Notes on Ecologic Malnutrition in the New Guinea Highlands

Jelliffe, Derrick B.; Maddocks, Ian

doi:10.1177/000992286400300710

Cited by 71 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Thus, as noted by Hermalin 1984: 1102), the strong relationship between infant and early childhood mortality and the birth rank (or ultimate number of children) might be mediated by the length of birth intervals, breastfeeding patterns, genetic causes, and the combination of family resources and parental care practices. Moreover, mothers who have experienced many pregnancies might exhibit so-called mother's depletion syndrome: when a woman does not have time to recover from a pregnancy both physically and nutritionally, more frequent pregnancy losses and lower birth weight babies may result (Jelliffe and Maddocks 1964).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The correlates of infant and childhood mortality

Tymicki¹

2009

DemRes

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This paper has two main goals. The first is to review the context for studying infant mortality, which includes a review of the theoretical framework, the covariates used to examine mortality over the first 60 months of life, and the major findings of empirical studies. Second, the paper adds some new empirical evidence that comes from the longitudinal reconstitution of church registers of Bejsce parish, located in the south of Poland. This rich database allows for an analysis of mortality trends of cohorts born between the 18 th and 20 th centuries in the parish. The analysis includes a reconstruction of descriptive measures of infant and childhood mortality, and a hazard model of mortality over the first 60 months of life. The hazard model has been calculated for each cohort separately in order to demonstrate the change in the relative importance of analyzed factors during the process of mortality decline in the parish. Obtained mortality patterns are discussed with reference to the theoretical context presented in the first part of the paper. 1. Introduction Aims of the paperThis paper's aim is to analyze infant and childhood mortality patterns in a historical population which underwent the demographic and epidemiologic transitions. This empirical analysis refers to a theoretical context and a review of up-to-date research, which presented in the first part of the paper. Although the topic of infant and childhood mortality is one of the most popular topics in empirical demography, the motivation to raise this issue once again results from a unique opportunity to study the records of early mortality patterns over 200 years, within one historical population of Bejsce parish, located in the south of Poland. This provides a good opportunity to trace changes in the relative importance of various mortality factors during the change in fertility levels from high to low In traditional and historical societies, infant mortality was one of the main barriers preventing the growth of populations. Over the course of the demographic transition, the improvement in infant and child survival leads to rapid population growth, and, subsequently, to a shift in reproductive behavior (Galloway, Lee, and Hammel 1998;Matthiessen and McCann 1978;Schofield, Reher, and Bideau 1991). From this perspective, the decline in fertility might be seen as a response of couples to the improvement in the survival chances of their offspring. Therefore, assuming they had no deliberate control over reproduction, most of the couples "overproduced" children. This overproduction was related to the anticipation of high and varying mortality levels during first months and years after childbirth.For that reason, the topic of mortality at young ages is one of the "cornerstones" in demography, and it has been used for the description of demographic transitions in historical European societies (for instance: Bideau, Desjardins, and Brignoli 1997). Subsequently, elaborated models and methods were applied to the analysis of developing countries which e...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The correlates of infant and childhood mortality

Tymicki¹

2009

DemRes

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“…while all family members should be interested in improving child health and well-being once a child is born (with certain exceptions), whether family members are interested in increasing or decreasing the number of children produced is more difficult to determine. Giving birth to many, closely spaced children may not be in a woman's best interest, for example, since it can lead to maternal depletion (Jelliffe and maddocks 1964). Her husband, however, may wish to have many children and may desire a higher fertility than is optimal from the woman's point of view (since he does not bear the same costs of reproducing that she does).…”

Section: Motherin-lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Much Does Family Matter? Cooperative Breeding and the Demographic Transition

Sear

Coall

2011

Population & Development Rev

265

296

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“…A survey done on pregnant women has reported 57% to be anemic [6]. The lactating mother in Kenya has been found to be underweight while living under the constraints of a limited food supply and the demands of hard physical work [7,8] Successive pregnancies and lactation have cumulative effects on specific nutrients [9] and depending on maternal body stores lead to the well-documented maternal depletion syndrome [10]. The key nutrients affected may include vitamin A and iron, whose requirements are increased during pregnancy and lactation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serum Retinol, Iron Status and Body Composition of Lactating Women in Nandi, Kenya

Ettyang¹,

Lichtenbelt²,

Oloo³

2003

Ann Nutr Metab

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Background: Maternal vitamin A and iron status was investigated among lactating mothers in a rural community in Kenya. The aim of the study was to establish the prevalence and the relationship of these key nutrients to maternal body composition. Methods: Eighty-eight mothers provided samples of breast milk and blood for determination of breast milk vitamin A, serum retinol and ferritin. Estimators of body composition were based on the mother’s weight, height and skinfold measurements. Results: A total of 78.1% women had breast milk retinol <1.05 µmol/l with 38 and 62% having lactated for a period of <4 and >4 months, respectively. Prevalence of severely deficient serum retinol <0.35 µmol/l and ferritin <12 µg/l was 10 and 37%, respectively. Women with serum ferritin <12 µg/l had significantly lower average hemoglobin (p < 0.01), hematocrit (p < 0.01) and serum retinol (p < 0.05). Serum retinol of mothers who had lactated for <4 months was significantly but negatively correlated with total body fat (r = –0.40; p < 0.05). With a lactation period of >4 months a close relationship was found between serum retinol and hemoglobin (r = 0.26; p <0.01), serum retinol and serum ferritin (r = 0.20; p < 0.05), and fat free mass significantly but negatively correlated with breast milk fat (r = –0.27; p < 0.05). Serum retinol in combination with hematocrit significantly affected both maternal hemoglobin (p < 0.01) and serum ferritin (p < 0.01). Conclusion: A high prevalence of vitamin A and iron deficiency was observed in this group of lactating women. Low levels of fat mass were directly related to these indicators of malnutrition.

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Notes on Ecologic Malnutrition in the New Guinea Highlands

Cited by 71 publications

References 8 publications

The correlates of infant and childhood mortality

The correlates of infant and childhood mortality

How Much Does Family Matter? Cooperative Breeding and the Demographic Transition

Serum Retinol, Iron Status and Body Composition of Lactating Women in Nandi, Kenya

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