Colin Binns

Curtin University · School of Public Health

Background Breastfeeding should begin as soon as possible after birth and continue exclusively to 6 months of age. In Vietnam, as in many other countries, breastfeeding is decreasing because of modern lifestyles and the promotion of infant formula. It is important to provide mothers, family members, and the community with the knowledge and strategi...

The COVID-19 pandemic has been the largest infectious disease epidemic to affect the human race since the great influenza pandemic of 1918-19 and is close to approaching the number of deaths from the earlier epidemic. A review of available data and the numerous currently available studies on COVID-19 shows that the rate of clinical cases is about 1...

Aim Cesarean section has negative impacts on breastfeeding rates. This study is to evaluate the effect of a mobile application on breastfeeding outcomes among mothers who had cesarean section using a randomized control trial in Vietnam in 2020 - 2022. Methods A triple-blinded randomized trial of a mobile application was conducted. The mobile appli...

Aim: Cesarean section often translates to negative impacts on breastfeeding rates. This study aims to evaluate the effect of a mobile application on breastfeeding outcomes among mothers who had cesarean sections using a randomized controlled trial in Vietnam in 2020-2022. Methods: A triple-blinded randomized trial of a mobile application was conduc...

Since the publication of the NHMRC Infant Feeding Guidelines (NHMRC, 2012a) there has been increasing interest in the importance of infant feeding to mothers and their babies. This includes protection against chronic disease in adulthood. UNICEF and WHO have recognised the importance of the ‘first 1000 days’, the period from conception to approxima...

The Women’s Health section of the IJERPH has published almost 700 papers in the past three years, reflecting its importance in public health. [...]

Background: Breastfeeding brings benefits to both mothers and children in the short term and long term. Unnecessary cesarean sections can bring risks to both parties. This study was undertaken to examine the relationship between exclusive breastfeeding intention and cesarean delivery. Methods: We analyzed data collected from 554 single mothers w...

Background Despite the recognized health and economic benefits of exclusive breastfeeding, few Australian infants are exclusively breastfed beyond 5 months of age. Social support for breastfeeding, in particular the support of an infant’s father, has been identified as a crucial element for successful breastfeeding. Objective The objective of this...

Food production is affected by climate change, and, in turn, food production is responsible for 20–30% of greenhouse gases. The food system must increase output as the population increases and must meet nutrition and health needs while simultaneously assisting in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Good nutrition is important for combattin...

Following publication of the original article [1], it was reported that the contents of Additional file 2 were a duplicate of the files for Additional file 1.

BACKGROUND Despite the recognized health and economic benefits of exclusive breastfeeding, few Australian infants are exclusively breastfed beyond 5 months of age. Social support for breastfeeding, in particular the support of an infant’s father, has been identified as a crucial element for successful breastfeeding. OBJECTIVE The objective of this...

The association between inflammatory properties of diet and ovarian cancer risk has been investigated in some Western populations. However, little evidence is available from Asian women whose ovarian cancer incidence rates are low and dietary and lifestyle patterns are very different from their Western counterparts. We aimed to examine whether more...

BACKGROUND Breastfeeding has substantial benefits for both mothers and children. The World Health Organization and the Vietnam Ministry of Health recommend exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months. However, this target was reached by fewer than 17% of Vietnamese infants and in urban areas such as Hanoi, was only about 12.6%. Many factors influence brea...

Background Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life is the optimal way to feed infants. However, recent studies suggest that exclusive breastfeeding rates in China remain low and are well below the recommended target. There has been evidence that a lack of awareness of, or exposure to, breastfeeding information is associated with poor...

This review summarizes breastfeeding rates in China reported during the decade 2007–2018, a decade on from our previous review published in 2007. Compared with the studies undertaken before 2007 in China, recent studies are more likely to report breastfeeding rates using longer periods of observation, enabling rates to be summarized to six and 12 m...

The rate of Caesarean section (CS) without medical indication has increased markedly worldwide in the past decades. This study reports the incidence of CS and identifies the determinants of elective and emergency CS as separate pregnancy outcomes in a cohort of Iranian women. Mothers (n = 700) of healthy, full-term infants were recruited from five...

Breastfeeding provides benefits to the infant and mother; however, the rates of breastfeeding, particularly exclusive breastfeeding, remain below optimal levels in many Asian countries. The aim of this study is to review the benefits of breastfeeding to mothers and infants and current rates of breastfeeding in Vietnam, and to evaluate the effective...

Good nutrition in the first “1000 days,” including breastfeeding and appropriate complementary foods, prepares for a healthy childhood and adult life, also contributes to the prevention of the double burden of malnutrition. Exclusive breastfeeding provides all required nutrients until an infant is around 6 months of age when complementary foods are...

A prospective cohort study was conducted in Shiraz in the south west of Iran to investigate breastfeeding from birth to six months of age. Mothers were recruited in a face-to-face interview within 48 h of giving birth in three public and two private hospitals (n = 700). They were then followed-up at 4, 12, 16, and 26 weeks postpartum in local Mater...

After delivery, mothers are encouraged to increase physical activity (PA) gradually to regulate body weight; however, data on PA in relation to postpartum weight retention remains scarce, particularly among Asian women. In a cohort of 1617 Vietnamese mothers, we investigated the prospective association between habitual PA exposures at 3-month postp...

Background and objectives: Gestational weight gain is known to impact maternal and child health outcomes. Energy intake and energy expenditure are major components of clinical nutrition in relation to weight gain during pregnancy. The study was to determine the association of physical activity and sitting time during pregnancy with gestational wei...

Infancy remains the most vulnerable period of human life for death, illness, and establishing a lifetime trajectory of growth and health. It is estimated that there are 5.3 million deaths under five years of age worldwide and approximately 800,000 lives could be saved by improving breastfeeding rates and duration. In Asia, an estimated 300,000–350,...

Background and objective: In longitudinal epidemiological studies consisting of a baseline stage and a follow-up stage, observations at the baseline stage may contain a countable proportion of negative responses. The time-to-event outcomes of those observations corresponding to negative responses at baseline can be denoted as zeros, which are excl...

Low back pain (LBP) is a universal public health problem for all age groups, related to the upright stance of humans. Postpartum LBP is more common and can lead to limitations to women’s daily activity. Knowledge about preventing postpartum LBP is limited, and the relationship between prenatal physical activity (PA) and LBP remains inconclusive. We...

Periconceptional folic acid (FA) supplementation is recommended to prevent neural tube defects (NTDs), but little information is known about its use in Vietnam. It is important that FA supplements start to be taken when planning a pregnancy and continued through the first trimester to prevent NTDs, as the neural tube closes in the first month of pr...

Objective To ascertain the relationship between prelacteal feeding, early formula feeding and adverse health outcomes, especially hospitalisation during the first year of life. Design Multicentre prospective cohort study. Setting Six hospitals across three cities in Vietnam. Patients A total of 2030 pregnant women were recruited at 24–28 weeks o...

Caesarean delivery rates are increasing in many Asian countries. This study investigated the effects of caesarean section on breastfeeding practices from delivery to twelve months postpartum. A prospective cohort study was conducted on 2030 pregnant women recruited from three cities in Vietnam during 2015–2017. The overall caesarean rate was 38.1%....

Objective: Inflammatory potential of diet, as measured by the dietary inflammatory index (DII), has consistently been associated with an increased risk for prostate cancer (PCa). However, data has largely been reported in populations with more proinflammatory dietary patterns, whereas there is high diversity in dietary pattern worldwide. The aim o...

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of folic acid supplement use and associated maternal characteristics in Vietnam. Methods: A multicentre cohort study to which logistics regression analyses were used to explore factors that determined whether folic acid was taken. Folic acid usage was assessed via face-to-face interviews with 2030 pregnant...

The publication of information is essential for expanding the benefits of public health throughout the Asia-Pacific region. All academics are familiar with the adage "Publish or perish," but for public health, this should be rewritten as "Publish or the population perishes." Publication and communication in public health continues to undergo rapid...

Physical activity is important for health, but little is known about associations between physical activity during pregnancy and breastfeeding. The aim of this study was to investigate any association between antenatal physical activity and breastfeeding duration. A prospective cohort of 2030 Vietnamese women, recruited between 24 and 28 week-gesta...

Background: Despite the known health benefits of physical activity, its impact on depression during pregnancy remains inconclusive, especially in Asian populations. A large prospective cohort study was conducted to ascertain the association between total and domain-specific physical activity during early pregnancy and antenatal depression in Chines...

Objectives: To assess associations between maternal depression and breastfeeding practices in mothers in the Maldives. Design: A prospective cohort study. The validated questionnaires contained information on demographics, breastfeeding initiation, breastfeeding duration, and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Logistic regression analyses...

To assess associations between maternal depression and breastfeeding practices in mothers in the Maldives. Design: A prospective cohort study. The validated questionnaires contained information on demographics, breastfeeding initiation, breastfeeding duration, and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Logistic regression analyses were used to a...

The objective of this study was to document the types of foods introduced to infants before six months of age and identify factors associated with their early introduction. A prospective cohort study of infant feeding for the first six months after birth was undertaken in the city of Chengdu, PR China. The participants were 845 mothers who delivere...

Background: Several diagnostic criteria for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) have been developed and used internationally. This study estimated the prevalence of GDM and pregnancy outcomes among Vietnamese women. Methods: A prospective cohort study of 2030 women was undertaken in Vietnam between 2015 and 2016. Baseline interview and a single-ste...

Background: The prevalence of maternal overweight and obesity is increasing in Asia. This study prospectively investigated the association between pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), gestational weight gain (GWG) and 12-month postpartum weight retention (PPWR) in a large cohort of Vietnamese mothers. Methods: Of the 2030 pregnant women recruite...

Background Fetal macrosomia, defined as birth weight equal or over 4000 g, is a major concern for both neonatal and maternal health. A rapid increasing trend in fetal macrosomia is observed in different regions of China. We aimed to examine the association between fetal macrosomia and risk of childhood obesity in Western China. Methods All macroso...

Good nutrition for infants, during the first 1000 days from conception, is one of the most important determinants of a healthy long life. Breastfeeding is the most important component of infant nutrition and reduces morbidity and mortality. With the changes to the climate currently occurring, issues of nutrition and food supply are only going to in...

Australian governments routinely monitor population household food insecurity (FI) using a single measure—‘running out of food at least once in the previous year’. To better inform public health planning, a synthesis of the determinants and how they influence and modify each other in relation to FI was conducted. The analysis used data from the Hea...

Background: Previous research has demonstrated the association between maternal dietary patterns and gestational diabetes (GDM), but evidence in Asian populations remains limited and inconsistent. This study investigated the association between dietary patterns during early pregnancy and the risk of GDM among pregnant women in Western China. Meth...

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and its complications are major concerns because of the negative effects of GDM during antenatal period and on the future health of mothers and infants. Breastfeeding is beneficial for GDM mothers and their babies to reduce future health risks. Little is known about the link between GDM and the durat...

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and its complications are major concerns due to the negative effects of GDM during antenatal period and on the future health of mothers and infants. Breastfeeding is beneficial for GDM mothers and their babies to reduce future health risks. Little is known about the link between GDM and the duration o...

Background: Few studies have examined the age-standardized incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) for comparison between populations. Information on delivery outcomes is also lacking for Chinese women with GDM. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine age-standardized GDM incidence and assess its association with maternal and neon...

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) can lead to adverse birth outcomes, but its effect on postnatal depression has not been thoroughly investigated, especially in Asian populations. Aim: To determine the prospective association between GDM and postnatal depressive symptoms in Western China. Methods: A prospective cohort study of 14...

Background: Coffee consumption has been suggested to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in high-income countries, but epidemiological evidence remains limited in resource-constrained settings. This study investigated the association between habitual coffee consumption and T2D risk among Vietnamese adults. Methods: A hospital-based case–contr...

Inadequate intake of nutrients during pregnancy has been associated with poor pregnancy and infant outcomes; however, evidence remains limited in low-resource settings in Asia. This paper assessed food, macronutrient, and micronutrient intakes among 1944 Vietnamese pregnant women. Dietary information was collected via an interviewer-administered fo...

Background: Correlated breastfeeding duration data are very common in infant feeding research using cohort designs. Intracluster correlation within the same clustering group is expected and needs to be taken into account in statistical analysis, otherwise, the corresponding statistical inferences may be subject to an increased type I error. Objec...

Background In‐hospital feeding practices have been shown negatively to affect breastfeeding exclusivity and duration. The purpose of this study was to report the prevalence and determinants of delayed breastfeeding, provision of traditional prelacteal foods, and use of infant formula in hospital. Methods Between June 2014 and March 2015, 700 women...

Background To investigate the rates of hospitalisation for anaemia and depression in women in the six-year period (3 years before and after birth). To compare hospital admissions for depression in women with and without anaemia. Methods This is a population-based cohort study. Women’s birth records (New South Wales (NSW) Perinatal Data Collection)...

Background and Objectives: The association between tea consumption and type 2 diabetes