Master of Public Health - MPH / The incidence of Low Birth Weight (LBW) babies born in the Uitenhage Provincial Hospital would seem to be a cause of concern from a public health of view. The incidence of 21% recorded during 1999 is markedly higher than the 7% recorded in the United States of America in 1998 and the average of 17% noted for developing countries. Some health concerns related to LBW babies are Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, scholastic performances later in life, and several chronic diseases in adults associated with them having been born as LBW babies. / South Africa

Environmental exposure levels are often sufficiently disparate between populations such that there is little or no overlap, complicating our ability to ascertain the full dose-response curve and as such create informed regulatory policy.I reviewed the literature on methods available to address non- and partially-overlapping exposure distributions, drawing from both epidemiology as well as other relevant disciplines to describe the universe of proposed solutions. I also used the case study of maternal PCB-153 exposure and birthweight, utilizing real-world and simulated data to explore our ability to ascertain “true” dose-response curves from observational data given the limited cohort-specific exposure ranges. I investigated the importance of controlled and uncontrolled confounding as well as the impact of sample size on our ability to ascertain a “true” underlying dose-response curve. Pooling and meta-analysis were useful to increase the heterogeneity of exposure distributions despite imperfect confounding control and heterogenous confounding structures across cohorts. The analyses also serve as continued evidence of the challenges of making population-wide inferences from study samples with restricted exposure ranges as well as the danger of pooling multisite data without sufficiently accounting for heterogeneity in both exposure level and distribution of confounders. These results highlight the limitations of using both individual studies and systematic reviews of environmental chemicals, and emphasize the need for pooling and meta-analysis to widen exposure distributions that in turn permit us to accurately capture the negative effects of these environmental chemicals.

Evidence shows epigenetic factors influence fetal development and the size of the infant at birth. This study was seeking to find what foods and nutrients or deficits thereof, in the diets of pregnant Mexican-American, Non-Hispanic White, and Non-Hispanic Black women in the United States might be contributing to the delivery of low birth-weight infants. From this study, the researcher can make three conclusions. First, the lack and/or excess of one or many nutrients may cause low birth weight. It cannot be concluded that the absence or lack of one nutrient alone is the primary cause of low birth weight based on these analyses. Second, this research shows deficits of dietary fiber are associated with low birth weight. Third, the increased consumption of regular fruit drinks and ades and rice is associated with an increased prevalence of low birth weight in the United States. / Department of Anthropology

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (M.P.H.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 2008. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 46-05, page: 2667. Advisers: Kim Waller; Steven Kelder. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 2008. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 46-04, page: 2056. Adviser: Maureen Sanderson. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.N.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1999. / Typescript. Bibliography: p. 113-123.

Unexpected findings that contradict well-established relationships between exposures and outcomes are often referred to as “paradoxes” in the epidemiologic literature. For example, the “birth weight paradox” refers to the observed protective association between smoking during pregnancy and infant mortality among low birth weight infants. A recent body of literature suggests that this and several other well-known epidemiologic paradoxes can be attributed to collider bias. Collider bias results from conditioning on a variable that is caused by the exposure or shares common cause with the exposure and is caused by the outcome or shares common causes with the outcome. Several recent epidemiology textbooks and methodological studies further suggest that collider bias is the graphical representation of selection bias, suggesting that these two biases are synonymous. This structural approach to bias is conceptually very useful for defining, describing, and identifying selection bias, but it introduces paradoxes of its own due to contradictory conclusions in the selection and collider bias methodologic literatures about their likely impact on study results in terms of magnitude, direction, and strata affected. Resolving these discrepancies is essential for our theoretical understanding of the relationship between selection and collider bias and has important practical implications for how we teach epidemiology, design studies, and evaluate and quantify the potential effects of bias on our results. For example, while patterns of collider bias coincide qualitatively with the birth weight paradox, the magnitude of collider bias would have to be substantial to reverse the sign of the association, contrary to prevailing beliefs that collider bias only minimally affects our results. To date, the plausibility of collider bias as an explanation for the birth weight paradox has not been empirically evaluated using data in which the paradox is observed.Taken together, these inconsistencies and contradictions suggest that our understanding of selection bias and collider bias remains incomplete. The overarching goal of this dissertation was to advance the theoretical and quantitative understanding of the impact of collider bias on study results to clarify the relationship between selection and collider bias. I began by systematically reviewing the methodologic literature on selection and collider bias. I found that selection bias and collider bias are increasingly treated as synonyms, but that conclusions about the magnitude and direction of selection and collider bias, the stratum affected, and the conditions under which the effects of each type of bias were evaluated are highly inconsistent. This suggested that divergent findings about the impact of selection and collider bias might be resolved by considering the impact of collider bias under a broader set of circumstances. I used microsimulations grounded in the sufficient component cause model to examine collider bias not under the null; interrogate why multiplicative interaction appeared central to the impact of collider bias; and clarify which stratum or strata are affected by collider bias. I identified clear patterns for the magnitude, direction, and strata affected by collider bias and successfully reconciled discrepancies with the selection bias literature. This work also enabled me to interrogate both the causal mechanisms and mathematical principles that underlie collider bias, which revealed how collider bias leads to non-exchangeability and when stratifying on a collider results in bias. Finally, I applied this deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying collider bias to empirically evaluate the plausibility of collider bias as an explanation for the birth weight paradox. Using microsimulations parameterized with 2015 National Center for Health Statistics Cohort Linked Birth-Infant Mortality, I identified scenarios that successfully reproduced the paradox and all observed relationships between smoking during pregnancy, infant mortality, and low birth weight. These findings strengthen the evidence for the role of collider bias in producing the paradox and shed light on the potential magnitude of unmeasured confounding and direct effects of smoking and low birth weight on infant mortality that may be required for the observed magnitude of the paradox to arise. This work clarifies that almost all selection bias is collider bias; that the effects of collider bias vary in magnitude and direction; that selecting on a collider always leads to bias, but this bias may not occur in the stratum that coincides with our analytical sample; and that collider bias may resolve the birth weight paradox, but is unlikely to explain all epidemiologic paradoxes.

Du fait de son impact sur la morbidité et la mortalité infantile, ainsi que de ses implications sur la santé à l’âge adulte, le petit poids de naissance constitue un problème majeur de santé publique. Le Burkina Faso, pays sahélien enclavé au cœur de l’Afrique occidentale est classé dans le groupe des pays pauvres très endettés et présente une forte prévalence de petit poids de naissance, imputable dans la majorité des cas au retard de croissance intra-utérine. Le contexte de ce travail, réalisé en milieu rural, se caractérise par une situation socioéconomique précaire se traduisant par un faible niveau des indicateurs de l’état de santé et une faible accessibilité aux services sociaux de base.<p><p>Objectifs, hypothèses<p>Ce travail repose sur les hypothèses que les facteurs socioéconomiques influencent la survenue du petit poids de naissance et que le petit poids de naissance a un impact négatif sur la croissance et la survie au cours de la première année de vie. <p>Ce travail s’est fixé pour objectifs de :<p>•connaître l’importance du petit poids de naissance à terme ;<p>•analyser les déterminants du petit poids de naissance ;<p>•proposer un score pour l’identification des femmes enceintes à risque de mise au monde d’un enfant de petit poids ;<p>•identifier les facteurs influençant la croissance des enfants nés de petit poids ;<p>•étudier l'impact du déficit pondéral à la naissance sur la morbidité et la mortalité infantile ;<p>•formuler des recommandations pour la prévention et la prise en charge du petit poids de naissance en milieu défavorisé dans le but d’orienter les stratégies de réduction de la mortalité infantile.<p><p>Méthodologie<p>Trois types d’études ont été réalisés:<p>•une étude de cohorte rétrospective portant sur 435 enfants dans le but d’explorer les facteurs de risque, la croissance, le statut nutritionnel et la mortalité des enfants nés de petit poids de naissance à terme.<p>•Une étude transversale portant sur 1013 naissances vivantes à terme qui a permis de déterminer la fréquence du petit poids de naissance et d’analyser les facteurs associés qui lui étaient associés.<p>•Une étude de cohorte prospective au cours de laquelle les 1013 enfants enrôlés dans l’étude transversale ont été suivis afin d’analyser leur croissance et leur survie au cours des 12 premiers mois de vie.<p><p>Principaux résultats <p>•Le petit poids de naissance représente 15,8% des naissances à terme. <p>•Le sexe féminin est prédominant chez les enfants de petit poids.<p>•Les facteurs sociodémographiques associés au petit poids de naissance sont essentiellement des caractéristiques sociodémographiques maternelles :le jeune âge de la mère (moins de 20 ans), le faible niveau d’instruction, le mauvais état nutritionnel et la faible accessibilité géographique aux structures de santé.<p>•Les facteurs obstétricaux associés au petit poids sont :la primiparité, la survenue de vomissements gravidiques, l’exécution de travaux champêtres et une charge de travail plus importante en cours de grossesse.<p>•Le score proposé pour l’identification des femmes à risque a un pouvoir de discrimination acceptable et présente une bonne stabilité et une faible marge d’erreur de prédiction.<p>•Indépendamment de la catégorie de poids à la naissance, tous les enfants demeurent en dessous des médianes des courbes de référence internationales pour l’ensemble des indices nutritionnels entre 0 et 12 mois. <p>•Malgré des gains plus importants mais de façon non significative, les enfants de PPN montrent une incapacité à combler leur retard en taille et en poids.<p>•Le PPN est associé à un risque significativement plus élevé de retard de croissance et d’insuffisance pondérale au cours de la première année de vie.<p>•Le petit poids de naissance et la non-complétude de la consultation prénatale étaient associés à un risque deux fois plus important de décès. <p>•L’état nutritionnel à l’âge de 3 mois ainsi qu’à l’âge de 6 mois joue un rôle plus important dans la survie chez les enfants de PPN que chez les enfants nés de poids normal.<p><p> <p>Conclusions<p>Les solutions au problème du petit poids de naissance impliquent un paquet d’interventions intégrant des stratégies avant, pendant et après la grossesse et des programmes de prise en charge ciblant les enfants de petit poids après leur naissance. Il s’agit prioritairement de :<p>•l’information et de la sensibilisation des populations pour un meilleur suivi de la grossesse et une complétude de la consultation prénatale ;<p>•l’adoption de pratiques et d’habitudes en faveur d’une alimentation équilibrée des femmes enceintes ;<p>•un plaidoyer pour un allègement de la charge de travail des femmes enceintes ;<p>•l’utilisation de méthodes opérationnelles pour l’identification des femmes à risque ;<p>•l’amélioration de la qualité des prestations de surveillance de la grossesse ;<p>•la redéfinition du contenu et des protocoles des programmes de suivi et de promotion de la croissance des jeunes enfants avec une attention particulière pour les enfants nés de petit poids ;<p>•la lutte contre certaines pratiques sociales comme les mariages précoces et les grossesses chez les adolescentes et les femmes de moins de 20 ans ;<p>•la promotion de la scolarisation des jeunes filles et l’alphabétisation des mères ;<p>•l’amélioration de l’état nutritionnel de la population ;<p>•la réalisation d’études pour évaluer l’impact de certains déterminants et interventions sur l’incidence du petit poids et le devenir des enfants nés avec un handicap pondéral :rôle de l’infection palustre, interventions nutritionnelles ciblant les enfants de petit poids, apports nutritionnels pendant la grossesse.<p><p>Summary<p><p>Due to its impact on infant morbidity and mortality, and its effects on adult’s health, low birth weight (LBW) is a major issue in the public health sector. Burkina Faso, a Sahelian country land-locked in the heart of West Africa is listed among the heavily indebted poor countries, with a high prevalence of Low Birth Weight, caused in most cases by intra uterine growth retardation. The context of the current study, conducted in urban area, is characterised by a poor socio-economic situation resulting in weak health indicators and difficult access to the basic social services.<p><p>Objectives, assumptions<p><p>The study is based o the assumptions that socio-economic factors have an influence on the occurrence of Low Birth Weight and that Low Birth Weight has a negative impact on growth and survival during the first year of the infant.<p>The study has the following objectives:<p>•To assess the importance of low birth weight a term;<p>•To analyse the determinant factors of low birth weight;<p>•To suggest a classification for the identification of pregnant women at risk of giving birth to low birth weight infants ;<p>•To identify factors which have an impact on the growth of low birth weight children ;<p>•To look at the impact of body weight deficiency at birth on infant morbidity and mortality ;<p>•To give recommendations on the prevention and treatment of low birth weight children from underprivileged background with the aim to orientate strategies for infant mortality reduction.<p><p>Methodology<p>Three types of studies were conducted:<p>•A retrospective cohort study of 435 children aiming at exploring risk factors, growth, nutritional status, and mortality of low birth weight infants in the long run.<p>•A cross-sectional study of 1013 live full-term births, which led to determining the frequency of low birth weight and at analysing associated factors which are linked to low birth weight.<p>•A prospective cohort study during which the 1013 children taken into consideration for the cross-sectional study were followed up so as to analyse their growth and survival all along the first 12 months of their life.<p><p>Main results<p>•Low birth weight represents 15.8% of full-term births.<p>•Female babies are predominant among low birth weight babies.<p>•Socio-demographic factors linked to low birth weight are mainly maternal socio-demographic characteristics: young mother (below 20 years old), low educational level, poor nutritional status and limited geographical access to health infrastructures.<p>•Obstetrical factors linked to low birth weight are the following: primiparity, occurrence of vomiting during pregnancy, field work and a heavier workload during pregnancy.<p>•The suggested classification for the identification of women at risk proves to have an acceptable power of discrimination and shows good stability and limited margin of error for prediction.<p>•Regardless of weight categories at birth, all children remain below medians of international reference curves for all nutritional indicators between 0 and 12 months. <p>•In spite of more important but not significant weight gains, LBW children prove not to be able to catch up on height and weight.<p>•LBW is linked to a significantly higher risk in growth retardation and weight deficiency during the newborn’s first year of life.<p>•LBW and non-complete antenatal visits are linked to a death risk multiplied by two.<p>•The nutritional status at the age of 3 months and 6 months old plays a more important role in the survival in LBW children than in children born with normal weight.<p><p>Conclusions<p>Solutions to LBW imply a package of interventions which should integrate strategies before, during and after pregnancy, together with treatment programmes targeting LBW children after their birth. In priority, these are:<p>•Information and awareness given to population for a better follow-up of pregnancies and complete cycles antenatal visits ;<p>•New practices and habits to be taken on favouring a balanced diet of pregnant women ;<p>•Advocacy actions aiming at reducing the workload of pregnant women ;<p>•The use of operational methods to identify women at risk ;<p>•Improving the quality of monitoring of pregnancy; <p>•Redefined content and procedures of monitoring programs and promoting young children growth, with particular focus on LBW children ;<p>•The fight against some social practices such as early marriages and pregnancies of teenagers and women below 20 years;<p>•The promotion of school education for young girls and literacy for mothers ;<p>•Improving the nutritional status of the population;<p>•The realisation of studies to assess the impact of some determinant factors and interventions on the occurrence of low birth weight and on the future of children born with weight deficiency: role of malaria, nutritional interventions targeting LBW children, nutritional intakes during pregnancy<p> / Doctorat en Sciences médicales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Birthweight is powerful predictor of infant growth and survival. Premature birth and intrauterine growth retardation of birthweight. Maternal environment is important underlying determinant of birthweight. Common lifestyle risk factors include maternal under-nutrition, smoking, alcohol and social factors and stress. The Winelands/West Coast region has high rates of low birthweight. In addition, alcohol abuse and smoking are major problems in this area. The aim of this quantitative case-control study was to determine the epidemiology of low birthweight, related to lifestyle behaviours in pregnant women, with particular attention to lifestyle factors such as alcohol, smoking, and stress-related factors.