High Prevalence of Acute Respiratory Tract Infections Among Warao Amerindian Children in Venezuela in Relation to Low Immunization Coverage and Chronic Malnutrition
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Higher prevalence rates of acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) have been described in Australian and Canadian indigenous populations than in nonindigenous age-matched counterparts. Few studies on ARTIs in South American indigenous populations have been published. We performed a cross-sectional survey to describe the prevalence of upper respiratory tract infections and acute lower respiratory tract infections (ALRTIs) and associations with malnutrition and immunization status. METHODS: From December 1, 2009 to May 31, 2010, 487 Warao Amerindian children 0 to 59 months of age living in the Delta Amacuro in Venezuela were included in a cross-sectional survey. Data were obtained through parent questionnaires, vaccination cards, and physical examinations including anthropometric measurements. RESULTS: Of the 487 children, 47% presented with an ARTI. Of these, 60% had upper respiratory tract infections and 40% were ALRTI. Immunization coverage was low, with only 27% of all children presenting a vaccination card being fully immunized. The prevalence of malnutrition was high (52%), with stunting (height-for-age <-2 standard deviations) being the most frequent presentation affecting 45% of children. ARTI and ALRTI prevalence diminished with increasing age (odds ratio for ALRTI in children 25-59 months of age vs. children younger than 12 months, 0.49; 95% confidence interval, 0.26-0.93). Furthermore, significant differences in ARTI prevalence were seen between villages. No significant associations between immunization status or malnutrition and ARTI or ALRTI prevalence were identified. CONCLUSIONS: A high prevalence of ARTIs and chronic malnutrition in combination with a low immunization status highlights the need for an integrated approach to improve the health status of indigenous Venezuelan children.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".