To assess the prevalence of sleep disturbance and associated risk factors, sleep patterns were analysed in 14 372 English and Scottish children. Approximately 4% of children aged 5 experienced disturbed sleep more than once a week, but this decreased to 1% from age 9. Less than 25% of the parents with an aVected child consulted a doctor. Sleep disturbance was associated with persistent wheezing compared to non-wheezing children (odds ratio 4.42; 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.17 to 6.13), and more frequent in children of Indian subcontinent descent than in white children (odds ratio 2.20; 95% CI 1.34 to 3.60), and in children whose mother reached no more than primary education compared with those with higher education (odds ratio 2.41; 95% CI 1.51 to 3.84). Sociocultural factors associated with ethnicity and respiratory illness are important risk factors for sleeping disorders in childhood.

No abstract

A new surveillance system was initiated on selected growth and nutritional characteristics of children living in inner-city areas and children from ethnic minorities. The heights of Caucasian, Afro-Caribbean and Indo-Pakistani children in this study were compared with those of children in an existing surveillance study, who were chosen to be representative of the English population. Data for this representative sample were collected in 1982 and for the ethnic groups in inner city areas in 1983. The analysis included 13,107 boys and girls aged 5-11 years. Very large differences in height were detected between ethnic groups. The Afro-Caribbean children were the tallest, on average around 3.5 cm taller than the 1982 sample, while the Gujarati children were the shortest, on average about 3 cm below the 1982 sample. Adjustment for a large set of biological and social variables did not eliminate differences in height between ethnic groups. This would indicate that the use of British standards of height based on Caucasian children to assess growth of a child of another ethnic group in England should be interpreted with caution. Multiple regression analyses by ethnic group revealed differences in the pattern of associations between height and social and biological factors among groups. Generalizations from findings in one ethnic group to another in England are not appropriate.

No abstract

This study was designed to investigate the social characteristics associated with the height of primary schoolchildren aged from 5 to 11. Data were analysed for 8491 representative sample children measured in England and Scotland in 1987 and 3203 inner city children measured in England in 1987. Height was negatively associated with social class but the association was not significant after allowing for biological variables. A negative gradient of height with size of sibship was evident in white children but was less so in AfroCaribbean and Asian children. The individual associations of 11 different environmental characteristics were examined after allowing for biological factors and size of sibship. Consistent associations with height included a negative gradient of height with increasing latitude and an association of taller stature with increasing maternal age. A social class gradient in height is accounted for by associations with biological factors, particularly the parental heights; environmental attributes are weakly associated with height after allowing for biological factors.

The association of social and family factors with triceps skinfold and weight for height and age was assessed using multiple regression analyses for 5-11 year-old-children in England and Scotland. Parents' body build was the factor most consistently associated with the two proxy measures of obesity. Number of siblings in the family was inversely related to triceps skinfold thickness. Parents' body-build and number of siblings were more strongly related to our measures of obesity in the older age groups and in girls, whereas child's birth-weight was more associated with weight for height and triceps skinfold in the younger age groups. Father's social class and mother's education made almost no contribution to the variation of triceps skinfold and weight for height in children. The relative risk of obesity associated with any individual independent variables was less than or around two. We conclude that there is little scope for identifying the majority of children at risk of obesity in a characteristic social environment. However, the increase in the association between our measures of obesity in parents and older children provides a possible tool for the early detection of children who may become obese.

Measurements of height, weight and triceps skinfold thickness were obtained from English and Scottish schoolchildren from 15 birth cohorts over the period 1972-1980. Positive trends in weight were found for boys and girls in both countries, but in England they were less than expected from the increases in height. The increase in weight-for-height in Scotland was paralleled by a greater increase in triceps skinfold in Scottish than in English children. Scottish children remained shorter, lighter and thinner than English children, but similar in weight-for-height. Separate monitoring of trends in obesity for English and Scottish children should continue.

Associations between height and certain social factors are known to persist throughout the primary school years. To discover whether the height differences between social groups are increasing or diminishing during this time, heights of 7569 English and Scottish 5 to 10 year olds measured in 1972 and 1973 were examined, together with information about number of siblings, father's social class and father's employment status. With the exception of five year old children of unemployed fathers, any increases in height differentials were no more than would be expected from the dependence of height gain on initial height. No evidence was found of absolute decrease in height differences over one year, for any of the three social factors considered, but children from larger sibships grew more than expected given their starting heights. Thus associations between attained height and social factors in five to ten year old children arise almost entirely before the age of five and do not alter appreciably during the primary school years.