PURPOSE: To study the effect of AED exposure on head circumference in the newborn. METHODS: Data on all Swedish singletons births between 1995 and 2005, over 900,000 births, were obtained from the Swedish Medical Birth Registry. The effects of AEDs on birth-weight-adjusted mean head circumference (bw-adj-HC) were estimated by comparison ...

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To compare the incidence of preterm birth and low birth weight infants in young and older primiparous adolescents versus young adults. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Maternity hospital in Vitória, ES, Brazil. PARTICIPANTS: During a 5-year period, young primiparous women who delivered a singleton liveborn infant over 22 weeks ...

The aim of this study is to clarify the relation among developmental outcome, nutritional state during the neonatal period, maturational electroencephalographic changes. Thirteen extremely low birth weight infants who completed 6- or 9-year follow-up were a subject of this study. Undernutrition was defined as enteral feeding below 100mL/kg/day at 3 ...

BACKGROUND: Prenatal multiple micronutrient (MMN) or balanced energy and protein supplementation has a limited effect on birth size of the offspring. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to determine whether a prenatal MMN-fortified food supplement (FFS) improves anthropometric measures at birth compared with supplementation with an MMN pill alone. DESIGN: We conducted ...

This article has been withdrawn at the request of the editor. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy.

OBJECTIVES: Prematurity is a known risk factor for hypoglycaemia, hyperglycemia, neonatal sepsis and other common neonatal complications, possibly associated with glucoregolatory hormone (insulin and glucagon) alterations. Insulin and glucagon levels change also in relation to gender, mode of delivery and postnatal clinical severity. Because of the lack of reference range ...

Life-course epidemiologic studies frequently obtain data on perinatal and childhood factors through adult self-report. Data from a prospective US birth cohort of 262 women, born between 1959 and 1963 (average age at adult follow-up, 41.8 years), were used to assess the validity of self-reported birth weight category by sociodemographic characteristics. ...

PURPOSE: To evaluate normal blood flow velocity and Doppler indices of the ophthalmic arteries from birth to hospital discharge of inborn infants at birth weights between 500 and 1500 g and gestational age <or=32 weeks. METHODS: A longitudinal prospective study with Doppler ultrasound was conducted in both eyes at 24 ...

We sought to examine the association between narrowly defined subsets of maternal ethnicity and birth outcomes. We analyzed 1995-2003 New York City birth certificates linked to hospital discharge data for 949,210 singleton births to examine the multivariable associations between maternal ethnicity and preterm birth, subsets of spontaneous and medically indicated ...

Maternal hemoglobin concentration is inversely related to newborn size presumably through plasma volume constriction. We sought to determine whether birth weight would show an inverse relationship to hemoglobin concentration in a group of infants whose mothers had preeclampsia, where plasma volume constriction is common. Electronic and paper chart review identified ...

To determine modifiable and nonmodifiable risk factors for term large for gestational age (T-LGA) births in Northern and Central Alberta and their public health importance, a retrospective cohort study (n = 115,198) of singleton live births (1996-2003) was conducted using maternal and newborn data from a provincial perinatal database. After ...

Perinatal racial disparities remain an elusive problem in the United States. African American women experience the highest rate of low-birth-weight deliveries. Understanding the factors contributing to infant birth weight is crucial to unraveling existing perinatal racial disparities. The aim of this study was to broaden knowledge of predictors of infant ...

The cross-sectional hospital based study was undertaken to provide an efficient and useful cut off point of maternal early third trimester weight, for low birth weight (LBW), based on receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve among Bengalee mothers of Kolkata, India. A total of 233 mother-baby pairs were included in the ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and prematurity are associated with a low nephron endowment. It can therefore be expected that neonates who are born premature and/or after IUGR have a lower GFR. Measurement of GFR in neonates is difficult, but the clearance of amikacin has been proven to ...

OBJECTIVE: To develop a tool for predicting survival to term in babies born more than 8 weeks early using only information available at or before birth. DESIGN: 1456 non-malformed very preterm babies of 22-31 weeks' gestation born in 2000-3 in the north of England and 3382 births of 23-31 weeks ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine and describe the patterns of low birth weight in newborns of a cohort of mothers given intermittent presumptive treatment (IPT) for malaria prevention in a malaria endemic area of Kenya. DESIGN: A longitudinal prospective cohort study. SETTING: Got Agulu Health Centre in Usigu Division, Bondo District, Nyanza ...

BACKGROUND: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a complex genetic disorder with errors in genomic imprinting, generally due to a paternal deletion of chromosome 15q11-q13 region. Maternal disomy 15 (both 15s from the mother) is the second most common form of PWS resulting from a trisomic zygote followed by trisomy rescue in ...

During the 3-month bombing of Serbia (March 24-June 9, 1999), the entire population, including pregnant females as an especially vulnerable group, was exposed to a high degree of stress. This is the first study to explore the effects of prenatal stress during the 1999 bombing of Belgrade on the main ...

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between maternal low birth weight (LBW) and adverse perinatal outcomes and to discriminate between confounders and mediating factors of these associations in a population-based birth cohort of Southern Brazil. METHODS: Data from 794 female members of the 1982 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study known to have ...

BACKGROUND: Very-low-birth-weight (VLBW, <1,500 g) infants have compromised bone mass accrual during childhood, but it is unclear whether this results in subnormal peak bone mass and increased risk of impaired skeletal health in adulthood. We hypothesized that VLBW is associated with reduced bone mineral density (BMD) in adulthood. METHODS AND ...

OBJECTIVE: We studied 123 neonates with atresias of the gastrointestinal tract at different levels to assess the role of amniotic fluid in the growth and development of the gastrointestinal tract. Our hypothesis was that significant differences in birth weight between groups otherwise comparable would suggest an intrauterine nutritive role for ...

BACKGROUND: Mother's birth order is inversely associated with offspring birth weight despite positively associated with the mother's own birth weight. The causes behind this relation have not been elucidated. AIMS: To investigate the relation between mother's birth order and birth weight of her offspring, with emphasis on possible mechanisms behind ...

The goal was to identify, among extremely low birth weight (<or=1000 g) live births, the proportion of infants who were unimpaired at 18 to 22 months of corrected age. Unimpaired outcome was defined as Bayley Scales of Infant Development II scores of >or=85, normal neurologic examination findings, and normal vision, ...

We examine the extent to which infant health production functions are sensitive to model specification and measurement error. We focus on the importance of typically unobserved but theoretically important variables (typically unobserved variables, TUVs), other non-standard covariates (NSCs), input reporting, and characterization of infant health. The TUVs represent wantedness, taste ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of preterm birth, the time of birth, and birth hospital level and district on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). STUDY DESIGN: This national study included all very low birth weight infants (VLBWIs; birth weight <or= 1500 g or gestational age ...

OBJECTIVE: To assess maternal-fetal exposure to phthalates and investigate whether in utero phthalate exposure is associated with low birth weight (LBW). STUDY DESIGN: A total of 201 newborn-mother pairs (88 LBW cases and 113 controls) residing in Shanghai were enrolled in this nested case-control study during 2005-2006. Maternal blood, cord ...

BACKGROUND: The use of HAART during pregnancy is now standard care to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission in developed countries. There is controversy about its impact on low birth weight. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of antiretroviral therapy during the pregnancy on birth weight, length and head circumference. METHODS: The study ...

Birth weight is known to be a direct indicator of perinatal mortality and a clear predictor of adult pathologies too. It has been correlated with several causes of mortality in adulthood: low birth weight with diabetes, nephropathy and cardiovascular diseases and high birth weight with autoimmune diseases and cancer. In ...

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine the associations between aboriginality, age, demographic and socioeconomic factors of the mother and the risk of low birth weight (LBW) in mountain townships of Taiwan. METHODS: We analyzed the LBW proportion of single live babies born to 2032 first-time mothers between 2004 and 2005. ...

The incidence of critical isthmic coarctation among preterm infants with a birth weight less than 750 g is expected to be fewer than 1:2,000,000 live births. A male twin was born after 26 weeks of gestation with a birth weight of 545 g. On day 9 of his life, he ...

OBJECTIVES: To derive and validate a simple formula for birth weight based on symphysis-fundal height (SFH) measurement during labour, and to determine a useful SFH cut-off value for prediction of birth weight > or = 4000 g. METHODS: In a derivation study, SFH was measured in women at term in ...

This study presents a report of serial assessment of ventricular myocardial performance index (Tei index) in very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants. One hundred ninety-five VLBW infants, weighing <1,500 g, who were admitted to the neonatal intensive care units at Kakogawa Municipal Hospital between September 2000 and August 2004. Left ventricular (LV) and ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of anaemia and maternal and infant factors associated with Hb values in infants at 6 months of age in rural Bangladesh. DESIGN: Infants (born to mothers supplemented with Fe-folic acid from mid-pregnancy) were visited at birth and 6 months of age. Mothers' anthropometric status, and ...

OBJECTIVE: Poor growth has been described in infants with a single ventricle; however, little is known regarding its effect on surgical outcomes. We sought to assess the effect of nutritional status at the time of the bidirectional Glenn procedure on short-term outcomes. METHODS: We performed a retrospective case series of ...

OBJECTIVE: This study was to evaluate the impact of mode of delivery and timing of caesarean section in extremely preterm births, below 28 weeks of gestation, on long-term survival and psychomotor outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: This was a single-centre retrospective cohort study of 84 cases of extremely low birth weight infants ...

Currently, there is no standardized approach to the calculation of growth velocity (GV; g kg (-1) day(-1)) in hospitalized very low birth weight (VLBW) infants. Thus, differing methods are used to estimate GV, resulting in different medical centers and studies reporting growth results that are difficult to compare. The objective ...

A higher prevalence of infant low birth weight (<2500 g) has been observed among more acculturated mothers of Mexican descent living in the U.S. when compared to their less acculturated counterparts. Tests of the "acculturation hypothesis" have established that disparities in certain risks for low birth weight exist between subgroups ...

BACKGROUND: Birth weight has been found to predict cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Pulse wave velocity (PWV), a marker of arterial stiffness, has been associated with cardiovascular risk factors. An association between birth weight and blood pressure (BP) has previously been reported. In this study, the association of birth weight with ...

AIM: The aim was to assess the impact of nutritional status and environmental exposures on infant thymic development in the rural Matlab region of Bangladesh. METHODS: In a cohort of N(max) 2094 infants born during a randomized study of combined interventions to improve maternal and infant health, thymic volume (thymic ...

We sought to determine if there has been any change in the proportion of mothers with preeclampsia in a sample of very low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants over time. We performed a retrospective cohort study. Study sample included infants with birth weights 1500 g or less cared for from July 1994 to ...

PURPOSE: To assess the relationship of birth weight, birth length, and head circumference as proxy markers of intrauterine growth, cup/disc ratio, and other optic disc parameters measured using optical coherence tomography (OCT). DESIGN: Population-based cross sectional analysis. PARTICIPANTS: The Sydney Childhood Eye Study examined 2353 primarily 12-year-old children from 21 ...

The purpose of our study was to evaluate perinatal and neonatal outcomes in triplet gestations in relation to placental chorionicity. We hypothesized that triplets containing a monochorionic pair (dichorionic triamniotic) would have increased morbidity compared with triplets without a monochorionic pair (trichorionic triamniotic). We retrospectively analyzed all triplet sets > ...

BACKGROUND: Although the Spitz classification is the most widely used prognostic classification for esophageal atresia and/or tracheoesophageal fistula (EA), its discrimination ability remains unclear. We sought to develop a more accurate prognostic classification for EA. METHODS: The records of 121 consecutive infants with EA (1980-2005) were reviewed. The independent variables ...

Small size at birth continues to be a problem worldwide and many factors, including reduced folate intake and Pb exposure, are associated with it. However, single factors rarely explain the variability in birth weight, suggesting a need for more complex explanatory models. We investigated environment-gene interactions to understand whether folate ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine if missing paternal information in birth certificates is associated with an increased risk of low birth weight (LBW). METHODS: This was a retrospective single cohort analysis including all live births at our institution between April 1999 and May 2002. We created two study groups, one with father's ...

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to investigate the outcome of neonates with idiopathic polyhydramnios in the first year after birth. METHODS: All patients diagnosed in the Erasmus Medical Centre Rotterdam and the University Medical Centre Utrecht between January 2000 and April 2005 with idiopathic polyhydramnios were studied. The outcome variables included ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine the risk that newborn infants of East Asian and South Asian ancestry may be misclassified as small for gestational age (SGA). METHODS: We performed a single-centre, cross-sectional study of a cohort of liveborn infants born to women who had been born in Canada (n = 2362), East ...

Increased levels of oestrogen and progesterone during pregnancy may lead to periodontal disease. The anaerobic Gram-negative bacteria classified as the "red complex" (Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia and Treponema denticola) are frequently associated with periodontal disease. Periodontopathogens produce toxins and enzymes that can enter the bloodstream and cross the placenta to ...

Modern intensive care techniques have led to higher survival rates of extremely low birth weight infants (ELBW, birth weight <1,000 g). Previous studies have suggested a link between abnormal birth parameters and subsequent endocrine disturbances, but a possible impact on bone maturation during childhood has not been studied. ELBW children ...

Our primary purpose was to assess sex-specific fetal growth reduction in newborns exposed prenatally to fine particulate matter. Only women 18-35 years of age, who claimed to be non-smokers, with singleton pregnancies, without illicit drug use and HIV infection, free from chronic diseases were eligible for the study. A total ...