Incidence Of Low Birth Weight Deliveries Research Articles

Access to community-based reproductive health services and incidence of low birthweight delivery among refugee and displaced mothers: a retrospective study in the Thailand-Myanmar border region

ObjectivesOver 2.4 million people have been displaced within the Thailand-Myanmar border region since 1988. The efficacy of community-driven health models within displaced populations is largely unstudied. Here, we examined the...

Impact of a Mobile Health Application on User Engagement and Pregnancy Outcomes Among Wyoming Medicaid Members.

Background: Pregnancy and birth outcomes are a critical area of healthcare, yet negative outcomes like C-sections and preterm births remain widespread. Studies show that early and ongoing prenatal care can improve outcomes; however, in-person care is difficult to deliver in rural areas. This article examines the impact of mobile health technology on user engagement and birth outcomes in a Wyoming pilot study. The pilot did face some limitations; namely, the small app user group size and scant demographic information collected from users.Materials and Methods: Wyoming Medicaid contracted with Xerox State Healthcare to launch WYhealth Due Date Plus, a pregnancy application by Wildflower Health. Pregnant Medicaid members registering for the app and providing a Medicaid ID were assigned to the app user group (N = 85). The non-app user group consisted of other pregnant Medicaid members with delivery outcome records (N = 5,158). Downloads and utilization frequency were tracked to gauge user engagement. Among pregnant Medicaid members, data were collected on app usage and four outcomes of interest—6-month or more prenatal visit, C-section, low birth weight, and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) admission—to examine the association between app use and pregnancy/birth outcomes. Chi-square tests were conducted to analyze associations. A Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was used to assess potential confounding.Results: Strong user engagement was observed with over 1,730 downloads. App users had a statistically significant association between app usage and completion of a 6-month or more prenatal visit (p = 0.022). There was a borderline significant association between app use and decreased incidence of low birth weight (p = 0.055). Maternal age was not a possible confounder.Conclusions: Preliminary data indicate that Due Date Plus attracted an engaged user base and that app usage was associated with improvements in prenatal visit completion and reduced incidence of low-birth weight delivery. These promising results suggest broader implementation and further study of mobile applications for prenatal support.

Trend and Seasonality in Admission and Outcome of Low Birthweight Infants in Gwagwalada-Abuja, Nigeria

Background : Low birthweight is an important contributor to neonatal morbidity and mortality. Various interventions have been instituted toward the reduction in the incidence of low birthweight deliveries and a dmissions. Knowledge of the current trend and seasonality in low birthweight admission is required in the control of the condition. Objectives: To determine the trend and seasonality in admission and outcome of low birthweight deliveries. Methods : Retrospective review of records of babies admitted into the Special Care Baby Unit of University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, with birthweights below 2500 grams over a 5-year period, from January 2006 through December, 2010, was undertaken and the data obtained were analyzed using Epi Info version 3.5.2 software. A pvalue of <0.05 was set as point of statistical significance. Results: A total of 4358 babies were admitted into the Special Care Baby Unit during the

Effects of a School for Pregnant Students on the Incidence of Low-Birthweight Deliveries

To evaluate effects of an alternative public school for pregnant teenagers in New Haven, CT, medical and school records were reviewed for a 1-year birth cohort of 230 adolescent mothers. Nearly three-quarters of all school-aged primiparas who were enrolled in the city's public schools when they became pregnant attended the alternative school. Because of summer vacation, however, students who conceived in January through April began attending later in pregnancy than did those who conceived in May through December; these mothers were significantly more likely to deliver a preterm, low-birthweight infant. No such seasonal effects were found for other teenagers in the city who were not enrolled in public school at conception. Positive birth outcomes for early program attenders are similar to those reported for a nurse-home-visitation program. The results suggest that school programs have considerable potential to be an effective service delivery model for providing prenatal intervention to adolescents.

Effects of a School for Pregnant Students on the Incidence of Low-Birthweight Deliveries

Effects of a School for Pregnant Students on the Incidence of Low-Birthweight Deliveries

Natural lymphocyte cytotoxicity of women with different symptoms of toxemia

Natural cytotoxic activity of lymphocytes from 113 pregnant women presenting one or more symptoms of the toxemic triad (E, P or H) was tested. According to the clinical symptoms, groups EH + H, EP + P and PH + EPH were formed. The control group consisted of 56 healthy pregnant patients. Significantly increased cytotoxicity was observed in toxemic pregnancies with proteinuria (group EP + P, 35.8 ± 14.3%, P < 0.001) and with proteinuria and hypertension (group PH + EPH, 27.2 ± 13.3%, P < 0.001%), but not in the group with hypertension (EH + H, 13.0 + 9.9%), compared to that of controls (11.0 + 11.5%). The relative number of patients with cytotoxicity ⩾ 40% was also higher in groups with proteinuria presenting with or without other symptoms of the disease. Increased cytotoxicity in proteinuric form of gestosis seemed to be independent of the incidence of low birthweight deliveries and intra-uterine growth retardation.

Maternal Smoking during Pregnancy and Expenditures on Neonatal Health Care

Cigarette smoking during pregnancy substantially increases the risk of low-weight birth, and infants born to smokers weigh less, on average, than those born to nonsmokers. Low birth weight is an important predictor of neonatal morbidity and death, and the intensity of neonatal care is significantly higher for low-birth-weight infants. In this study, we estimate expenditures on neonatal care based on the relation between maternal smoking during pregnancy and the incidence of low-weight births. Our results indicate that maternal smoking during pregnancy was responsible for 35,816 low-weight births in the U.S. in 1983, or about 14.5% of all low-weight births. We also estimate that 14,977, or 6.6%, of all admissions to neonatal intensive care units were a result of maternal smoking and that these admissions cost approximately $272 million, representing 8.5% of total national expenditures on neonatal intensive care services. We estimate that the average cost of neonatal care was $288 higher for infants born to smokers than for those born to nonsmokers.