outcomes. Maternal ACE domains had similarly varying relationships with child outcomes. Our findings highlight the complexity of intergenerational associations between maternal ACEs and children's growth and development. Further work is necessary to examine these relationships across cultural contexts and identify moderating factors to mitigate potential negative intergenerational effects., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Chung et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis activity may be a mechanism linking early adversity to child mental health difficulties. However, there is a dearth of longitudinal evidence for the association between HPA axis activity and mental health among children in low-resource contexts. The goal of this study is to examine linear and curvilinear associations between HPA axis activity during infancy and mental health difficulties in early childhood among children in rural Pakistan. Participants included 104 children (46% male) from the Bachpan study, a longitudinal cohort embedded within a maternal depression trial in Pakistan. We examined the associations between hair-derived cortisol and dehydroepiandosterone (DHEA) at 12 months old and mental health difficulties, measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), at 36 months old. There was a significant quadratic association between hair cortisol and SDQ scores, with results showing a U-shaped relationship (i.e., having relatively high or low cortisol predicted increased mental health difficulties). DHEA showed a quadratic association with SDQ scores with an inverted U-shaped relationship (i.e., high and low DHEA was associated with decreased mental health difficulties). Results provide evidence of longitudinal and curvilinear effects of cortisol and DHEA during infancy on mental health difficulties in early childhood.

Generativity refers to the desire to pass on one's skills, knowledge, and wisdom to future generations; this may be a clear indicator of the likelihood of older adults investing time and effort in engagement with their grandchildren. This cross-sectional study examines the relationship between generative beliefs and an index of multiple potential grandparenting activities. The data come from a convenience sample of 79 grandparents (aged 55+) living in Sri Lanka, a society experiencing rapid growth in its population of older adults. Regression analyses demonstrate that more endorsement of generative beliefs among older adults is associated with increased engagement in various grandparenting activities, with the strongest associations with reading, singing songs, and helping grandchildren with schoolwork or teaching them. Our findings suggest that generativity may be important for understanding the relationship between grandparenting and improved well-being for older adults.

Sustainable Development Goal 2.2-to end malnutrition by 2030-includes the elimination of child wasting, defined as a weight-for-length z-score that is more than two standard deviations below the median of the World Health Organization standards for child growth 1 . Prevailing methods to measure wasting rely on cross-sectional surveys that cannot measure onset, recovery and persistence-key features that inform preventive interventions and estimates of disease burden. Here we analyse 21 longitudinal cohorts and show that wasting is a highly dynamic process of onset and recovery, with incidence peaking between birth and 3 months. Many more children experience an episode of wasting at some point during their first 24 months than prevalent cases at a single point in time suggest. For example, at the age of 24 months, 5.6% of children were wasted, but by the same age (24 months), 29.2% of children had experienced at least one wasting episode and 10.0% had experienced two or more episodes. Children who were wasted before the age of 6 months had a faster recovery and shorter episodes than did children who were wasted at older ages; however, early wasting increased the risk of later growth faltering, including concurrent wasting and stunting (low length-for-age z-score), and thus increased the risk of mortality. In diverse populations with high seasonal rainfall, the population average weight-for-length z-score varied substantially (more than 0.5 z in some cohorts), with the lowest mean z-scores occurring during the rainiest months; this indicates that seasonally targeted interventions could be considered. Our results show the importance of establishing interventions to prevent wasting from birth to the age of 6 months, probably through improved maternal nutrition, to complement current programmes that focus on children aged 6-59 months., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Growth faltering in children (low length for age or low weight for length) during the first 1,000 days of life (from conception to 2 years of age) influences short-term and long-term health and survival 1,2 . Interventions such as nutritional supplementation during pregnancy and the postnatal period could help prevent growth faltering, but programmatic action has been insufficient to eliminate the high burden of stunting and wasting in low- and middle-income countries. Identification of age windows and population subgroups on which to focus will benefit future preventive efforts. Here we use a population intervention effects analysis of 33 longitudinal cohorts (83,671 children, 662,763 measurements) and 30 separate exposures to show that improving maternal anthropometry and child condition at birth accounted for population increases in length-for-age z-scores of up to 0.40 and weight-for-length z-scores of up to 0.15 by 24 months of age. Boys had consistently higher risk of all forms of growth faltering than girls. Early postnatal growth faltering predisposed children to subsequent and persistent growth faltering. Children with multiple growth deficits exhibited higher mortality rates from birth to 2 years of age than children without growth deficits (hazard ratios 1.9 to 8.7). The importance of prenatal causes and severe consequences for children who experienced early growth faltering support a focus on pre-conception and pregnancy as a key opportunity for new preventive interventions., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Globally, 149 million children under 5 years of age are estimated to be stunted (length more than 2 standard deviations below international growth standards) 1,2 . Stunting, a form of linear growth faltering, increases the risk of illness, impaired cognitive development and mortality. Global stunting estimates rely on cross-sectional surveys, which cannot provide direct information about the timing of onset or persistence of growth faltering-a key consideration for defining critical windows to deliver preventive interventions. Here we completed a pooled analysis of longitudinal studies in low- and middle-income countries (n = 32 cohorts, 52,640 children, ages 0-24 months), allowing us to identify the typical age of onset of linear growth faltering and to investigate recurrent faltering in early life. The highest incidence of stunting onset occurred from birth to the age of 3 months, with substantially higher stunting at birth in South Asia. From 0 to 15 months, stunting reversal was rare; children who reversed their stunting status frequently relapsed, and relapse rates were substantially higher among children born stunted. Early onset and low reversal rates suggest that improving children's linear growth will require life course interventions for women of childbearing age and a greater emphasis on interventions for children under 6 months of age., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

There are an estimated 4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Iraq, mainly settled in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and yet few studies have documented the mental health of IDPs in the region. The aims of this study were (1) to assess the prevalence of mental health disorders and trauma experiences amongst IDPs and (2) to explore associations between prior displacement and years living in the camp and mental health disorders. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with adults (N = 100) from March - July 2018. Structured surveys were used to collect sociodemographic information, and adapted measures included the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ), Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Inventory (PTSD-8), Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) and the Post-Migration Living Difficulties Checklist (PMLD). The average number of traumatic events experienced was 4.43 (SD = 2.63). The most commonly reported traumatic events included oppression due to ethnicity, religion or sect (92%) and exposure to combat situations (83%). Nearly half of the participants had experienced ill health without access to medical care, 44% lack of shelter and 43% lack of food or clean water. Thirty-two percent of respondents witnessed someone being murdered. There is a critical need for quality mental health services for IDPs in KR.

Purpose: While the association between intimate partner violence (IPV) and stress is well documented, the directionality of this relationship is unclear. We use an adjusted longitudinal study design to better understand if stressful life events in the home precipitate or exacerbate intimate partner violence (IPV) and if experiences of IPV, in turn, increase levels of perceived stress., Methods: Longitudinal data were collected among married women in rural Pakistan at 12 and 24 months postpartum (N = 815). Adjusted Poisson and linear regression models were used to examine stressful life events, past year IPV and severity (number and frequency of violent acts), and perceived stress (Cohen Perceived Stress Scale)., Results: At 12 months postpartum, the prevalence of past year physical, psychological, and sexual IPV was 8.5%, 25.7%, and 25.1%, respectively, with 42.6% experiencing any IPV. After adjustment, stressful life events were associated with a subsequent increased likelihood of all IPV types and increased severity of all but physical IPV. Any past year IPV (versus none) and greater IPV severity were associated with 3.43 (95% CI 2.33-4.52) and 2.57 (95% CI 1.87-3.27) point subsequent increases in perceived stress. Physical, psychological, and sexual IPV and their respective severities were all independently associated with increased perceived stress., Conclusions: Among postpartum women in Pakistan, stressful life events increase the likelihood of IPV and, in turn, experiences of IPV increase stress levels. Support to families undergoing stressful circumstances may be critical to reducing women's IPV exposure and resulting elevated stress., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany.)

Background: Mothers-in-law often provide key childcare support to daughters-in-law during the perinatal period that may enhance maternal mental health. Yet, poor mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationships may be associated with maternal depression. The extent to which mother-in-law childcare involvement affects perinatal depression may differ across contexts of family conflict., Objective: We explored the relationship between mother-in-law childcare and daughter-in-law perinatal depression in rural Pakistan across contexts of family conflict., Methods: Data on 783 women came from the Bachpan Cohort, a birth cohort in Pakistan. Maternally-reported mother-in-law childcare was assessed at 3 and 12 months postpartum using a 24-h recall and categorized into no, low, and high involvement. Major depression was captured at 3 and 12 months using the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV. Family conflict was captured using three items from the Life Events Checklist. Log-Poisson models were used to estimate cross-sectional associations between mother-in-law childcare and perinatal depression, stratified by family conflict., Results: Mother-in-law childcare was common in the first year postpartum. The association between mother-in-law childcare and perinatal depression differed by the presence of family conflict and postpartum timing. At 3 months postpartum, low and high mother-in-law childcare (vs no involvement) were associated with a lower prevalence of depression regardless of family conflict. At 12 months postpartum, among families with no conflict, low mother-in-law childcare (vs no involvement) was associated with lower perinatal depression; however, among families with conflict, high mother-in-law childcare was associated with increased perinatal depression., Conclusion: Our findings highlight the complexities of associations between mother-in-law childcare support and perinatal depression in the first year after birth. Mother-in-law childcare in the immediate postpartum period was beneficial for mothers. Understanding the source, amount, timing, and context of social support is necessary to inform research and interventions that aim to improve maternal mental health.

Background: Depression in the perinatal period, during pregnancy or within 1 year of childbirth, imposes a high burden on women with rippling effects through her and her child's life course. Social support may be an important protective factor, but the complex bidirectional relationship with depression, alongside a paucity of longitudinal explorations, leaves much unknown about critical windows of social support exposure across the perinatal period and causal impacts on future depressive episodes., Methods: This study leverages marginal structural models to evaluate associations between longitudinal patterns of perinatal social support and subsequent maternal depression at 6 and 12 months postpartum. In a cohort of women in rural Pakistan (n=780), recruited in the third trimester of pregnancy and followed up at 3, 6 and 12 months postpartum, we assessed social support using two well-validated measures: the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and the Maternal Social Support Index (MSSI). Major depressive disorder was assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV)., Results: High and sustained scores on the MSPSS through the perinatal period were associated with a decreased risk of depression at 12 months postpartum (0.35, 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.63). Evidence suggests the recency of support also matters, but estimates are imprecise. We did not find evidence of a protective effect for support based on the MSSI., Conclusions: This study highlights the protective effect of sustained social support, particularly emotional support, on perinatal depression. Interventions targeting, leveraging and maintaining this type of support may be particularly important for reducing postpartum depression., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Racism is now widely recognized as a fundamental cause of health inequalities in the United States. As such, health scholars have rightly turned their attention toward examining the role of structural racism in fostering morbidity and mortality. However, to date, much of the empirical structural racism-health disparities literature limits the operationalization of structural racism to a single domain or orients the construct around a White/Black racial frame. This operationalization approach is incomprehensive and overlooks the heterogeneity of historical and lived experiences among other racial and ethnic groups. To address this gap, we present a theoretically grounded framework that illuminates core mutually reinforcing domains of structural racism that have stratified opportunities for health in the United States. We catalog instances of structural discrimination that were particularly constraining (or advantageous) to the health of racial and ethnic groups from the late 1400s to present. We then illustrate the utility of this framework by applying it to American Indians or Alaska Natives and discuss the framework's broader implications for empirical health research. This framework should help future scholars across disciplines as they identify and interrogate important laws, policies, and norms that have differentially constrained opportunities for health among racial and ethnic groups., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: None declared., (Copyright © 2021, Ethnicity & Disease, Inc.)

Introduction: In low- and middle-income countries, children experience multiple risks for delayed development. We evaluated a multicomponent, group-based early child development intervention including behavioural recommendations on responsive stimulation, nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene, mental health and lead exposure prevention., Methods: We conducted a 9-month, parallel, multiarm, cluster-randomised controlled trial in 31 rural villages in Kishoreganj District, Bangladesh. Villages were randomly allocated to: group sessions ('group'); alternating groups and home visits ('combined'); or a passive control arm. Sessions were delivered fortnightly by trained community members. The primary outcome was child stimulation (Family Care Indicators); the secondary outcome was child development (Ages and Stages Questionnaire Inventory, ASQi). Other outcomes included dietary diversity, latrine status, use of a child potty, handwashing infrastructure, caregiver mental health and knowledge of lead. Analyses were intention to treat. Data collectors were independent from implementers., Results: In July-August 2017, 621 pregnant women and primary caregivers of children<15 months were enrolled (group n=160, combined n=160, control n=301). At endline, immediately following intervention completion (July-August 2018), 574 participants were assessed (group n=144, combined n=149, control n=281). Primary caregivers in both intervention arms participated in more play activities than control caregivers (age-adjusted means: group 4.22, 95% CI 3.97 to 4.47; combined 4.77, 4.60 to 4.96; control 3.24, 3.05 to 3.39), and provided a larger variety of play materials (age-adjusted means: group 3.63, 3.31 to 3.96; combined 3.81, 3.62 to 3.99; control 2.48, 2.34 to 2.59). Compared with the control arm, children in the group arm had higher total ASQi scores (adjusted mean difference in standardised scores: 0.39, 0.15 to 0.64), while in the combined arm scores were not significantly different from the control (0.25, -0.07 to 0.54)., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that group-based, multicomponent interventions can be effective at improving child development outcomes in rural Bangladesh, and that they have the potential to be delivered at scale., Trial Registration Number: The trial is registered in ISRCTN (ISRCTN16001234)., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.)

Background: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are a common pathway to adult depression. This pathway is particularly important during the perinatal period when women are at an elevated risk for depression. However, this relationship has not been explored in South Asia. This study estimates the association between ACEs and women's (N = 889) depression at 36 months postpartum in rural Pakistan., Method: Data come from the Bachpan Cohort study. To capture ACEs, an adapted version of the ACE-International Questionnaire was used. Women's depression was measured using both major depressive episodes (MDE) and depressive symptom severity. To assess the relationship between ACEs and depression, log-Poisson models were used for MDE and linear regression models for symptom severity., Results: The majority (58%) of women experienced at least one ACE domain, most commonly home violence (38.3%), followed by neglect (20.1%). Women experiencing four or more ACEs had the most pronounced elevation of symptom severity (β = 3.90; 95% CL = 2.13, 5.67) and MDE (PR = 2.43; 95% CL = 1.37, 4.32). Symptom severity (β = 2.88; 95% CL = 1.46, 4.31), and MDE (PR = 2.01; 95% CL = 1.27, 3.18) were greater for those experiencing community violence or family distress (β = 2.04; 95%; CL = 0.83, 3.25) (PR = 1.77; 95% CL = 1.12, 2.79)., Conclusions: Findings suggest that ACEs are substantively distinct and have unique relationships to depression. They signal a need to address women's ACEs as part of perinatal mental health interventions and highlight women's lifelong experiences as important factors to understanding current mental health., Trial Registration: NCT02111915 . Registered 11 April 2014. NCT02658994 . Registered 22 January 2016. Both trials were prospectively registered.

Competing Interests: Declarations of interest: none

Introduction: Early childhood interventions primarily focus on the mother-child relationship, but grandmothers are often critical in childcare in low-resource settings. Prior research is mixed on how grandmother involvement influences child outcomes and there is a paucity of research on grandmother caregiving in low-income and middle-income countries. We examined the role of grandmother involvement on child growth and development in the first 2 years of life cross sectionally and longitudinally in rural Pakistan., Methods: We used data from the Bachpan Cohort, a longitudinal birth cohort in rural Pakistan. Maternally reported grandmother involvement in daily instrumental and non-instrumental caregiving was collected at 3 and 12 months. A summed score was created and categorised into non-involved, low and high. Outcomes included 12-month and 24-month child growth, 12-month Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development and 24-month Ages and Stages Questionnaire-Socioemotional. We used multivariable generalised linear models to estimate mean differences (MD) at 12 months (n=727) and 24 months (n=712). Inverse probability weighting was used to account for missingness and sampling., Results: In our sample, 68% of children lived with a grandmother, and most grandmothers were involved in caregiving. Greater 3-month grandmother involvement was positively associated with 12-month weight z-scores; however, greater involvement was associated with lower 24-month weight z-scores. High 12-month grandmother involvement was associated with improved 12-month cognitive (MD=0.38, 95% CI -0.01 to 0.76), fine motor skills (MD=0.45, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.83) and 24-month socioemotional development (MD=-17.83, 95% CI -31.47 to -4.19). No meaningful associations were found for length z-scores or language development., Conclusion: In rural Pakistan, grandmothers provide caregiving that influences early child development. Our findings highlight the complex relationship between grandmother involvement and child weight, and suggest that grandmothers may positively promote early child cognitive, fine motor and socioemotional development. Understanding how grandmother involvement affects child outcomes in early life is necessary to inform caregiving interventions., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background: Traditional postpartum practices are intended to provide care to mothers, but there is mixed evidence concerning their impact on postpartum depression (PPD). It remains unknown if there is a unique impact of postpartum practices on PPD separately from other types of social support, or if practices differentially affect those with existing prenatal depression. In Pakistan, chilla (چله) is a traditional postpartum practice in which women receive relief from household work, additional familial support, and supplemental food for up to 40 days postpartum. This study aims to understand if chilla protects against PPD independent of other support and whether this relationship varies by prenatal depression status., Methods: Data come from the Bachpan cohort study in rural Pakistan. Chilla participation and social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support) were assessed at 3 months postpartum. Women were assessed for major depressive episodes (MDE) with the Structured Clinical Interview, DSM-IV and for depression symptom severity with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) in their third trimester and at 6 months postpartum. Adjusted linear mixed models were used to assess the relationship between chilla participation and PPD., Results: Eighty-nine percent of women (N = 786) participated in chilla and almost 70% of those that participated took part in all of chilla's aspects. In adjusted models, chilla participation was inversely related to MDE (OR = 0.56;95%CI = 0.31,1.03) and symptom severity (Mean Difference (MD) = - 1.54;95%CI: - 2.94,-0.14). Chilla participation was associated with lower odds of MDE (OR = 0.44;95%CI = 0.20,0.97) among those not prenatally depressed and with lower symptom severity among those prenatally depressed (MD = -2.05;95%CI:-3.81,-0.49)., Conclusions: Chilla is inversely associated with both MDE and symptom severity at 6 months postpartum above and beyond social support. Specifically, chilla is inversely associated with MDE among those not prenatally depressed and with lower symptom severity among those prenatally depressed. This relationship signals an opportunity for interventions aimed at preventing and treating PPD in this region to draw upon chilla and similar traditional postpartum practices in creating community-based, low-cost, sustainable interventions for maternal mental health., Trial Registration: NCT02111915. Registered 18 September 2015. NCT02658994. Registered 22 January 2016. Both trials were prospectively registered.

Background: Human capital (the knowledge, skills, and health that accumulate over life) can be optimized by investments in early childhood to promote cognitive and language development. Parents and caregivers play a crucial role in the promotion and support of cognitive development in their children. Thus, understanding caregiver perceptions of a child's capabilities and attributes, including intelligence, may enhance investments early in life. To explore this question, we asked caregivers to rank their child's intelligence in comparison with other children in the community, and compared this ranking with children's scores on an assessment of developmental abilities across multiple domains., Methods: Our study examined cross-sectional data of 3361 children aged 16-42 months in rural Madagascar. Child intelligence, as perceived by their caregiver, was captured using a ladder ranking scale based on the MacArthur Scale for Subjective Social Status. Children's developmental abilities were assessed using scores from the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Inventory (ASQ-I), which measures cognitive, language, and socio-emotional development. Ranked percentiles of the ASQ-I were generated within communities and across the whole sample. We created categories of under-estimation, matched, and over-estimation by taking the differences in rankings between caregiver-perceived child intelligence and ASQ-I. Child nutritional status, caregiver belief of their influence on child intelligence, and sociodemographic factors were examined as potential correlates of discordance between the measures using multinomial logistic regressions., Results: We found caregiver perceptions of intelligence in Madagascar did not align consistently with the ASQ-I, with approximately 8% of caregivers under-estimating and almost 50% over-estimating their children's developmental abilities. Child nutritional status, caregiver belief of their influence on child intelligence, caregiver education, and wealth were associated with under- or over-estimation of children's developmental abilities., Conclusions: Our findings suggest parents may not always have an accurate perception of their child's intelligence or abilities compared with other children. The results are consistent with the limited literature on parental perceptions of child nutrition, which documents a discordance between caregiver perceptions and objective measures. Further research is needed to understand the common cues caregivers that use to identify child development milestones and how these may differ from researcher-observed measures in low-income settings., Trial Registration: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN14393738 . Registered June 23, 2015.

Background : Pica, the craving and purposeful consumption of nonfoods, is poorly understood. We described the prevalence of pica among women on Mfangano Island, Kenya, and examined sociodemographic and health correlates. Methods : Our cross-sectional study included 299 pregnant or postpartum women in 2012. We used a 24-h recall to assess pica, defined as consumption of earth (geophagy), charcoal/ash, or raw starches (amylophagy) and built multivariable logistic regression models to examine sociodemographic and health correlates of pica. Results : Eighty-one women (27.1%) engaged in pica in the previous 24 h, with 59.3% reporting amylophagy and 56.8% reporting geophagy, charcoal, and/or ash consumption. The most common substances consumed were raw cassava ( n = 30, 36.6%), odowa, a chalky, soft rock-like earth ( n = 21, 25.6%), and soil ( n = 17, 20.7%). Geophagy, charcoal, and/or ash consumption was negatively associated with breastfeeding (OR = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.18-0.81), and amylophagy was associated with pregnancy (OR = 4.31, 95% CI: 1.24-14.96). Pica was more common within one of six study regions (OR = 3.64, 95% CI: 1.39-9.51). We found no evidence of an association between food insecurity and pica. Conclusion : Pica was a common behavior among women, and the prevalence underscores the need to uncover its dietary, environmental, and cultural etiologies.

Over 50% of mothers in rural Mexico have high depressive symptoms, and their children's health and development are likely to be negatively affected. A critical question is whether children vary in their vulnerability to the effects of high maternal depressive symptoms according to their indigenous ethnicity, maternal education, or household wealth. Our sample included 4442 mothers and 5503 children from an evaluation of Mexico's social welfare program. Maternal depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale, and child behavior was measured using an adapted version of the Behavior Problems Index (BPI). Multiple linear regression models were used to explore the associations between maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems, and the heterogeneity of associations by indigenous ethnicity, maternal education, and household assets. We found that having greater maternal depressive symptoms was significantly associated with having a child with more behavior problems ( β = 0.114, p < 0.0001, [95% CI 0.101, 0.127]), in adjusted models. In tests of heterogeneity, the association between maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems was strongest in households with indigenous ethnicity, low maternal education, or in households with fewer assets. These results strengthen the case for effective mental health interventions in low- and middle-income countries, particularly among the most vulnerable families where mothers and children appear to be at the greatest risk., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ataxia telangiectasia is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by progressive cerebellar ataxia, recurrent sinopulmonary infections, oculocutaneous telangiectasia, selective immunoglobulin deficiency, and defective cellular immunity. We report a 4-year-old girl with ataxia telangiectasia whose initial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan at 17 months of age showed leukoencephalopathy compatible with a leukodystrophy, a neuroimaging feature of ataxia telangiectasia that has not been described. Ataxia telangiectasia was not suspected until the child developed more typical clinical features. Diffuse white-matter high signal intensity on T2-weighted MRI scans may occur in the early stages of ataxia telangiectasia. This disease should be considered in the differential diagnosis of any child with a history and MRI findings suggestive of one of the leukodystrophies. The nonneurologic manifestations of ataxia telangiectasia may be of help diagnostically in this clinical setting.