Lengthened Predelivery Stay and Antepartum Complications in Women with Depressive Symptoms During Pregnancy

Background: It is crucial to understand the timing and mechanisms behind depression's effect on peripartum stay because attempts to intervene will vary based on the time period involved. We designed this study to compare predelivery and postdelivery length of stay in women with and without elevated depressive symptoms during pregnancy. Methods: This study involved secondary data analysis of a larger study exploring antepartum depression. Each subject completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) during pregnancy at a mean of 25.8 weeks' gestation. We used time-stamped data to compare total peripartum, predelivery, and postdelivery lengths of stay in women with and without elevated depressive symptoms during pregnancy. In addition, we used a Cox proportional hazards regression model to evaluate potential mechanisms for depression's effect on length of stay. Results: The study sample included 802 pregnant women. Overall, 18% of study subjects scored >=16 on the CES-D. Bivariate analyses demonstrated a significant association between elevated depressive symptoms and longer predelivery stays (time from admission to delivery). Interaction analyses demonstrated a significant interaction effect between depressive symptoms and parity, such that depressive symptoms were significantly associated with predelivery length of stay in multiparas but not so in primiparous subjects. In a multivariate model of multiparous subjects, depression's effect on length of stay was partially influenced by sociodemographic confounders but remained significant until antepartum complications were added to the model. Conclusions: Depressive symptoms during pregnancy are significantly associated with a subsequent increase in predelivery length of stay, and this association is mediated in part by antepartum complications, even after controlling for sociodemographic factors. These longer hospital stays can present significant burdens to the patient, her family, and the healthcare system. Future studies should evaluate whether interventions for depression during pregnancy can impact this relationship among depressive symptoms during pregnancy, antepartum complications, and extensive predelivery hospitalizations.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90486/1/jwh-2E2010-2E2380.pd

International migration and adverse birth outcomes: role of ethnicity, region of origin and destination

Background: The literature on international migration and birth outcomes shows mixed results. This study examined whether low birth weight (LBW) and preterm birth differed between non-migrants and migrant subgroups, defined by race/ethnicity and world region of origin and destination. Methods: A systematic review and meta-regression analyses were conducted using three-level logistic models to account for the heterogeneity between studies and between subgroups within studies. Results: Twenty-four studies, involving more than 30 million singleton births, met the inclusion criteria. Compared with US-born black women, black migrant women were at lower odds of delivering LBW and preterm birth babies. Hispanic migrants also exhibited lower odds for these outcomes, but Asian and white migrants did not. Sub-Saharan African and Latin-American and Caribbean women were at higher odds of delivering LBW babies in Europe but not in the USA and south-central Asians were at higher odds in both continents, compared with the native-born populations. Conclusions: The association between migration and adverse birth outcomes varies by migrant subgroup and it is sensitive to the definition of the migrant and reference groups

Risk perception of women during high risk pregnancy: A systematic review

Risk perception in women with high risk pregnancies can affect their attitude to medical care and therefore influence the wellbeing of mother and baby. This article reviews quantitative measures of risk perception in women with high risk pregnancies. A systematic search of eight electronic databases was conducted. Additional articles were obtained through searching references of identified articles. Seven studies were identified that reported quantitative measures of risk perception in relation to high risk pregnancy. The main findings were that women with high risk pregnancies perceive themselves and the pregnancies to be at risk. However, mean risk scores consistently fall below the midpoint on risk perception measures suggesting women do not perceive this risk as extreme. Women with high risk pregnancies consistently rated their risk as being greater than that of women with low risk pregnancies. Results were inconsistent for the association between women's risk perception and that of healthcare professionals. Women with higher socio-economic status were more likely to be concerned about risk, although lower socio-economic status is associated with increased risk in pregnancy. There was a consistent association between high risk pregnancy and higher levels of anxiety. This review indicates that women at high risk during pregnancy do not perceive this risk to be extreme and that there is poor agreement between women's and healthcare professionals’ perceptions of risk. This is likely to have implications for medical care and pregnancy outcomes

Tracking the Late Jurassic apparent (or true) polar shift in U-Pb-dated kimberlites from cratonic North America (Superior Province of Canada)

Different versions of a composite apparent polar wander (APW) path of variably selected global poles assembled and averaged in North American coordinates using plate reconstructions show either a smooth progression or a large (∼30°) gap in mean paleopoles in the Late Jurassic, between about 160 and 145 Ma. In an effort to further examine this issue, we sampled accessible outcrops/subcrops of kimberlites associated with high-precision U-Pb perovskite ages in the Timiskaming area of Ontario, Canada. The 154.9 ± 1.1 Ma Peddie kimberlite yields a stable normal polarity magnetization that is coaxial within less than 5° of the reverse polarity magnetization of the 157.5 ± 1.2 Ma Triple B kimberlite. The combined ∼156 Ma Triple B and Peddie pole (75.5°N, 189.5°E, A95 = 2.8°) lies about midway between igneous poles from North America nearest in age (169 Ma Moat volcanics and the 146 Ma Ithaca kimberlites), showing that the polar motion was at a relatively steady yet rapid (∼1.5°/Myr) pace. A similar large rapid polar swing has been recognized in the Middle to Late Jurassic APW path for Adria-Africa and Iran-Eurasia, suggesting a major mass redistribution. One possibility is that slab breakoff and subduction reversal along the western margin of the Americas triggered an episode of true polar wander

Program for expectant and new mothers: a population-based study of participation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Manitoba Healthy Baby Program is aimed at promoting pre- and perinatal health and includes two components: 1) prenatal income supplement; 2) community support programs. The goal of this research was to determine the uptake of these components by target groups.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data on participation in each of the two program components were linked to data on all hospital births in Manitoba between 2004/05 through 2007/08. Descriptive analyses of participation by maternal characteristics were produced. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with participation in the two programs. Separate regressions were run for two groups of women giving birth during the study period: 1) total population; 2) those receiving provincial income assistance during the prenatal period.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Almost 30% of women giving birth in Manitoba received the Healthy Baby prenatal income supplement, whereas only 12.6% participated in any community support programs. Over one quarter (26.4%) of pregnant women on income assistance did not apply for and receive the prenatal income supplement, despite all being eligible for it. Furthermore, 77.8% of women on income assistance did not participate in community support programs. Factors associated with both receipt of the prenatal benefit and participation in community support programs included lower SES, receipt of income assistance, obtaining adequate prenatal care, having completed high school and having depressive symptoms. Having more previous births was associated with higher odds of receiving the prenatal benefit, but lower odds of attending community support programs. Being married was associated with lower odds of receiving the prenatal benefit but higher odds of participating in community support programs.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although uptake of the Healthy Baby program in Manitoba is greater for women in groups at risk for poorer perinatal outcomes, a substantial number of women eligible for this program are not receiving it; efforts to reach these women should be enhanced.</p

Molecular evidence of Late Archean archaea and the presence of a subsurface hydrothermal biosphere

Author Posting. © National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 2007. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of National Academy of Sciences of the USA for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104 (2007): 14260-14265, doi:10.1073/pnas.0610903104.Highly cracked and isomerized archaeal lipids and bacterial lipids, structurally changed by thermal stress, are present in solvent extracts of 2,707-2,685 million year old (Ma) metasedimentary rocks from Timmins, Ontario, Canada. These lipids appear in conventional gas chromatograms as unresolved complex mixtures (UCMs) and include cyclic and acyclic biphytanes, C36-C39 derivatives of the biphytanes, and C31-C35 extended hopanes. Biphytane and extended hopanes are also found in high pressure catalytic hydrogenation (HPCH) products released from solvent-extracted sediments,indicating that archaea and bacteria were present in Late Archean sedimentary environments. Post-depositional, hydrothermal gold mineralization and graphite precipitation occurred prior to metamorphism (~2,665 Ma). Late Archean metamorphism significantly reduced the kerogen’s adsorptive capacity and severely restricted sediment porosity, limiting the potential for post-Archean additions of organic matter to the samples. Argillites exposed to hydrothermal gold mineralization have disproportionately high concentrations of extractable archaeal and bacterial lipids relative to what is releasable from their respective HPCH product and what is observed for argillites deposited away from these hydrothermal settings. The addition of these lipids to the sediments likely results from a Late Archean subsurface hydrothermal biosphere of archaea and bacteria.This project was supported by NASA Exobiology grant #NAG5-13446 to Fabien Kenig. SEM analysis was supported by NSF grant EAR 0318769 to Juergen Schieber. GC×GC analysis was supported by NSF grant IIS-0430835 and the Seaver Foundation to Christopher M. Reddy

Development of the Migrant Friendly Maternity Care Questionnaire (MFMCQ) for migrants to Western societies: an international Delphi consensus process

Background Through the World Health Assembly Resolution, ‘Health of Migrants’, the international community has identified migrant health as a priority. Recommendations for general hospital care for international migrants in receiving-countries have been put forward by the Migrant Friendly Hospital Initiative; adaptations of these recommendations specific to maternity care have yet to be elucidated and validated. We aimed to develop a questionnaire measuring migrant-friendly maternity care (MFMC) which could be used in a range of maternity care settings and countries. Methods This study was conducted in four stages. First, questions related to migrant friendly maternity care were identified from existing questionnaires including the Migrant Friendliness Quality Questionnaire, developed in Europe to capture recommended general hospital care for migrants, and the Mothers In a New Country (MINC) Questionnaire, developed in Australia and revised for use in Canada to capture the maternity care experiences of migrant women, and combined to create an initial MFMC questionnaire. Second, a Delphi consensus process in three rounds with a panel of 89 experts in perinatal health and migration from 17 countries was undertaken to identify priority themes and questions as well as to clarify wording and format. Third, the draft questionnaire was translated from English to French and Spanish and back-translated and subsequently culturally validated (assessed for cultural appropriateness) by migrant women. Fourth, the questionnaire was piloted with migrant women who had recently given birth in Montreal, Canada. Results A 112-item questionnaire on maternity care from pregnancy, through labour and birth, to postpartum care, and including items on maternal socio-demographic, migration and obstetrical characteristics, and perceptions of care, has been created - the Migrant Friendly Maternity Care Questionnaire (MFMCQ) – in three languages (English, French and Spanish). It is completed in 45 minutes via interview administration several months post-birth. Conclusions A 4-stage process of questionnaire development with international experts in migrant reproductive health and research resulted in the MFMCQ, a questionnaire measuring key aspects of migrant-sensitive maternity care. The MFMCQ is available for further translation and use to examine and compare care and perceptions of care within and across countries, and by key socio-demographic, migration, and obstetrical characteristics of migrant women

Inadequate prenatal care and its association with adverse pregnancy outcomes: A comparison of indices

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The objectives of this study were to determine rates of prenatal care utilization in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada from 1991 to 2000; to compare two indices of prenatal care utilization in identifying the proportion of the population receiving inadequate prenatal care; to determine the association between inadequate prenatal care and adverse pregnancy outcomes (preterm birth, low birth weight [LBW], and small-for-gestational age [SGA]), using each of the indices; and, to assess whether or not, and to what extent, gestational age modifies this association.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted a population-based study of women having a hospital-based singleton live birth from 1991 to 2000 (N = 80,989). Data sources consisted of a linked mother-baby database and a physician claims file maintained by Manitoba Health. Rates of inadequate prenatal care were calculated using two indices, the R-GINDEX and the APNCU. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between inadequate prenatal care and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Stratified analysis was then used to determine whether the association between inadequate prenatal care and LBW or SGA differed by gestational age.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Rates of inadequate/no prenatal care ranged from 8.3% using APNCU to 8.9% using R-GINDEX. The association between inadequate prenatal care and preterm birth and LBW varied depending on the index used, with adjusted odds ratios (AOR) ranging from 1.0 to 1.3. In contrast, both indices revealed the same strength of association of inadequate prenatal care with SGA (AOR 1.4). Both indices demonstrated heterogeneity (non-uniformity) across gestational age strata, indicating the presence of effect modification by gestational age.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Selection of a prenatal care utilization index requires careful consideration of its methodological underpinnings and limitations. The two indices compared in this study revealed different patterns of utilization of prenatal care, and should not be used interchangeably. Use of these indices to study the association between utilization of prenatal care and pregnancy outcomes affected by the duration of pregnancy should be approached cautiously.</p

Risk Factors for Small-for-Gestational-age and Preterm Births among 19,269 Tanzanian Newborns.

Few studies have differentiated risk factors for term-small for gestational age (SGA), preterm-appropriate for gestational age (AGA), and preterm-SGA, despite evidence of varying risk of child mortality and poor developmental outcomes. We analyzed birth outcome data from singleton infants, who were enrolled in a large randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of neonatal vitamin A supplementation conducted in Tanzania. SGA was defined as birth weight <10th percentile for gestation age and sex using INTERGROWTH standards and preterm birth as delivery at <37 complete weeks of gestation. Risk factors for term-SGA, preterm-AGA, and preterm-SGA were examined independently using log-binomial regression. Among 19,269 singleton Tanzanian newborns included in this analysis, 68.3 % were term-AGA, 15.8 % term-SGA, 15.5 % preterm-AGA, and 0.3 % preterm-SGA. In multivariate analyses, significant risk factors for term-SGA included maternal age <20 years, starting antenatal care (ANC) in the 3(rd) trimester, short maternal stature, being firstborn, and male sex (all p < 0.05). Independent risk factors for preterm-AGA were maternal age <25 years, short maternal stature, firstborns, and decreased wealth (all p < 0.05). In addition, receiving ANC services in the 1(st) trimester significantly reduced the risk of preterm-AGA (p = 0.01). Significant risk factors for preterm-SGA included maternal age >30 years, being firstborn, and short maternal stature which appeared to carry a particularly strong risk (all p < 0.05). Over 30 % of newborns in this large urban and rural cohort of Tanzanian newborns were born preterm and/or SGA. Interventions to promote early attendance to ANC services, reduce unintended young pregnancies, increased maternal height, and reduce poverty may significantly decrease the burden of SGA and preterm birth in sub-Saharan Africa