The analysis of multiple population structures (biodemographic, genetic and socio-cultural) and their inter-relations contribute to a deeper understanding of population structure and population dynamics. Genetically, the population structure corresponds to the deviation of random mating conditioned by a limited number of ancestors, by restricted migration in the social or geographic space, or by preference for certain consanguineous unions. Through the isonymic method, surname frequency and distribution across the population can supply quantitative information on the structure of a human population, as they constitute universal socio-cultural variables. Using documentary sources to undertake the Doctrine of Belén’s (Altos de Arica, Chile) historical demography reconstruction between 1763 and 1820, this study identified an indigenous population with stable patronymics. The availability of complete marriage, baptism and death records, low rates of migration and the significant percentage of individuals registered and constantly present in this population favoured the application of the isonymic method. The aim of this work was to use given names and surnames recorded in these documentary sources to reconstruct the population structure and migration pattern of the Doctrine of Belén between 1750 and 1813 through the isonymic method. The results of the study were consistent with the ethno-historical data of this ethnic space, where social cohesion was, in multiple ways, related to the regulation of daily life in colonial Andean societies.

People living with undiagnosed HIV are big contributors to the transmission of the virus. Although measures have been made to scale up HIV prevention and voluntary counselling and testing in sub-Saharan Africa, testing coverage remains low in many sub-Saharan African countries, including Mozambique and Kenya, where most people live with HIV/AIDS. Studies have shown that, in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, men are less likely to test for HIV compared with women. This study examined the relationship between comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge and HIV testing among men in Kenya and Mozambique. Data were from the men’s re-code file of the Demographic and Health Surveys of Mozambique and Kenya. Binary logistic regression models were generated and the results presented as crude odds ratios (cOR) and adjusted odds ratios (aOR). The prevalences of HIV testing in Kenya and Mozambique were 80.1% and 46.7%, respectively. Men in Mozambique who had comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge (aOR=1.26, CI: 1.07–1.47) were more likely to test for HIV compared with their counterparts who had no comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge. In Kenya, men who had comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge (aOR=1.23, CI: 1.09–1.39) were more likely to test for HIV compared with their counterparts who had no comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge. This study found a statistically strong significant association between comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge and HIV testing among men in Kenya and Mozambique. To improve HIV testing rate among men, it is important that interventions are geared towards improving men’s comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge, perhaps by expanding HIV/AIDS education programmes and campaigns. This could improve HIV testing rates and ensure the realization of the global HIV/AIDS target of 95-95-95 by the year 2030.

Non-communication of HIV status among sex partners is a notable hurdle in halting transmission, largely due to socio-cultural factors. This study aimed to predict the determinants of male partners’ awareness of women’s serostatus. A total of 8825 women of reproductive age living with HIV who were clients at five comprehensive HIV treatment centres in Benue State, North-Central Nigeria were surveyed between June and December 2017, and 6655 reported having a sexual partner at the time of the survey selected for analysis. A regression model was used to estimate the determinants of male partner awareness of serostatus from the perspective of women. Conditional marginal analyses were conducted to evaluate the marginal effects of identified predictors on the probability of outcomes. Partners of married women were found to have greater odds of being aware of their spouse’s serostatus (adjusted OR (aOR): 3.20; 95%CI: 2.13–4.81) than non-married partners. Similarly, the odds of male partner awareness increased with the years women had been on antiretroviral therapy (aOR: 1.13; 95%CI: 1.07–1.20). The probability of partners of married respondents being aware of their spouse’s HIV serostatus was 97%. The conditional marginal effects of being educated to primary or higher level were 1.2 (95% CI: –0.2 to 2.7) and 1.8 (95% CI: 0.09–3.4) percentage points higher respectively when compared with women with no formal education. Being unemployed or being a trader significantly decreased the probability of partners being aware of respondents’ serostatus when compared with farmers; conditional marginal effects of –6.7 (95% CI: –12.0 to –1.4) and –3.9 (95% CI: –5.7 to –2.2) percentage points, respectively. The study found that relationship status and girl-child education are factors that can improve communication of HIV status to sex partners. Policies and interventions aimed at improving the social determinants of health, and social support for healthy communications in relationships, are recommended to reduce HIV transmission between sex partners.

When other measures for material conditions are scarce or unreliable, the use of height is now common to evaluate economic conditions during economic development. However, throughout US economic development, height data by gender have been slow to emerge. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, female and male statures remained constant. Agricultural workers had taller statures than workers in other occupations, and the female agricultural height premium was over twice that of males. For both females and males, individuals with fairer complexions were taller than their darker complexioned counterparts. Gender collectively had the greatest explanatory effect associated with stature, followed by age and nativity. Socioeconomic status and birth period had the smallest collective effects with stature.

Adult heights in India are short. Child stunting remains high though the prevalence fell from 48% to 38% in the decade prior to 2016. This study assesses the links between parental height and child stunting using nationally representative data on 28,975 under-five-year-old children from the 2015–16 National Family Health Survey. Parental heights are represented as quintiles. Logistic regression was applied to estimate the effect of parental heights after adjustment for household wealth, parental schooling, place of residence and other covariates. The unadjusted estimates showed the effect on stunting to be similar for maternal height, wealth and education. In the multivariate analysis maternal height emerged as the strongest predictor of stunting, with adjusted odds of 2.85 for the shortest compared with the tallest quintile. The two other strong predictors of stunting were paternal height and wealth, with adjusted odds of close to 2.0 for the lowest quintile relative to the highest quintiles. In comparison, associations between stunting and other factors were minor, with the partial exception of mother’s education. The findings underscore the key role of intergenerational influences on stunting. Maternal height has a stronger association with childhood stunting than paternal height and socioeconomic influences such as education and household wealth. The influence of paternal height is also strong, equal in magnitude to household wealth. Health workers need to be alerted to the special needs of short women.

Use of body mass index (BMI) to assess the nutritional status of adolescents requires many resources, especially for country-level assessment. This study aimed to determine the relationship between BMI and mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) among adolescent males and females in India and to examine whether MUAC effectively represents the nutritional status of adolescents. The study utilized anthropometric measurement data collected by India’s National Family Health Survey-4 (2015–16). The weighted sample for analysis included 91,315 female and 14,893 male adolescents. The BMI and MUAC measurements showed a positive correlation in both female and male adolescents. Using BMI-for-age Z-score classifications, 12.7% of the adolescents were undernourished. Using MUAC (in cm) as per NACS (Nutrition Assessment, Counselling, and Support) guidelines and Mramba et al. (2017) classified 22.9% and 3.7% of the adolescents as undernourished respectively. Finally, using the MUAC-for-age Z-score classification, 98.4% of adolescents were determined to be normal and 1.7% undernourished. Sensitivity and specificity tests of the MUAC cut-offs, in comparison with BMI cut-offs, showed that all three MUAC cut-off classifications had high specificity (NACS cut-off: 81.3%; Mramba et al. cut-off (cm): 97.7%; Mramba et al. cut-off (Z-score): 99.1%). The NACS cut-off had moderately high sensitivity (52.2%) but the Mramba et al. cut-offs had low sensitivity (13.3% for the centimetre cut-off and 6.6% for the Z-score cut-off). Sensitivity and specificity tests proved the relationship between BMI and MUAC, and that MUAC represents adolescent nutritional status with considerable efficiency. With further research, it may be established that MUAC is a better and promising measure of adolescent nutrition, having the advantage of needing fewer resources for data collection. The MUAC has the potential to offer a simple and low-resource alternative to BMI to assess nutritional status among adolescents in poor countries.

The World Health Organization set a target of a 15% relative reduction in the prevalence of insufficient physical activity (IPA) by 2025 among adolescents and adults globally. In Bangladesh, there are no national estimates of the prevalence of IPA among adolescents. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of and risk factors associated with IPA among adolescent girls and boys. Data for 4865 adolescent girls and 4907 adolescent boys, collected as a part of a National Nutrition Surveillance in 2018–19, were analysed for this study. A modified version of the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) was used to collect physical activity data. The World Health Organization recommended cut-off points were used to estimate the prevalence of IPA. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify factors associated with IPA. Prevalences of IPA among adolescent girls and boys were 50.3% and 29.0%, respectively, and the prevalence was significantly higher among early adolescents (10–14 years) than late adolescents (15–19 years) among both boys and girls. The IPA prevalence was highest among adolescents living in non-slum urban areas (girls: 77.7%; boys: 64.1%). For both boys and girls, younger age, non-slum urban residence, higher paternal education and increased television viewing time were significantly associated with IPA. Additionally, residing in slums was significantly associated with IPA only among the boys. Higher maternal education was associated with IPA only among the girls. This study identified several modifiable risk factors associated with IPA among adolescent boys and girls in Bangladesh. These factors should be addressed through comprehensive public health interventions to promote physical activity among adolescent girls and boys.

The aim of this study was to examine the differences between selected lifestyle and socioeconomic parameters among preschool (3–7 years of age) children of differing adiposity status. The study was conducted from February to June 2018 in 20 randomly selected kindergartens in Kraków, Poland. Triceps, biceps, subscapular, suprailiac, abdominal and calf skinfold thicknesses were measured. The sum of all six skinfolds was calculated and the children were subsequently characterized by low (≤–1 SD [standard deviation]), normal (–1 to 1 SD) or high body fat (≥1 SD). Socioeconomic and lifestyle characteristics were obtained using a questionnaire filled out by the children’s parents or legal guardians. Preschool children in the high adiposity category had, on average, fewer siblings and longer screen time; additionally, their parents had lower education and more often worked in manual jobs, in comparison to the children in the low and average adiposity categories. In conclusion, it was observed that children in different adiposity categories varied in terms of some socioeconomic as well as lifestyle characteristics. Knowledge regarding the influence that those factors can have on the metabolic health of children is essential for children’s present as well as future well-being. Moreover, it can help health care professionals and parents decide what intervention and/ or preventive measures should be undertaken to ensure the best possible outcomes, as the development of successful obesity prevention strategies should rely on evidence-based information. Nonetheless, future research examining the issue of factors influencing the metabolic health of children, as well as these outcomes later in life, is crucial. Well-planned studies including a large number of individuals, as well as longitudinal research, will be particularly beneficial in this regard.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which can largely be prevented by controlling avoidable lifestyle-related risk factors, are rapidly penetrating the entire world, including developing countries. The present study aimed to assess NCD lifestyle risk factors among the adult population in Bangladesh. The data used in the study were collected as part of a population-based cross-sectional survey covering rural and urban areas of Bangladesh conducted in 2015–16 (N=11,982 adults aged ≥35 years). The lifestyle factors considered were diet (daily fruit and vegetable consumption and extra salt intake with meals), sleeping patterns, smoking, smokeless tobacco consumption, and physical activity. The study found that approximately 18.5% of participants had a non-daily consumption of fruit or vegetables, 46.6% used extra salt with their meals, 11.8% reported sleeping <7 hours daily, 25.7% smoked tobacco, 60.9% used smokeless tobacco and 69.7% were less physically active. The prevalence of improper lifestyle practices relevant to NCDs, such as an inadequate diet, poor sleeping pattern, tobacco consumption, and low physical activity, was significantly higher among older adults, women, the uneducated, the unemployed, urban dwellers, and people from rich households. The study found that NCD-related lifestyle characteristics were poorly compliant with standard guidelines among many adult populations in Bangladesh. The findings can inform preventative strategies to control the overwhelming NCD burden in Bangladesh, such as the promotion of physical exercise, healthy eating, and the cessation of the use of tobacco products.

The early detection of anaemia is important for its subsequent control and incidence among women of childbearing age. This study aimed to assess the anaemia status of preconception young married women in India using National Family Health Survey-4 data collected in 2015–16. A total 65,238 sample preconception young married women were analysed using univariate, bivariate and multivariate techniques. A majority belonged to the Hindu religion (81.7%), lived in rural areas (64.5%) and had secondary level education (51.8%), and 41.7% had not yet given birth. The percentage suffering from anaemia was 51.3%. The prevalence of anaemia was higher among younger women (55.3%), those from Scheduled Tribes (59.0%), those living in rural areas (52.8%), the non-educated (55.9%), those in the poorest wealth quintile (56.9%), those from the East region (57.0%) and those with a low body mass index (BMI) (58.4%). The adjusted odds ratios indicated that, after controlling for significant background factors, Hindu, Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste, East region, already having a child, too thin for their height and poorer and poorest wealth quintiles had higher odds of suffering from anaemia compared with the reference groups. The odds of suffering from anaemia decreased with age and education. The study showed a high burden of anaemia and associated risk factors among preconception young married women in India. The finding will inform decision-makers when planning interventions to decrease anaemia among women of childbearing age in India.

This study assessed the rate of primary infertility and its associated factors among 402,807 currently married women aged 20–49 years in India using National Family Health Survey-4 data collected in 2015–2016. Dietary patterns and selected morbidities were included as independent variables, and socioeconomic variables were considered as covariates. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were done to estimate the prevalence of primary infertility and assess its association with the selected variables, respectively. The rate of primary infertility among currently married women in India in 2015–16 was 1.9% and this was significantly associated with younger age (<35 years), higher age at marriage (≥18 years), urban residence, higher secondary or above education and poverty. The consumption of dairy products (OR = 0.79, CI = 0.73–0.86), dark green leafy vegetables (OR = 0.57, CI = 0.39–0.81) and fruit (OR = 0.88, CI = 0.77–1.01) significantly reduced the odds of primary infertility. Daily consumption of fish and aerated drinks was related to 1.06–1.21 times higher odds of primary infertility. Overweight/obesity, high blood pressure and high blood glucose levels were associated with 1.08–1.21 times elevated odds of primary infertility. Thyroid disorder (OR = 1.38, CI = 1.21–1.60), heart disease (OR = 1.17, CI = 1.16–1.19) and severe anaemia (OR = 1.24, CI = 1.00–1.53) were associated with an increased likelihood of primary infertility among women (OR 1.17–1.39, CI 1.00–1.60). The findings provide compelling evidence that primary infertility among women is related to dietary patterns and morbidities. Interventions and programmes targeting the promotion of healthy diets and lifestyles could be beneficial in addressing the issue of primary infertility among women.

Around 40% of pregnancies worldwide are unintended and a half of those are terminated. Yet, few international comparisons of unintended pregnancy resolution (choosing birth or abortion) exist. This study analysed how parous women’s pregnancy intentions and abortion decisions are associated with their reproductive histories and country contexts using twelve Demographic and Health Surveys representing four context groups: post-Soviet/communist and Asian countries with liberal abortion legislation, and Asian and Latin American countries with restrictive abortion legislation. Similarities were found across contexts: preference to have children of both sexes, space births, stop childbearing after reaching desired family size and an increased likelihood of unintended pregnancy when using less-effective contraceptive methods versus none. Contextual factors most clearly associated with reports of unintended pregnancy resolution were type of abortion legislation and living in post-Soviet/communist contexts. Women’s propensity to report abortions and unintended pregnancy varied by context and the decision-making processes for pregnancy versus fertility management were different.

Age misreporting is a common phenomenon in Demographic and Health Surveys, and there are numerous reasons for this. The trend and pattern of disparity in age heaping vary between countries. The present study assesses age heaping in the selected South Asian countries of Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan using data from the most recent round of the Demographic and Health Survey. The respondent sample sizes were 203,703 for Afghanistan, 2,869,043 for India, 49,064 for Nepal, 81,618 for Bangladesh and 100,868 for Pakistan. Age heaping was assessed by respondent’s age, education level, sex and level of education. Whipple’s index was calculated to assess systematic heaping on certain ages as a result of digit preference. Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India showed stronger preference for ages ending with the digits ‘0’ and ‘5’ compared with Pakistan and Nepal among uneducated respondents. On the other hand, strong avoidance of ages ending in the digits ‘1’, ‘4’ and ‘9’ was observed in Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India. However, urban–rural place of residence was not found to be associated with digit preference in the study countries. Among males, age misreporting with the final digits ‘0’ and ‘5’ was highest in Bangladesh, followed by Afghanistan and India, and Nepal showed the least displacement. Strong digit preference and avoidance, and upper age displacement, were witnessed in the surveys conducted in Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India on the parameters of sex and education level. Innovative methods of data collection with the measurement and minimization of errors using statistical techniques should be used to ensure accuracy of age data.