Over the last century life expectancy has increased dramatically nearly all over the world. This dramatic absolute and relative increase of the old aged people component of the population has ...influenced not only population structure but also has dramatic implications for the individuals and public health services. The aim of the present pilot study was to examine the impact of physical well-being assessed by hand grip strength and social factors estimated by social contact frequency on health-related quality of life among 22 men and 41 women ranging in age between 60 and 94 years. Physical well-being was estimated by hand grip strength, data concerning subjective wellbeing and health related quality of life were collected by personal interviews based on the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaires. Number of offspring and intergenerational contacts were not related significantly to health-related quality of life, while social contacts with non-relatives and hand grip strength in contrast had a significant positive impact on health related quality of life among old aged men and women. Physical well-being and in particular muscle strength-estimated by grip strength-may increase health-related quality of life and is therefore an important source for well-being during old age. Grip strength may be used as an indicator of health-related quality of life.
Asymmetry of bilateral anatomical structures is widely found in nature. Fluctuating asymmetry, i.e. mostly tiny random deviations from perfect symmetry in bilateral structures, is mainly interpreted ...within the framework of developmental instability. This interpretation is mainly due to the fact, that higher fluctuating asymmetry is often found in association with various pathological conditions but also from increased stress during somatic development. Directional asymmetry, in contrast, describes a distinct pattern of bilateral variation in a group of individuals, characterized by the tendency to find the larger side mainly at the same side for all individuals. This kind of asymmetry is mostly caused by behavioral lateralization. Somatic stress during development affect not only asymmetry patterns, it is has also an adverse effect on somatic growth. Therefore, the present study tested the hypothesis, that increased asymmetry is associated with decreased body height as well as postcranial length and robustness dimensions. The association patterns between fluctuating as well as directional asymmetry and parameters of somatic growth and robustness are analyzed among 236 !Kung San and 248 Kavango people of Namibia between the ages of 18 and 65 years. Fluctuating asymmetry was determined by ear length and ear breadth. Directional asymmetry was determined by hand length and hand breadth dimensions. Fluctuating as well as directional asymmetry correlated significantly negatively with body height and length dimensions, the correlations however, were weak. The results are interpreted as a corroboration of the theory that developmental stress may increase fluctuating asymmetry but on the other hand may decrease body size.
Background: The use of ssisted reproductive technologies (ART) such as fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has increased markedly during the last four decades. ART, ...however, is still discussed critically, as there is no consensus on whether these treatments have a negative effect on fetal growth or increase the risk of preterm birth, low birth weight, and perinatal complications.
Objectives: The aim of this study is the analysis of association patterns between ART (IVF or ICSI) and newborn size, preterm birth rate, and the mode of delivery.
Sample and Methods: In this single-center medical record-based study data concerning the conception mode (spontaneous versus IVF or ICSI), preterm birth, newborn sex and size, child presentation, delivery mode, labor induction as well as parity, maternal age, body height, weight, and gestational weight gain of 5867 singleton-term births taking place in Vienna from 2015 to 2023 were included. 178 newborns (3.0%) were conceived by IVF or ICSI.
Results: ART (IVF or ICSI) increased the risk of preterm birth by a factor of 3.4, and the risk of emergency cesarean section by a factor 2.3. ART was not independently associated with newborn size as well as breech presentation. The most important factor for newborn size was the gestational week of delivery, but also maternal parameters such as body height, gestational weight gain, and age.
Conclusion: Preterm birth is a major cause of small newborn size and complications at birth. Therefore, ART can also be interpreted with caution as an indirect risk factor for small newborn size with all its long-term consequences.
•The analysis of menopausal transition among women with a background of migration gains in importance.•The number of menopausal women with a background of migration, refugees, and asylum seekers is ...increasing in Austria.•More studies on the menopausal transition of women with a migration background are needed.
Globalization and international migration movements have massively changed the population structure of most industrial nations in recent decades. The ever-increasing proportion of people with a migration background also poses a challenge for the medical sector. A particular problem is the stressful phase of the menopausal transition, which - although not a pathological phenomenon but part of the female life history - can lead to psychological and physical symptoms due to hormonal changes, which significantly impair the quality of life of the women affected. However, treatment concepts, as well as access to medical facilities and information, are geared towards Western women from high-income countries. Women with a history of voluntary or forced migration originating from non-Western countries represent a particularly vulnerable group. To enable personalized treatment, studies on menopausal transition in women with a migration background are required. The present review shows that studies on menopausal women with a migration background have been conducted primarily in classic immigration countries such as the USA, Australia, or the UK, but that there is a lack of such studies in countries with no long tradition as an immigration country, such as Austria or Germany. This is becoming a growing problem, as the number of menopausal women with a migration background is increasing.
Obesity and type II diabetes belong to the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century. Initially both diseases were typical of affluent societies. Currently both conditions however are ...increasingly found in low and middle income countries. In future obesity and diabetes are expected to reach epidemic proportions and affect developing countries to a greater extent than developed ones. A globalization of obesity and diabetes is observable. Recently prevalence rates increased, especially in Asia, the Near and Middle East, the Western Pacific region and even in
Sub-Saharan Africa. Evolutionary Anthropology tries to understand the evolutionary mechanisms promoting rising obesity and diabetes type II rates. Homo sapiens evolved in an environment quite different from our recent one. Profound changes in physical activity patterns and nutritional habits during the last 10,000 years and increasingly during the last 200 years increased the risk of obesity and diabetes type II. Consequently our recent environment is called “obesogenic”. This mismatch has been recently observable among societies experiencing rapid cultural changes characterized by Westernization and modernization. This review focuses on obesity and type II diabetes from the viewpoint of evolutionary anthropology.
Growth patterns and final body height are influenced by genetic and socio-environmental factors. A major impact of education on growth has been documented. Body height increases with an increasing ...educational level.The present study focuses on the association patterns between body height and educational level among 1,734,569 Austrian male conscripts aged 17 to <19 born between 1961 and 2002. Four levels of education were classified to examine their association with body height. Over 42 years, the percentage of conscripts at the lowest educational level decreased dramatically from 37.5% to 1.7%. All educational classes showed increasing body heights over time. Despite a marked improvement in the living standard, body heights at different educational levels did not converge. In Austria, educational and social advancement was associated with higher population body heights. Young men at the lowest educational level, however, remain shorter and their body height gap to the highest educational level has widened.
Background The marked spatial differences in the prevalence of childhood overweight/obesity rates within cities are mainly due to environmental characteristics of individual intracity areas. This is ...the first analysis of spatial differences in the prevalence of overweight/obesity among children in the Austrian capital Vienna.
Subjects and methods In the medical-record-based study, the weight status of 1611 Viennese school children of lower socioeconomic backgrounds at the ages of six, ten, and 15 years from 46 randomly selected public secondary schools were included. Medical data have been obtained at schools by trained members of the Medical school authority. Besides effects of sex and background of migration, associations between weight status and the natural as well as social environments of the residential and school districts were analyzed. Since the 23 political districts of Vienna differ markedly in socioeconomic and environmental characteristics, a comparison between the districts was carried out.
Results Especially high overweight and obesity rates were found for the socially disadvantaged areas of the 10th, 12th, and 15th political district of Vienna. Children living and attending schools in better-off districts had lower rates of overweight and obesity, despite their low social status. The most important factors influencing overweight and obesity were parameters of the social environment and characteristics of the residential area of the children. Significant associations between the body mass index and unemployment rates, average monthly income, the educational level of the district population, the proportion of migrants in the district, and sociodemographic cluster areas could be observed. This was equally true for girls and boys, as well as children with or without a migrant background.
Conclusion In general, socially disadvantaged, inner-city areas showed extremely high prevalence rates of obesity.
In 2007, for the first time worldwide, more people lived in urban conurbations than in rural settlement structures. This advancing urbanization has dramatically altered the living situation, the use ...of space, as well as human behavior along with the health situation and disease burden. This process began in Europe as early as the 19th century, while developing and emerging countries in particular are currently exposed to increasing urbanization. The burden of disease is clearly altered by living in a confined space, by environmental pollution in urban areas, the impossibility of producing food oneself, and being lost in an anonymous crowd. While city air made people “free” in medieval times, it often makes them “sick” today. Obesogenic environments represent a special problem in urban areas. A lack of physical activity, adverse dietary habits, and stressful and unsafe neighborhoods increase the risk of becoming overweight and obese in urban centers. Recently, modernization in rural areas and an adaptation to urban habits there increase the obesity rates in rural areas in high-income as well as low- and middle-income countries, too. Within cities, marked spatial differences in the prevalence of overweight and obesity occur. In Vienna, Austria, overweight and obesity rates during childhood and adolescence differ markedly between the individual Viennese districts. Highest overweight and obesity rates occur in districts characterized by a low socioeconomic status.
Activity patterns of recent Homo sapiens are characterized by a sedentary life style and consequently by exercise deficiency. This lack of physical activity increases the risk of various chronic ...non-communicable diseases and reduces health related quality of life. From the perspective of evolutionary medicine, the high rates of non-communicable disease among contemporary industrialized populations may be interpreted as the result of a mismatch between high rates of physical activity in the adaptively relevant (ARE) and sedentary recent life circumstances. Public transport, cars, elevators, supermarkets and internet shopping diminished daily physical activities dramatically, therefore recent Homo sapiens suffer from the consequences of a convenient life style, which is completely new in our evolution and history. The only possibility to increase physical activity and enhance health and well-being is through sporting activities during leisure time.
Human birth represents a critical and life-threatening event in the life of mother and child and is therefore of special importance for anthropological as well as public health research.
Study aims: ...to analyze the association patterns between fetal biometry and delivery modes from the first trimester onwards.
In this electronic medical record-based study, a dataset of 3408 singleton term birth taking place at the Viennese Danube hospital in Austria. was analyzed. Fetal biometry was reconstructed by the results of three ultrasound examinations carried out at the 11
/12
, 20
/21
and 32
/33
week of gestation. In detail, crown-rump length, biparietal diameter, fronto-occipital diameter, head circumference, abdominal trans-verse diameter, abdominal sagittal diameter, abdominal circumference, and femur length were determined. Birth weight, birth length and head circumference were measured immediately after birth. Four delivery modes were compared: spontaneous vaginal birth, instrumental vaginal birth, planned cesarean section and emergency cesarean section.
The total cesarean section rate was 10.2%. Fetal biometry and newborn size differed significantly between the four delivery modes. From the second trimester onward, head circumferences were significantly larger (
=0.005) among fetuses delivered by instrumental delivery or emergency cesarean section than among fetuses delivered by spontaneous vaginal birth. The fetal abdominal dimensions during the third trimester were significantly largest (
=0.001) among fetuses delivered by emergency cesarean section. In comparison to spontaneous vaginal delivery the risk to require instrumental delivery increased significantly with increasing fetal head dimensions at the second (
=0.019) and third trimester(
=0.032) independent of maternal somatic factors. The risk of emergency CS increased significantly with increasing head dimensions (
=0.030) as well as abdominal dimensions (p=0.001) at the third trimester and newborn size (
=0.002), also independently of maternal somatic factors.
In general, larger fetuses are on an increased risk of experiencing instrumental delivery or emergency caesarean section. This association between fetal size and delivery mode is detectable from the second trimester onwards.
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