DESIGN: Prospective cohort study.
SETTING: Community-dwelling older adults interviewed at baseline (2013-2016) and follow-up (2020-2022) as a part of the Malaysian Elders Longitudinal Research study were included.
PARTICIPANTS: Participants who attended face-to-face follow-up visits.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Fall occurrence over 12 months preceding the follow-up visit was determined. Anthropometric, bioimpedance analysis and physical performance measurements were obtained at both time points. Participants were categorised into three groups according to changes in weight and body composition using≥5% increase or decrease in weight to determine loss or gain.
RESULTS: Of the 225 participants, aged 71.8±6.8 years, 128 (56.9%) were women. Weight gain was associated with increased fall risk at follow-up compared with stable weight (adjusted rate ratio, aRR (95% confidence interval, CI)=2.86 (1.02-8.02)) following adjustments for age and body mass index (BMI), but this relationship was attenuated by low baseline percentage lean body mass (%LBM) in women. The association was strenghtened after adjusting for age, BMI, and low muscle strength (aRR (95% CI)=2.89 (1.01-8.28)). Weight change did not influence falls risk in men. No difference was observed with changes in percentage body fat and %LBM over time with fall occurrence for both genders.
CONCLUSION: Lower baseline lean body mass influenced the relationship between weight gain and falls longitudinally. Interventions addressing low lean body mass should be considered in the prevention of weight-gain-related falls in older women.
CONCLUSION: Exposing preterm infants to either 12 h cyglical lighting or continuously dim environment did not have any significant effect on their weight gain during the neonatal period.
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate physiological and psychological aspects of mother-infant signaling during breastfeeding experimentally, testing the effects of a relaxation intervention on maternal psychological state, breast milk intake, milk cortisol levels, and infant behavior and growth.
METHODS: Primiparous breastfeeding mothers and full-term infants were randomly assigned to receive relaxation therapy [intervention relaxation group; n = 33 (RG)] or to the control group [n = 31 (CG); no relaxation therapy] at 2 wk postpartum. Both groups received standard breastfeeding support. Home visits were conducted at 2 (HV1), 6 (HV2), 12 (HV3) and 14 (HV4) wk to measure maternal stress and anxiety, breast milk intake and milk cortisol, and infant behavior and growth.
RESULTS: RG mothers had lower stress scores postintervention than the CG (HV3 ∆ = -3.13; 95% CI: -5.9, -0.3) and lower hindmilk cortisol at HV1 (∆ = -44.5%; 95% CI: -76.1%, -12.9%) but not at HV2. RG infants had longer sleep duration (∆ = 82 min/d; 95% CI: 16, 149 min/d) at HV2 and higher gains in weight and body mass index standardized deviation score than the CG infants (∆ = 0.76; 95% CI: 0.3, 1.22; and ∆ = 0.59; 95% CI: 0.09, 1.1, respectively). RG infants had a mean milk intake at HV3 that was 227 g/d higher than that of the CG infants (P = 0.031) after controlling for gender and milk intake at HV1.
CONCLUSIONS: The trial shows the effectiveness of a simple relaxation intervention for improving maternal and infant outcomes and identifies some potential signaling mechanisms for investigation in future and larger studies, especially in settings where mothers are more stressed, such as those with preterm or low birth weight infants. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01971216.