Browsing by Author "Grantham-McGregor, Sally M."

Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
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    An Evaluation of Giving the Jamaican Government School Meal to a Class of Children
    (1983-09) Grantham-McGregor, Sally M.; Powell, Christine; Elston, M.
    This study evaluated the effects of giving the standard Jamaican government school meal to a class of schoolchildren. Unlike any other school feeding studies, this project was carefully controlled and carried out with under-nourished children who had low levels of school attendance and achievement. In spite of this, no improvement was found in the children’s nutritional status as reflected by weight for age. However small benefits were found in attendance and school achievements. These findings remained when sex, age, improvements over the previous term and the effects of “benevolent attention” were taken into account.
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    Growth and development of West Indian children: Part 2: Development
    (1990-03) Walker, Susan P.; Grantham-McGregor, Sally M.
    This review discusses the available data on the development of children under 6 years of age in the Caribbean. It notes that there is very little information on this subject from countries other than Jamaica, so that any available data are included, however unrepresentative they may be. The focus is on the average child and not on the prevalence of handicap.
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    The long-term follow-up of severely malnourished children who participated in an intervention program
    (1994-04) Grantham-McGregor, Sally M.; Powell, Christine; Walker, Susan; Chang, Susan; Fletcher, Patricia
    The study compared 18 severely malnourished children (IM) who participated in a three-year home visiting program with two other comparison groups, comprising 17 severely malnourished (NIM) and 19 adequately nourished children (controls). On enrolment, all the groups were in the same hospital, and both malnourished groups had lower developmental levels than the controls. The IM group received intervention for three years after hospitalization, consisting of weekly or two-weekly home visits with toy demonstrations. At 7, 8, 9 and 14 years after leaving the hospital, the three groups were compared on tests of school achievement and IQ. The members of the NIM showed no signs of reducing their deficits, and at the 14 year follow-up, they had markedly lower scores on the WISC verbal and performance scales, the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT), and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) than the controls. Throughout the follow-up the IM group’s scores were intermediate between the NIMS and the controls in every test. At the 14-year follow-up, their scores were significantly higher than those of the NIM group in the WISC verbal scale, and the difference approached significance in the WRAT. It is concluded that psychosocial intervention should be an integral part of treatment for severely malnourished children.
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    Moderate to heavy infections of Trichuris trichiura affect cognitive function in Jamaican school children
    (1992-06) Nokes, C.; Grantham-McGregor, Sally M.; Sawyer, A. W.; Cooper, E. S.; Robinson, B. A.; Bundy, D. A. P.
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    Nutritional deficiencies and children's behavior and mental development
    (1990) Simeon, Donald T.; Grantham-McGregor, Sally M.
    The review considers the effects of nutritional deficiencies on behaviour and mental development in children. It briefly discusses iodine and iron deficiencies, and short-term food deprivation before focusing on protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). It concludes that there is an increasing amount of evidence that these nutritional deficiencies detrimentally affect children’s concurrent mental functions. In the case on iodine and probably severe PEM in poor environments, long-term effects have also been demonstrated. It is likely that iron deficiency and mild to moderate under-nutrition, if allowed to persist for long periods, may lead to developmental lags that are difficult to reverse. The long-term effects of recurrent short-term food deprivation are unknown.
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    Nutritional supplementation, psychosocial stimulation, and mental development of stunted children: The Jamaican study
    (The Lancet, 1991-06) Grantham-McGregor, Sally M.; Powell, C. A.; Walker, S. P.; Himes, J. H.
    The effects of nutritional supplementation, with or without psychosocial stimulation, of growth-retarded (stunted) children aged 9-24 months were assessed in a study in Kingston, Jamaica. 129 children from poor neighbourhoods were randomly assigned to four groups—control, supplemented only, stimulated only, and supplemented plus stimulated. A group of matched non-stunted children (n=32) was also included. The supplement comprised 1 kg milk-based formula per week for 2 years and the stimulation weekly play sessions at home with a community health side. The children’s development (DQ) was assessed on the Griffiths mental development scales.
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    School performance nutritional status and trichuriasis in Jamaican school children
    (1994) Simeon, Donald T.; Callender, J.; Wong, Michael S.; Grantham-McGregor, Sally M.; Ramdath, D. D.
    The study examined the relationship between varying intensities of Trichuris trichiura infections and school achievement, attendance, and nutritional status in 616 schoolchildren. A total of 409 children with Trichuris infection of intensities greater than 1200 eggs per gram of stool (epg) were first identified, then for every 2 infected children in a class, an uninfected child was selected. After controlling for socio-economic status, gender, age, school and the presence of Ascaris infections, the infected children had higher reading and arithmetic scores than children with infections of more than 4000 epg and were taller than those with intensities greater than 2000 epg. However, there were no significant differences in spelling, school attendance and body mass index. Although a treatment trial is needed to determine causation, these results indicate that moderate levels of infection are associated with poor school achievement and growth.
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    Treatment of Trichuris trichiura infections improves growth, spelling scores and school attendance in some children
    (1995) Simeon, Donald T.; Grantham-McGregor, Sally M.; Callender, Joy E.; Wong, Michael S.
    The effects of treating Trichuris trichiura infections were investigated in 407 Jamaican children age 6-12 years. The children were randomly assigned to receive treatment (albendazole) or a placebo. The outcome variables included growth; tests of reading, spelling and arithmetic; and school attendance. After six months of treatment, there was no significant main effect on any of the outcomes. However, there were significant treatment-by-infection intensity interactions with spelling and body mass index and a significant treatment-by-stunting interaction with school attendance. In spelling the children with heavy infections showed improvements with treatment that approached significance, whereas those with lower intensities did not. However, the children with lower infection intensities had increased body mass index with treatment, although there was no difference in children with heavy infections. In school attendance, the stunted children improved with treatment, whereas there was no difference in the non-stunted children. These findings suggest that in the sample of Jamaican children examined, the treatment of T. trichiura was more likely to benefit school performance in children of poor nutritional status and those with heavy infections, and to improve weight gain in children with lighter infection intensities.
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    Trichuris trichiura infection and cognition in children: Results of a randomized clinical trial
    (1995) Wong, Michael S.; Grantham-McGregor, Sally M.; Simeon, Donald T.
    The effects of mild to moderate infections of Trichuris trichiura on cognitive functions were investigated in Jamaican children aged 7-10 years. In all 189 infected children and 100 uninfected classmates we studied. The infected children were randomly assigned to receive treatment (albendazole) or a placebo. All children were given cognitive tests at the time of enrolment and 14 weeks later. These included verbal fluency (generation of ideas), digit span (working memory), number choice (speed of processing of visual stimuli), visual search (sustained attention), and French vocabulary test (paired-associate learning). At baseline, the infected children had lower scores than the uninfected in fluency, search, and French. Treatment effects were examined among infected children and there was no significant treatment by weight-for-age interaction in fluency. The children with low weight-for-age improved with treatment while there was no improvement with treatment among the older children. It was concluded that treatment of children with mild to moderate T. trichiura infections using albendazole produces little benefit on cognition if they are adequately nourished; however, under-nourished children are more likely to benefit.