Cristian Ricci

North-West University | NWU · Africa Unit for Transdisciplinary Health Research

Objective This study assessed the association between baseline sociodemographic variables, body composition and 4-year changes in the intake of food groups, including sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) among children, after implementation of the health promotion levy. Design Prospective cohort study Setting 10 schools in North West Province, South...

This secondary analysis of the Eggcel‐growth study investigated the effect of daily egg intake for 6 months in infants aged 6–9 months on environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) biomarkers and the association of EED markers with growth faltering. A randomised controlled trial was conducted in Jouberton, South Africa, among 500 infants randomly assi...

Purpose The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between socio-economic inequalities and fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events. Methods A systematic review of recently published cohort studies and a meta-analysis of relative risk (RR) of low compared with high socio-economic status (SES) in relation to cardiovascular incide...

Purpose The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between socioeconomic inequalities and fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events. Methods A systematic review of recently published cohort studies and a meta-analysis of relative risk (RR) of low compared with high socioeconomic status (SES) in relation to cardiovascular incidence...

We investigated the incidence and duration of morbidity symptoms among infants aged 6 to 9 months from a low socioeconomic community receiving one egg daily for 6 months. This was a secondary outcome of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of 500 infants conducted in Jouberton, South Africa. The primary outcome was linear growth. Morbidity data were...

We sought to create an Italian version of Mishel's Uncertainty in Illness Scale, dedicated to people undergoing conservative rehabilitation for urinary incontinence, for studying uncertainty as a determinant of therapeutic adherence. Urinary incontinence has a high prevalence worldwide, ranging from 25% to 45%. Incontinence is often treatable with...

Several studies have linked adverse health effects to the consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) according to the NOVA classification. However, whether the consumption of UPF is the actual causal factor for such health outcomes is still unknown. Indeed, different groups of UPF examined in the same epidemiologic study often show markedly differe...

Iron absorption from an iron-fortified follow-up formula with and without the addition of a synbiotic or a human-identical milk oligosaccharide: a randomized cross-over stable isotope study in young Thai children, The Journal of Nutrition, https://doi.

Background Cognitive impairment is projected to affect a preponderant proportion of the aging population. Lifelong dietary habits have been hypothesized to play a role in preventing cognitive decline. Among the most studied dietary components, fish consumptionhas been extensively studied for its potential effects on the human brain. Aims To perfor...

Introduction The Theory of Mind (ToM) assessment is becoming essential to evaluate the response to a social cognition intervention and to monitor the progression of social abilities impairment in atypical conditions. In the Italian setting, the Yoni task has been recently validated in its short version (the Yoni-48 task) to evaluate ToM in the clin...

Background Mortality data and comparative risk assessments from sub-Saharan Africa are limited. There is an urgent need for high quality population health surveys to be conducted, to improve the national health surveillance system. Our aim was to perform a comparative risk assesment and report on the mortality status and cause of death data of part...

Background: Basophil activation test (BAT) or the mast cell activation test (MAT) are two in vitro tests that are currently being studied in food allergy as diagnostic tools as an alternative to oral food challenges (OFCs). We conducted a meta-analysis on BAT and MAT assessing their specificity and sensitivity in diagnosing peanut allergy. Methods:...

Basophil activation test (BAT) or the mast cell activation test (MAT) are two in vitro tests that are currently being studied in food allergy as diagnostic tools as an alternative to oral food challenges (OFCs). We conducted a meta‐analysis on BAT and MAT, assessing their specificity and sensitivity in diagnosing peanut allergy. Six databases were...

Purpose Healthy sleep is essential for the physical, cognitive, and social development of children. Several studies have reported the increase in digital media use in preschool children and its association with impaired sleep. However, there is relatively little evidence on the effects of book reading as a potentially safe alternative. The objectiv...

Objective:To assess the effect of daily egg consumption for six months on linear growth (primary outcome), weight-for-age, weight-for-length, mid-upper arm circumference-for-age, and head circumference-for-age Z-scores, gross motor milestones development, anaemia, and iron status (secondary outcomes) in a low socioeconomic community. Participants/...

The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) is updating the Guidelines on Food Allergy Diagnosis. We aimed to undertake a systematic review of the literature with meta‐analyses to assess the accuracy of diagnostic tests for IgE‐mediated food allergy. We searched three databases (Cochrane CENTRAL (Trials), MEDLINE (OVID) and Emba...

Epidemiological studies have shown that eating fish significantly reduces cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence and mortality. However, more focused meta-analyses based on the most recent results from prospective cohort studies are needed. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to update the association between fish intake and cardiovascula...

Objective To conduct a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of the available literature on the anthropometric nutritional status of South African infants and children, 0–18 years old and to report on trends of changes in nutritional status over the period 1997–2022. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Setting Review of the av...

Background Identifying patients at risk of severe allergic reactions and/or low threshold of reactivity is very important, particularly for staple foods like egg. Methods One hundred and fifty children underwent double‐blind placebo‐controlled food challenge (DBPCFC) to baked egg (BE), skin prick testing and blood collection for serology and basop...

Citation: Pieters, M.; Kruger, I.M.; Kruger, H.S.; Breet, Y.; Moss, S.J.; van Oort, A.; Bester, P.; Ricci, C. Strategies Abstract: When the Cox model is applied, some recommendations about the choice of the time metric and the model's structure are often disregarded along with the proportionality of risk assumption. Moreover, most of the published...

Background: The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology’s (EAACI) is updating the Guidelines on Food Allergy Diagnosis. We aimed to undertake a systematic review of the literature with meta-analyses to assess the accuracy of diagnostic tests for IgE-mediated food allergy. Methods : We searched three databases (Cochrane CENTRAL (Trials),...

Background Double‐blind placebo‐controlled food challenges (DBPCFC) are the gold‐standard to diagnose food allergy. However, they can cause allergic reactions of unpredictable severity. We assessed accuracy of current and new diagnostic tests compared to DBPCFC to baked egg (BE) and to lightly cooked egg (LCE). Methods Children aged 6 months to 15...

Background: Observational studies suggest a link between n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake, n-3 PUFA status, and depression in adults, but studies in adolescents are scarce. This study aimed to determine associations of n-3 PUFA status and intake with paediatric major depressive disorder (pMDD) in Swiss adolescents. Methods: We conduc...

Aims: The aim of the study was to investigate the complex mediation analysis between physical inactivity and overweight in relation to mortality. Methods: The study is based on public data collected by the Global Health Observatory (GHO) of the World Health Organisation. Results: We showed that the median early mortality attributable to NCDs during...

This study aimed to investigate the association between maternal postpartum depressive symptoms, household demographic, socioeconomic, and infant characteristics with infant physical growth, and how these factors correlate to determine latent factors. This study was based on the baseline data of a 6-month randomised controlled trial aimed at provid...

Perinatal depression can negatively affect the health of the mother and her offspring. N-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) may play a role in the aetiology of depression. Therefore, we investigated the association of n-3 PUFA status during early pregnancy with perinatal depression among women living in urban Johannesburg, South Africa. For this...

The original aim was to determine the effect of egg consumption on infant growth in a low socioeconomic community in South Africa in a randomized controlled trial. Enrolment was, however, prematurely stopped due to COVID-19 lockdown regulations. The resultant small sample (egg group n = 70; control group n = 85) was followed up to assess the feasib...

Background Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are increasing at an alarming rate among the South African population. This study aimed to determine the prognostic value of modifiable CVD risk factors for fatal and non-fatal events to inform cardiovascular health promotion practices in the South African public health system. Methods Data was collected f...

Theory of Mind (ToM), a high-order human social cognition skill, is relevant for mental health and wellbeing and frequently impaired in many clinical conditions. To detect ToM difficulties, validated and standardized measures need to be adopted in clinical practice. The Yoni task provides a comprehensive evaluation of first-order, second-order, aff...

Study Objectives The objective of the study was to investigate the association of sleep quality, media use and book reading on internalizing, externalizing and prosocial behavior in early childhood. Methods In this cross-sectional study we investigated a data set consisting of three consecutive yearly waves of the prospective Ulm SPATZ Health Stud...

Objective The primary aim of this study was to portray the level of spread and the dynamic of diffusion of mobile phone technology in sub-Saharan Africa during the last two decades. The secondary aim was to investigate factors related to the use of mobile phone technology in sub-Saharan Africa and to derive profiles of the most suitable areas to co...

Perinatal (antenatal and postpartum) depression is increasingly becoming a global public health problem. Studies have shown that the presence of depression during the perinatal period impact on a mother’s ability to adequately provide nutritional care for herself and her infants and young children. This may thus negatively influence the nutritional...

Background: Numerous studies suggest intensive and prolonged exercise is a risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF); many other studies have shown that regular exercise can protect against AF in the general population. Meta-analyses of these studies have produced conflicting results. Thus, we performed a systematic review of meta-analyses to unders...

Although animal-source foods are suitable complementary food for child growth in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), their efficacy is still under discussion. This systematic review and meta-analysis was therefore done to investigate the suitability of animal-source foods intake on child physical growth in LMICs. A systematic literature searc...

Research data derived from observational studies are accumulating quickly in the field of allergy and immunology and a large amount of observational studies are published every year. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the adherence to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist by papers pub...

Background Urinary incontinence is one of the most clinically relevant side effects in the treatment of prostate cancer patients. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to analyze the specific exercise effects of supervised versus unsupervised pelvic floor muscle exercise (PFME) and exercise volume on urinary incontinence status af...

Borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) is a multifactorial condition in which both genetic and environmental factors are likely to contribute to the clinical outcome. Abnormal cortical development and lower IQ scores were shown to be correlated in BIF children, but the genetic components of this condition and their possible connection with intel...

Network meta‐analyses (NMAs) simultaneously estimate the effects of multiple possible treatment options for a given clinical presentation. For allergists to benefit optimally from NMAs, they must understand the process and be able to interpret the results. Through a worked example published in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, we summarize how to i...

Some vulnerable population groups at risk for tuberculosis (TB) may have a low n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) status. Our research previously showed that adjunct n-3 LCPUFA in TB are beneficial in n-3 PUFA sufficient C3HeB/FeJ mice. Here we investigated the effect of adjunct n-3 LCPUFA supplementation to TB-mice with a low, compared to a suf...

We show a description of pregnancy cohorts in the European region. Our investigation identified 66 pregnancy cohorts, mostly hosted in Western Central Europe. Among these 66 cohorts, 24 began recruitment before the year 2000, while six cohorts are still enrolling. The most common topics were lifestyle, environment and nutrition with allergies and n...

The effect of coffee and cocoa on oxidative damage to macromolecules has been investigated in several studies, often with controversial results. This study aimed to investigate the effect of one-month consumption of different doses of coffee or cocoa-based products containing coffee on markers of DNA damage and lipid peroxidation in young healthy v...

Introduction The relation of electronic media use with sleep quality among preschoolers is a matter of ongoing debate. Longitudinal data are scarce and do not account for sleeping schedules. Methods We used the German Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire to measure parent-reported child’s sleep quality; its score is computed by the sum of 34 item...

PurposeCoffee is an important source of bioactive compounds, including caffeine, trigonelline, and phenolic compounds. Several studies have highlighted the preventive effects of coffee consumption on major cardiometabolic (CM) diseases, but the impact of different coffee dosages on markers of CM risk in a real-life setting has not been fully unders...

Research data derived from observational studies are accumulating quickly in the field of allergy and immunology and a large amount of observational studies are published every year. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the adherence to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist by papers pub...

Background and aims Obesity is associated with an increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in Africa, but some obese individuals maintain cardiometabolic health. The aims were to track metabolically healthy overweight or obesity (MHO) over 10 years in African adults and to identify factors associated with a transition to metabolically unhea...

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest under-5 mortality (U5M) rates globally. Emerging evidence revealed that exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) rates are significantly associated with a decreased risk for child mortality. Our aim with this study is to fill the gap of knowledge regarding the economic impact of EBF practices...

Abstract: Children’s energy requirements may vary during school and summer camp days. To evaluate energy balance during these two periods, seventy-eight children (45% females, 8–10 years) living in Parma, Italy, were enrolled in this observational study. Participants completed a 3-day food diary and wore an activity tracker for three consecutive da...

Background While fibrinogen is a known cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk marker, its quantitative input to mortality risk is a topic of debate. Methods We investigated the contribution of fibrinogen, among that of other biomarkers, to prevalent CVD and incident CVD mortality in 4487 participants of the US National Health and Nutrition Examination S...

Background High levels of digital media use with screen-based devices has been found to threaten several aspects of child and adolescent health. However, the rapid change in digital media use behavior in our society over the past decade has rendered much of the existing evidence outdated. Materials and methods The present work reports data ascerta...

The prospective Ulm-SPATZ study was investigated to assess the role of child sleeping quality between 4 to 6 years of age in affecting a partner's sleeping and relationship satisfaction within a couple. The study was conducted using a triadic approach in which the child was included in the Actor-Partner-Interdependence Model (APIM). Sleeping qualit...

2464 Short title: Mortality patterns in children with SAM Abstract: Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is associated with a complex pattern of various clinical conditions. We investigated how risk factors cluster in children with SAM, the relationship between clusters of risk factors and mortality as well as length of stay in children with SAM. A pros...

Background The potential role of adjunctive anti-inflammatory therapy to enhance tuberculosis (TB) treatment has recently received increasing interest. There is, therefore, a need to broadly examine current host-directed therapies (HDTs) that could accelerate treatment response and improve TB outcomes. Methods This systematic review and meta-analy...

The key role of diet in both human health and environmental sustainability is well known. However, there is a lack of studies investigating the environmental impact of children’s dietary behavior. The aim of this observational study was to investigate the dietary environmental impact in a sample of primary school children living in Parma (Italy, n...

Introduction: in hospitals across Africa, the case fatality rates of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) have remained consistently high (over 20%), despite the existence of the WHO treatment guideline. This has been attributed to inconsistencies in the implementation of the WHO treatment guidelines in sub-Saharan African countries. In spite of this a...

Sub-Saharan Africa has lower breastfeeding rates compared to other low- and middle-income countries, and globally holds the highest under-five mortality rates. The aims of this study were to estimate mortality risk for inappropriate breastfeeding, prevalence of breastfeeding, population attributable fraction, and the economic impact of breastfeedin...

Background: Complicated severe acute malnutrition (SAM) poses an enormous threat to the survival of children. However, knowledge of the relationship between admission characteristics and recovery, weight gain and the risk of mortality in children with complicated SAM is limited in Ghana, especially those <6 months old. This study aimed at investiga...

Background: Iron deficiency may impair adaptive immunity and is common among African infants at time of vaccination. Whether iron deficiency impairs vaccine response and whether iron supplementation improves humoral vaccine response is uncertain. Methods: We performed two studies in southern coastal Kenya. In a birth cohort study, we followed infan...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most common chronic condition and the highest cause of mortality in the US. The aim of the present work was to investigate diet and sedentary behaviour in relation to mortality in US CVD survivors. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys conducted between 1999 and 2014 linked to the US mortality reg...

Caenorhabditis elegans presents functioning, biologically relevant phenotypes and is frequently used as a bioindicator of toxicity. However, most C. elegans in vivo effect-assessment methods are laborious and time consuming. Therefore, we developed a novel method to measure the oxygen consumption rate of C. elegans as a sublethal endpoint of toxici...