Cartas al Editor

Objective. To study the association between the metabolic syndrome (MS) and the glycemic load (GL) of food intake among obese children and adolescents seen in consultation by the endocrinology team in a pediatric referral hospital in Lima, Peru. Population and Method. Cross-sectional study among obese children and adolescents (body mass index ≥ 95 percentile), 10-15 years old. The MS was classified according to criteria of the International Diabetes Federation. A 24 hour reminder was used, and the overall and per meal GL was calculated. The association between the GL tertiles (comparison with the lower tertile) and the MS was assessed using prevalence ratios adjusted by demographic outcome measures, family history, physical activity and total carbohydrate consumption in Poisson regression models with a robust variance. Results. Out of 273 obese children and adolescents, 52.4% were male and 94.9% did not engage in any physical activity. Glycemic load median value was 213 (164.8-287.4) and the daily calorie intake value was 2275 (1851-3024) kcal, consisting mainly of carbohydrates (62%). MS prevalence was 22.3%; the most prevalent components were abdominal obesity (81.7%) and low values of high density lipoprotein (HDL) (63.7%). Lastly, an association was observed between a high consumption of GL and the risk of developing MS (aRP 4.5; 95% CI: 1.3-15.3). Conclusions. There is an association between a high consumption of GL and the presence of MS among obese children and adolescents.

Introducción. En Perú, durante el servicio social en salud se han reportado problemas como condiciones laborales riesgosas, mortalidad asociada a accidentes de tránsito y déficit de cobertura de aseguramiento.Objetivo. Describir los problemas percibidos y experimentados por los profesionales de salud que realizan el Servicio Rural y Urbano Marginal de Salud (SERUMS) en Ancash, Perú, y evaluar su asociación con la práctica de los profesionales y la categoría del establecimiento donde se realiza el SERUMS.Materiales y métodos. Durante abril del 2015, se realizó un estudio transversal analítico con profesionales de salud que realizaban el SERUMS en establecimientos del Ministerio de Salud de Ancash. Se aplicaron encuestas para recolectar datos generales, características y problemas del SERUMS.Resultados. Se analizaron 364 encuestas. El 79.3% de los participantes fue de sexo femenino, la edad promedio fue de 27.4±5.0 años, 80.0% percibió carencia de insumos, 54.4% percibió carga laboral excesiva, y 14.7% sufrió algún accidente de tránsito durante el SERUMS. Ser médico y laborar en establecimientos I-1 fueron factores asociados a haber sufrido accidentes de tránsito y otros imprevistos.Conclusiones. Los encuestados reportan carga laboral excesiva, carencia de insumos y accidentes. Los accidentes son más frecuentes en médicos y en establecimientos de categoría I-1.

Abstract INTRODUCTION: In order to reduce salt consumption in Spanish speaking countries it is necessary to know the level of salt knowledge in the population. However, there are no tools in Spanish to measure salt knowledge, but the only valid tool of measurement is the 'Salt Knowledge Questionnaire' (SKQ) developed in Australia, in English. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A validation study was conducted in three phases: (Phase1) Translation of the original Australian version into Spanish; (Phase2) Cultural adaptation based on a Spanish-speaking population such as Peru and following criteria used in the development of the original questionnaire which was evaluated by a panel of experts; (Phase3) Construct validity by comparing the scores of three groups (experts, medical students and non-experts) and reliability by performing a test retest. RESULTS: The translation of the SKQ into Spanish maintained a semantic equivalence with the original questionnaire and a panel of experts accepted the cultural adaptation. The SKQ enables discrimination between those who know and those who do not because differences of scores were found between the group of experts, students and non-experts (P<.001). A good overall internal consistency of the instrument was found (KR20=0.69) and a good overall intraclass correlation (0.79) and no test variations in test-retest (P>.05). CONCLUSIONS: The SKQ questionnaire in Spanish is valid, reliable and is a suitable first tool to measure knowledge about salt in the Spanish language. It is considered possible to adapt it culturally to the Spanish-speaking country that wishes to use it.

Cartas al Editor

Background Latin America is undergoing a human resource crisis in health care in terms of labor shortage, misdistribution and poor orientation to primary care. Workforce data are needed to inform the planning of long-term strategies to address this problem. This study aimed to evaluate the academic and motivational profile, as well as the professional expectations, of Latin American medical students. Results We conducted an observational, cross-sectional, multi-country study evaluating medical students from 11 Spanish-speaking countries in 2011–2012. Motivations to study medicine, migration intentions, intent to enter postgraduate programs, and perceptions regarding primary care were evaluated via a self-administered questionnaire. Outcomes were measured with pilot-tested questions and previously validated scales. A total of 11,072 valid surveys from 63 medical schools were gathered and analyzed. Conclusions This study describes the profile and expectations of the future workforce being trained in Latin America. The obtained information will be useful for governments and universities in planning strategies to improve their current state of affairs regarding human resources for health care professions.