Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #112977

Tomoko Inose, MMS, Nguen K.L. Quang, MD, Takehito Takano, MD, PhD, Keiko Nakamura, MD, PhD, Masashi Kizuki, MD, MPH, Kaoruko Seino, MMS, and Vaanchig Urnaa, MD. Health Promotion/International Health, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Yushima 1-5-45 Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, +81-3-5803-5190, inose.hlth@tmd.ac.jp

In Hue City, the old capital of Vietnam, 941 households live on boats along Huong River. Their unprivileged nutritional status, limited living space, and reduced opportunity to play on land are expected to adversely affect the health of the children belonging to these households. Bone development status is regarded as a measurement to reflect health status and as a critical indicator of lifelong bone health. The present study was performed to determine the bone properties of children living on boats in Hue City, Vietnam. Subjects were randomly selected 120 children from households living on boats along Huong River, aged 7-11, and 60 children from a school, aged 7-11, as controls in Hue City. Health examinations were conducted on-site. Height and weight were measured. Bone properties expressed as speed of sound (SOS) were measured at the mid-shaft tibia and the distal third of the radius by noninvasive quantitative ultrasonometry. Both height for age and weight for age of the children living on boats were significantly lower than those of children from the school (p<0.001). Differences were statistically significant in mean Z-scores, the age and sex adjusted values, of radial SOS in boys (p=0.047), and tibial SOS in both boys and girls (p=0.004 and p=0.015). Children of water-living households in Hue City showed reduced development in bone properties of the extremities, which was probably associated with their low development in height and weight and their low socioeconomic status.

Learning Objectives:

• • Articulate the reduced development of bone properties expressed as speed of sound of the extremities in children of water-living households as compare to children from a local school in Hue City, Vietnam.
• • Recognize that living environment and socioeconomic background, such as parental education level, occupation, and income, can hinder healthy skeletal growth among children living on boats.

Keywords: Head Start, Vietnam

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.