PURPOSE: We sought to examine the association between birthweight in offspring and mortality in their parents. Distinguishing between risks of outcomes in mothers from fathers potentially provides clues as to the relative roles of genetic versus nongenetic mechanisms underlying these associations. METHODS: We studied total and cause-specific mortality in a ...

Systematic review and meta-analysis of four randomised controlled trials suggest that prophylactic fluconazole reduces the incidence of invasive fungal infection in very low birthweight infants. Further trials are needed to provide more precise estimates of effect size, and to assess the effect on mortality, neurodevelopment and the emergence of antifungal ...

In a UK-wide survey, 28% of neonatal units reported using systemic or topical/oral antifungal prophylaxis for very low birthweight infants. Systemic prophylaxis is targeted to extremely preterm infants with additional risk factors for invasive fungal infection. Currently, there seems to be sufficient variation in practice to undertake randomised trials of ...

Information on gestational age for public health research and surveillance in the US is usually obtained from vital records and is primarily based on the first day of the woman's last menstrual period (LMP). However, using LMP as a marker of conception is subject to a variety of errors and ...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare neonatal outcomes in very-low-birthweight infants who were exposed to antenatal betamethasone vs dexamethasone. STUDY DESIGN: We reviewed all inborn very-low-birthweight infants from January 1997 through February 2006. Maternal medical records were reviewed to determine the type of antenatal steroids that each ...

Studies based on data from the US have reported that the birthweight distribution at gestational age 28-31 weeks is bimodal with a second peak occurring at approximately 3300 g, suggesting that there is misclassification of term infants. In these studies, gestational ages were estimated from the date of the last ...

BACKGROUND: Micronutrient deficiencies during pregnancy are associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, including reduced birthweight. Low birthweight is associated with increased risk of infant mortality and growth failure. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of prenatal supplementation with UNIMMAP (United Nations International Multiple Micronutrient Preparation) compared with iron/folic acid on average birthweight ...

The aim of this case-control study was to determine the risk factors for low birthweight in a farming region in South Africa, with particular attention to maternal alcohol use and smoking, both independently and in combination. Data collection was via structured postpartum interviews and review of antenatal and delivery records. ...

OBJECTIVES: Birthweight distributions and proportions of low birthweight (LBW) are commonly used to assess the health of populations. However, the "population" is difficult to define due to differences by race, socioeconomic status, age distribution, and cultural identity. This study analyzes birth outcomes in two Asian subgroups to examine variation within ...

Postnatal growth failure in the extremely low birthweight infant is a morbidity that needs vigorous attention. The transition from intrauterine to the extrauterine environment should occur with minimal disruption in nutritional support. Early aggressive parenteral and enteral nutrition strategies may lead to reducing cumulative deficits of energy and protein that ...

AIM: Recently, Japan has witnessed an increase in the number of low-birthweight (LBW) infants. LBW children face a variety of social and medical risk factors. Thus, besides reducing infant mortality, preventing LBW would have many other important health benefits. Emotional status during pregnancy is stated as one of the important ...

BACKGROUND: Evidence from large studies suggests that low birthweight is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and glucose metabolism disorders in adulthood, but the physiological mechanisms involved in intrauterine growth conditioning low birthweight are not completely understood. The objectives of this study were to determine whether placental immaturity (PI), defined ...

The objective of this study was to investigate whether maternal socio-economic status during childhood and at the time of pregnancy each have unique associations with infant birthweight when biological determinants of birthweight are controlled. The data are from a three-generation study which contains information on the mothers and grandmothers of ...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to analyse if low birthweight is a valuable indicator of child health in Greenland. STUDY DESIGN: A case study focusing on "low birthweight as an indicator in Greenland" with 3 units and 5 subunits of analyses. METHODS: Literature reviews, interviews with health care ...

OBJECTIVE: There is a high prevalence of depression in south Asian women. We aimed to examine the association between antenatal depression and low birthweight (LBW) in infants in a rural community in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. METHOD: A total of 143 physically healthy mothers with ICD-10 depression in the third trimester of ...

The purpose of this study is to determine if outcomes for very-low-birthweight (VLBW) neonates differ in multiple versus singleton gestations. This is a retrospective cohort study of neonates weighing less than 1500 g admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit from 1993 to 2004. Outcome variables were necrotizing enterocolitis, death, ...

AIMS: Previously the association between oral ergotamine treatment during pregnancy and gestational age at delivery, birthweight, the rate of preterm birth and low birthweight has not been studied. METHODS: Newborn infants without congenital abnormalities born to mothers with or without ergotamine treatment during pregnancy were evaluated in the population-based data ...

The purpose of this study was to establish phosphate norms for the first 4 weeks of life for neonates with birthweight (BW) 500 to 1500 g. The study group included 52 consecutively born neonates: group A (n = 24; BW 500 to 1000 g), and group B (n = 28; ...

AIM: To describe cardiac surgery, survival and outcomes for low-birthweight (< or = 2500 g) infants undergoing surgery for congenital heart disease. METHODS: Using data from a prospectively collected population-based database of admissions to neonatal intensive care units in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, we identified all ...

Adiponectin is an insulin-sensitizing protein that circulates in oligomeric complexes, including trimers, hexamers and high-molecular-weight (HMW) multimers. In pregnant women, conflicting associations have been reported between maternal serum levels of total adiponectin (i.e. reflecting all isoforms) and infant birthweight. As the HMW complex has recently been proposed as the primary ...

Dexamethasone therapy is used in the treatment of chronic lung disease in very low birthweight (VLBW) neonates. However, several significant side effects have been observed in these patients, including an increased incidence of infection. We initiated a pilot study to examine the in vitro function of neutrophils from dexamethasone-treated VLBW ...

BACKGROUND: Feeding of own mother's milk to preterm very low-birthweight infants often results in suboptimal weight gain in these infants for whom energy requirements are high but in whom volume tolerance is limited. Therefore the purpose of the present paper was to investigate the effect of selective hindmilk feeding on ...

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to critically examine potential artifacts and biases underlying the use of 'customised' standards of birthweight for gestational age (GA). DESIGN: Population-based cohort study. SETTING: Sweden. POPULATION: A total of 782,303 singletons > or =28 weeks of gestation born in 1992-2001 to Nordic mothers ...

Multiple gestation is associated with a higher incidence of preterm birth and preterm birth often results in later neurocognitive and behavioral problems that persist into adulthood. The medical, neurobiological, familial, and socio-environmental factors determinant for an individual are unpredictable. We present neuropsychological data for fraternal triplets discordant for birthweight whose ...

AIM: Melatonin is a potent free radical scavenger and an indirect antioxidant. Knowledge about the behavior of melatonin secretion in the early neonatal period, which may relate to its properties at a vital stage during very high antioxidant demands, is limited. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied 35 newborns admitted to ...

Gestational age is highly correlated with birth outcomes including birthweight and infant mortality. Since gestational age is not recorded at the registration of live births in England and Wales, it has not been possible to produce routine statistics on gestation-specific infant mortality rates. A new system, introduced in 2002, for ...

AIM: To describe the development of head circumference, from birth to age 48 mo, of infants in Sweden. METHODS: Every infant born on the 15th of any month in the 1981 birth cohort, living in Sweden as of 31 December 1989, was studied from birth to age 48 mo (n=3158). ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of bacterial vaginosis (BV) in the second trimester of pregnancy in a Danish population using the Schmidt criteria and to examine whether BV was associated with subsequent preterm delivery, low birthweight or perinatal infections. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at ...

BACKGROUND: Calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) are the major micronutrients for fetal skeletal development. AIMS: To compare whole body bone mineral density (WB BMD) and bone mineral content (WB BMC) in different birthweights of term neonates and to determine correlations of biological criteria of bone health between ...

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether risk-adjusted mortality in very low birthweight or preterm infants is associated with levels of nursing provision. DESIGN: Prospective study of risk-adjusted mortality in infants admitted to a random sample of neonatal units. SETTING: Fifty four UK neonatal intensive care units stratified by: patient volume; consultant availability; ...

Previous studies have demonstrated the tendency to repeat gestational age and birthweight in successive pregnancies and that this tendency is associated with infant survival. Thus, newborn outcome and survival is less favourable if the gestational age and size departs from this maternal tendency. This paper aims to study diseases or ...

AIM: To explore the effects of maternal glucose on birthweight, infant and childhood growth in non-diabetic pregnant women using routinely collected data. METHODS: Routinely collected data were extracted retrospectively from two clinical databases. These data comprised measurements of maternal random plasma glucose, infant birthweight, infant and child weight and height ...

OBJECTIVES: To describe changes in infant mortality rates, including birthweight-specific rates and rates by age at death and cause. METHODS: We analyzed US linked birth/infant-death data for 1989-1991 and 1998-2000 for American Indians/Alaska Native (AIAN) and White singleton infants at > or =20 weeks' gestation born to US residents. We ...

OBJECTIVES: We assessed the influence of maternal anthropometric and metabolic variables, including glucose tolerance, on infant birthweight. METHODS: In our prospective, population-based cohort study of 1041 Latino mother-infant pairs, we used standardized interviews, anthropometry, metabolic assays, and medical record reviews. We assessed relationships among maternal sociodemographic, prenatal care, anthropometric, and ...

BACKGROUND: Cardiothoracic (CT) ratio is a common measurement used to assess heart size in chest radiographs of pediatric patients, but no recent studies have analyzed the standards for CT ratios in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to provide improved standards for CT ...

BACKGROUND: Previous studies found that increased birthweight discordance among twins was associated with increased risk of perinatal mortality and morbidity, but there is disagreement regarding the relationship between birthweight discordance and the risk of preterm birth. AIMS: To examine the relationship between intratwin birthweight discordance and preterm birth, and the ...

AIM: To investigate the development and behaviour of low-birthweight (LBW) term infants compared with matched term infants of appropriate birthweight (ABW). METHODS: Two parallel cohorts of LBW infants (1500-2499 g) and ABW controls (3000-3499 g) were enrolled at birth in northeast Brazil. At 8 y, 164 children were assessed using ...

AIM: To evaluate vasopressin as a rescue therapy in catecholamine-refractory septic and cardiogenic shock in very-low-birthweight (VLBW) infants. METHODS: Prospective assessment of vasopressin therapy in three VLBW infants with catecholamine-refractory septic shock (24 + 6 wk, 600 g) and cardiogenic shock (26 + 1 wk, 890 g; 26 + 1 ...

AIM: To describe physical outcome and school performance in a cohort of very-low-birthweight infants treated with early nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP)/minimal handling regimen with permissive hypercapnia, in comparison to siblings of normal birthweight. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Neonatal and follow-up data from 213 very-low-birthweight infants from 1983-1988 were registered ...

BACKGROUND: Single-embryo transfer (SET) has proven efficient in reducing multiple pregnancy rates after assisted reproduction technologies (ART). This study compares outcome of singletons after SET and double-embryo transfer (DET). METHODS: We studied 404 SET and 431 DET patients, who delivered a singleton child of >500 g after fresh embryo transfer ...

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to characterize physical and socioeconomic factors associated with birthweight in Tokyo, Japan. METHODS: In a cohort of obstetric outpatients from the Tokyo Metropolitan Maternity and Child Health Institute, Tokyo, and The Jikei University School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan, 553 eligible women in their ...

We describe trends in the prevalence of cerebral palsy (CP) by birthweight group, and in the severity of motor impairments and presence of associated intellectual impairment, in Northern Ireland from 1981 to 1997 (n=909; 510 males, 399 females; total population 415,936 live births) using data from a population-based register of ...

We studied the association between genetic polymorphisms of the renin-angiotensin system and the risk for circulatory failure (CF) during the first three postnatal days in 104 very-low-birthweight preterm infants. Infants with angiotensin-converting enzyme DD genotype were protected against CF (adjusted OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.19-0.89).

A review of research on prenatal depression effects on the fetus and newborn suggests that they experience prenatal, perinatal and postnatal complications. Fetal activity is elevated, prenatal growth is delayed, and prematurity and low birthweight occur more often. Newborns of depressed mothers then show a biochemical/physiological profile that mimics their ...

<B>Background</B>: In Malawi, malaria is a leading cause of infant morbidity and mortality. Low birthweight and fetal anaemia are also a common occurrence. The relationship between birthweight and fetal anaemia and malaria morbidity in infancy is not known. Objectives</B>: To investigate the relationship between incidence of first malaria episode and ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of placental pathology among low birthweight infants delivered at Srinagarind Hospital. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Descriptive study of 114 placentas from infants weighing between 500 and 2,499 grams delivered between June 2002 and June 2004 in the labour room, Srinagarind Hospital. Placentas from low birthweight infants ...

Application of technology in neonatal intensive care has been very successful in reducing mortality, particularly in extremely low birthweight infants. As survival has improved, the need for accurate studies of long term outcome has increased. This need has been met by studies that are larger, more inclusive, and address a ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relation between chorioamnionitis and hypotension in very low birthweight infants. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study in infants with a birth weight of <1500 g born between January 2002 and September 2004. The placentas were examined for evidence of chorioamnionitis and funisitis. Hypotension was defined by the use ...

BACKGROUND: There have been only a few reports on the renin-angiotensin system in low birthweight infants; in particular, plasma angiotensin II concentrations have not been studied. AIM: To investigate plasma angiotensin II concentrations in early neonatal infants including low birthweight infants. METHODS: Forty six patients were studied, of whom 14 ...

This article describes the patterns and effects of maternal snuff use, cigarette smoking and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke during pregnancy on birthweight and gestational age, in women living in Johannesburg and Soweto in 1990. A cohort of 1593 women with singleton live births provided information about their own and ...