Identification and characterization of factors associated with short stature and pre-shortness in Chinese preschool-aged children

Objectives: We aimed to identify and characterize potential factors, both individually and jointly as a nomogram, associated with short stature and pre-shortness in Chinese preschool-aged children. Methods: A total of 9501 children aged 3-6 years were recruited from 30 kindergartens in Beijing and Tangshan from September to December 2020 using a stratified random sampling method. Effect-size estimates are expressed as odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: The prevalence of short stature and pre-shortness in preschool-aged children was 3.9% (n=375) and 13.1% (n=1616), respectively. Factors simultaneously associated with the significant risk for short stature, pre-shortness and both included body mass index, parental height, maternal height, birthweight, birth height, latter birth order (≥2) and less parental patience to children. Besides, breastfeeding duration (≥12 months) was exclusively associated with pre-shortness (OR, 95% CI, P: 1.16, 1.01 to 1.33, 0.037), and childhood obesity with both short stature (3.45, 2.62 to 4.54, <0.001) and short stature/pre-shortness (1.37, 1.15 to 1.64, <0.001). Modeling of significant factors in nomograms had descent prediction accuracies, with the C-index of being 77.0%, 70.1% and 71.2% for short stature, pre-shortness and both, respectively (all P<0.001). Conclusions: Our findings indicate the joint contribution of inherited characteristics, nutrition status from uterus to childhood, and family psychological environment to short stature and pre-shortness in Chinese preschool-aged children. Further validation in other independent groups is warranted.

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Factors Associated With Childhood Asthma and Wheeze in Chinese Preschool-Aged Children

Frontiers in Medicine ◽

10.3389/fmed.2021.742581 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Xiangling Deng ◽

Min Yang ◽

Shunan Wang ◽

Qiong Wang ◽

Bo Pang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Childhood Asthma ◽

Body Mass Index Category ◽

Internal Validation ◽

Factors Associated ◽

C Statistic ◽

Time Modeling ◽

History Of ◽

Potential Factors ◽

Joint Contribution ◽

Preschool Aged Children

This study was prepared to identify and characterize potential factors associated with childhood asthma and wheeze in Chinese preschool-aged children. A comprehensive questionnaire was designed for children aged 3–6 years and their parents or guardians in Beijing and Tangshan from September to December 2020. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) model was used to identify factors in a significant association with childhood asthma and wheeze, respectively. The LASSO model was internally validated using bootstrap resampling with 100 replications. A total of 9,529 questionnaires were certified as eligible for inclusion after stringent quality control. The prevalence of doctor-diagnosed childhood asthma and parent-reported wheeze was 2.8 and 6.2%, respectively. Factors simultaneously associated with childhood asthma and wheeze were children with a history of allergic rhinitis, hay fever, eczema, initial age of using antibiotics, body mass index category, and family history of asthma. Specifically, children's vitamin D supplement duration was significantly associated with childhood asthma, whereas the association with childhood wheeze was significant for intake frequency of night meals for children and their screen time. Modeling of significant factors in nomograms had decent prediction accuracies, with C-index reaching 0.728 and 0.707 for asthma and wheeze, respectively. In addition, internal validation was good, with bootstrap C-statistic of being 0.736 for asthma and 0.708 for wheeze. Taken together, our findings indicated that the development of asthma and wheeze among preschool-aged children was probably determined by the joint contribution of multiple factors including inherited, nutritional, unhealthy lifestyles, and history of allergic disease. Further validation in other groups is necessary.

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