NC is significantly correlated with overweight and obesity. It can be used with great reliability to screen overweight and obesity in children, and to identify those with a high BMI.

BackgroundObesity has been identified as a risk factor for higher prevalence of asthma and asthma-related symptoms in children. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the prevalence of asthma symptoms and obesity among school-age children in the city of Ahvaz, Iran.MethodsA total of 903 children, 7 to 11 years of age, were enrolled in this study through cluster sampling. The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire was used to identify the children who were currently suffering from asthma. Height and weight were measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated in kg/m2. Overweight was defined as BMI greater than the age- and sex-specific 85th percentile, and obesity as BMI greater than the 95th percentile. We determined the relationship between obesity and asthma symptoms by chi-square tests.ResultsThe prevalence of wheeze ever, current wheezing, obesity, and overweight was 21.56%, 8.7%, 6.87%, and 9.5%, respectively. The current prevalence of wheezing among obese and overweight children was 68.75% and 37%, respectively, and there was a statistical association between obesity and the prevalence of current wheezing (p < 0.001), night cough (p < 0.001), and exercise-induced wheezing (p = 0.009), but obesity and overweight were not associated with eczema and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, so it seems that the pathophysiology of asthma in obese and overweight children is not related to allergy.ConclusionThere is a strong association between asthma symptoms and both overweight and obesity in both sexes among school-age children.

Background:Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute multisystem vascular syndrome of unknown etiology that is the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children of developed counties.Objectives:We aimed to evaluate the epidemiological characteristics and clinical manifestations of KD in children residing in the southwest of Iran.Patients and Methods:In this retrospective study, we reviewed the medical records of all children with KD who had been admitted to the main children’s hospital of Ahvaz, southwest Iran, from March 2000 to March 2010. Data regarding clinical and epidemiological characteristics, management, and the outcome of disease for each patient were obtained. The patients were divided into cardiac and non-cardiac groups based on echocardiographic results.Results:In total, 104 patients with KD (66 boys and 38 girls) were enrolled in this study. The male to female ratio was 1.7:1. The mean ± SD age of the patients was 33.6 ± 24.2 months. Most (87.2%) cases were from urban areas. The disease occurred more frequently during winter and spring. Furthermore, 61.5% of the children had the criteria of classic KD, and 38.5% were labeled as incomplete KD. The mean ± SD of the duration of hospital stay was 6.9 ± 2.4 days. The mean time between illness and admission to the hospital was 6.47 ± 2.6 days. The most common sign was fever, followed by conjunctivitis and oral changes. In total, 20% of the patients had cardiac abnormalities. There was no significant statistical difference between the cardiac and non-cardiac groups according to age, sex, clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, and cessation of fever. The duration of hospital stay and the time between onset of illness and diagnosis were longer in the cardiac group. All patients received intravenous immunoglobulin and aspirin. Only one patient continued to have cardiac abnormalities after 6 months of follow-up.Conclusions:Kawasaki disease is not rare in southwest of Iran. The age, gender distribution and clinical findings are similar to that of other reports. Patients with cardiac abnormalities had delayed treatment and prolonged hospital stays.

This study has highlighted the need to vaccination against rotavirus in Iranian population to reduce the prevalence of acute diarrhoea.Background: More than three million children in developing countries die from acute diarrhea annually. Rotaviruses and Adenoviruses are from the most important etiologic factors in acute gastroenteritis of children. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of rotavirus and adenovirus among children with acute diarrhoea admitted to Abuzar Hospital in Ahvaz (Southwest Iran). Patients and Methods:In a descriptive, cross-sectional study over 1 year (September 2009 to August 2010, children who were admitted to Abuzar Hospital in Ahvaz with a diagnosis of acute diarrhoea were studied. Stools were examined with ELISA kits for detection of adenoviruses and rotaviruses. Results: Of 180 children in our study, 104 were boys (57.8%) and 76 were girls (42.2%), with a mean age of 12.86 months (1-60 months). Sixty-three (35%) had rotavirus infections (mean age, 11.57 months), and 6 (3.3%) had adenovirus infections (mean age, 8.17 months). We examined the seasonal distribution and found that 12 cases (19%) had occurred in spring, 11 (17.5%) in summer, 24 (38.1%) in autumn, and 16 (25.4%) in winter. There was no significant correlation between sex and viral agents causing acute diarrhoea (P = 0.96). Conclusions: This survey showed a high incidence of rotavirus infection (35%) in children with acute diarrhoea, especially in children under 2 years old. It seems that use of an appropriate vaccine could effectively prevent diarrhoea in this population.

BACKGROUND Celiac disease is a glutten induced enteropathy. Some authors recommended screening celiac in children with constipation. There are studies to evaluate celiac disease in children with constipation. But most of them included children regardless to treatment failure. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate frequency of elevated anti TTG in children with constipation after failure to improve during 6 week of appropriate treatment of constipation. METHODS In this cross sectional study, 550 children with prolonged constipation were included. Place of study was Pediatric Gastroenterology clinic of Abuzar children’s hospital. Prolonged constipation was defined as a constipation which failed to resolved after 6 weeks of appropriate treatment. Constipation was defined according to ROME III criteria. After parental agreement, 5 mL of blood was obtained. Serum anti TTG level was measure using ELISA method by Orientec kit. Anti TTG>10 was considered positive if IgA was normal. SPSS version 16.0 (Chicago, IL, USA) was used for data analysis. Chi square, t-test, and Mann Whitney test used for data analysis. RESULTS In this study 550 children (m=277, f=273) were included. Mean age of the cases was 6.8±2.9 year. Anti TTG antibody level was 5.8±2.8 unit/mL. Of these case, 42 (7.6%) had positive anti-TTG antibody. Celiac disease was confirmed in 40 cases after histopathology examination. CONCLUSION Anti-TTG was positive in 7.6% children with chronic constipation who failed to respond after 6 week of treatment. Another multicenter study with longer follow up period is recommended.