BACKGROUND The aim of the study was to provide the age- and sex-specific percentile values of anthropometric measures for Iranian children and adolescents. METHODS This cross-sectional nationwide survey was conducted on a representative sample of 14,880 school students, selected by multistage random cluster sampling from urban and rural areas of 30 provinces in Iran. Anthropometric measures i...

PURPOSE Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have been implicated in atherosclerosis, and therefore, are considered risk factors for metabolic dysfunction in adults. However, there is little data on circulating levels of MMPs and tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs) with regard to obesity-related biomarkers in the general adolescent population. In the present study, we determined the associations of M...

BACKGROUND Canada is facing a childhood obesity epidemic. Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a major complication of obesity. Reports on the impact of excess adiposity on BP in children and adolescents have varied significantly across studies. We evaluated the independent effects of obesity, physical activity, family history of hypertension, and socioeconomic status on BP in a nationally represent...

This study assessed to what extent genetic and environmental factors contributed to individual differences in adolescent sleep duration, and whether genetic and environmental contributions to sleep duration changed throughout adolescence. A twin-family design was used to gain insight into the genetic and environmental contributions to variation in sleep duration. The study sample consisted of 6...

This paper provides an in-depth examination of the joint effects of race/ethnicity and immigrant status on adolescents' intercourse risk. We employ a sample of 4,535 females and 3,759 males from the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS 88/94) who were followed for 6 years beginning in the eighth grade. We use discrete-time logistic regression models to estimate the associations of race/e...

AIMS To investigate associations between socio-economic position in early life and later alcohol use and problem use among male and female adolescents. DESIGN Birth cohort study. SETTING South West England. PARTICIPANTS A total of 2711 girls and 2379 boys with one or more measures of alcohol use or problem use at age 15 years. MEASUREMENTS Exposure measures were highest parental social ...