School performance nutritional status and trichuriasis in Jamaican school children
Date
1994
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Abstract
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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Academic achievement