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We found adverse effects of arsenic exposure on IQ in girls, but not boys, at 5 years of age.

Poor stimulation in the home is one of the main factors affecting the development of children living in poverty. The family care indicators (FCIs) were developed to measure home stimulation in large populations and were derived from the Home Observations for Measurement of the Environment (HOME). The FCIs were piloted with 801 rural Bangladeshi mothers of children aged 18 months. Five subscales were created: ‘play activities’ (PA), ‘varieties of play materials’ (VP), ‘sources of play materials’, ‘household books’, and ‘magazines and newspapers’ (MN). All subscales had acceptable short-term reliability. Mental and motor development of the children was assessed on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development and their language expression and comprehension by mothers’ report. After controlling for socioeconomic variables, VP and PA independently predicted four and three of the developmental outcomes respectively, and MN predicted both the Bayley scores. The FCI is promising as a survey-based indicator of the quality of children's home environment.

Background: Cadmium (Cd) is an embryotoxic and teratogenic metal in a variety of animal species, but data from humans are limited.Objectives: The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of maternal Cd exposure in pregnancy on size at birth.Methods: This prospective cohort study was nested in a population-based nutritional supplementation trial in pregnancy conducted in rural Bangladesh. We selected women recruited from February 2002 through January 2003 who had a singleton birth with measurements of size at birth and had donated a urine sample in early pregnancy for Cd analyses (n = 1,616). Urinary Cd was measured with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and adjusted for specific gravity.Results: Multiple linear regression analyses adjusted for sex and other potential confounders showed that maternal urinary Cd (median, 0.63 μg/L) was significantly negatively associated with birth weight [unstandardized regression coefficient B = –31.0; 95% confidence interval (CI): –59, –2.8] and head circumference (B = –0.15; 95% CI: –0.27, –0.026). However, associations appeared to be limited to girls, with little evidence of effects in boys. A 1-μg/L increase in Cd in maternal urine was associated with a 0.26-cm (95% CI: –0.43, –0.088 cm) and 0.24-cm (95% CI: –0.44, –0.030 cm) decrease in girls’ head and chest circumferences, respectively, and a 45-g (95% CI: –82.5, 7.3 g) decrease in birth weight. Quantile regression analyses indicated that associations with maternal Cd were similar for girls of smaller (25th percentile) and larger (50th and 75th percentiles) sizes at birth.Conclusion: We found evidence of a sex difference in the association between maternal Cd exposure and birth size, which was apparent only in girls. Results add support for the need to reduce Cd pollution to improve public health.

Background/Objective: Psychosocial stimulation (PS) and food supplementation (FS) improve development of malnourished children. This study evaluates the effects of a community-based approach of PS and FS on growth and development of severely malnourished children. Subjects/Methods: Severely underweight hospitalised children aged 6-24 months (n ¼ 507) were randomly allocated on discharge to five groups: (i) PS, (ii) FS, (iii) PS þ FS, (iv) clinic-control and (v) hospital-control. PS included play sessions and parental counselling on child development. This was done at each fortnightly follow-up visit, that is, every second week, for 6 months at community clinics. FS included distribution of cereal-based food packets (150-300 kcal/day) for 3 months. All groups received medical care, micronutrient supplementation, health-education and growth monitoring. Children's development was assessed using revised version of Bayley Scales of Infant Development at baseline and after 3 and 6 months of intervention. Anthropometry was measured using standard procedure. Results: Comparing groups with any stimulation with those with no stimulation there was a significant effect of stimulation on children's mental development index (group * session interaction P ¼ 0.037, effect size ¼ 0.37 s.d.) and weight-for-age Z-score (group * session interaction P ¼ 0.02, effect size ¼ 0.26 s.d.). Poor levels of development and nutritional status were sustained, however, due to their initial very severe malnutrition. There was no effect on motor development and linear growth. Conclusion: Children receiving any stimulation showed a significant benefit to mental development and growth in weight. More intensive intervention with longer duration is needed to correct their poor developmental levels and nutritional status.

WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: More than 200 million children ,5 years old in low-and middle-income countries are not reaching their potential in cognitive development because of factors associated with poverty. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS:Poverty affects children' s cognition as early as 7 months and continues to increase until 5 years of age. It is mainly mediated by parental education, birth weight, home stimulation throughout the 5 years, and growth in the first 24 months. abstract OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the timing and size of the cognitive deficit associated with poverty in the first 5 years of life and to examine the role of parental characteristics, pre-and postnatal growth, and stimulation in the home in Bangladeshi children. We hypothesized that the effect of poverty on cognition begins in infancy and is mainly mediated by these factors. METHODS:We enrolled 2853 singletons, a subsample from a pregnancy supplementation trial in a poor rural area. We assessed mental development at 7, 18, and 64 months; anthropometry at birth, 12, 24, and 64 months; home stimulation at 18 and 64 months; and family' s socioeconomic background. In multiple regression analyses, we examined the effect of poverty at birth on IQ at 64 months and the extent that other factors mediated the effect.RESULTS: A mean cognitive deficit of 0.2 (95% confidence interval -0.4 to -0.02) z scores between the first and fifth wealth quintiles was apparent at 7 months and increased to 1.2 (95% confidence interval -1.3 to -1.0) z scores of IQ by 64 months. Parental education, preand postnatal growth in length, and home stimulation mediated 86% of the effects of poverty on IQ and had independent effects. Growth in the first 2 years had larger effects than later growth. Home stimulation had effects throughout the period.CONCLUSIONS: Effects of poverty on children' s cognition are mostly mediated through parental education, birth size, growth in the first 24 months, and home stimulation in the first 5 years. Pediatrics

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In this prospective cohort study, based on 1,505 mother-infant pairs in rural Bangladesh, we evaluated the associations between early-life exposure to arsenic, cadmium, and lead, assessed via concentrations in maternal and child urine, and children's weights and heights up to age 5 years, during the period 2001–2009. Concurrent and prenatal exposures were evaluated using linear regression analysis, while longitudinal exposure was assessed using mixed-effects linear regression. An inverse association was found between children's weight and height, age-adjusted z scores, and growth velocity at age 5 years and concurrent exposure to cadmium and arsenic. In the longitudinal analysis, multivariable-adjusted attributable differences in children's weight at age 5 years were −0.33 kg (95% confidence interval (CI): −0.60, −0.06) for high (≥95th percentile) arsenic exposure and −0.57 kg (95% CI: −0.88, −0.26) for high cadmium exposure, in comparison with children with the lowest exposure (≤5th percentile). Multivariable-adjusted attributable differences in height were −0.50 cm (95% CI: −1.20, 0.21) for high arsenic exposure and −1.6 cm (95% CI: −2.4, −0.77) for high cadmium exposure. The associations were apparent primarily among girls. The negative effects on children's growth at age 5 years attributable to arsenic and cadmium were of similar magnitude to the difference between girls and boys in terms of weight (−0.67 kg, 95% CI: −0.82, −0.53) and height (−1.3 cm, 95% CI: −1.7, −0.89).