65 research outputs found

    The custom of the country: Alistair Cooke and race in America: a selected edition of Letter from America, 1946-2003

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    Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University.The Custom of the Country: Alistair Cooke and Race in America is a selected, annotated edition of 142 installments of Alistair Cooke's BBC broadcast, Letter from America, on race and the struggle for civil rights in the United States. Alistair Cooke (1908-2004), English-born American journalist, produced a variety of works over a seventy-year career, almost all about American politics, society, and culture. Besides writing numerous books, he was for 25 years American correspondent for the Manchester Guardian newspaper (later The Guardian). From 1946 to 2004 he wrote and recorded a weekly 2,100-word commentary, Letter from America, broadcast to the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth - a total of 2,869 broadcasts. Over the decades, the relation of white and black was a frequent concern of Letter from America. The Custom of the Country records events from Harry Truman's efforts to advance civil rights, through the Brown v. Board of Education decision, battles over segregation and passage of civil rights laws, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the riots of the 1960s, school busing and Affirmative Action, up to and beyond the O.J. Simpson case. The letters include profiles of such figures as Joe Louis, George Wallace, Lyndon Johnson, Duke Ellington, Marian Anderson, J. William Fulbright, and Jesse Jackson. They explore changes in the language of race and in black and white society. The texts also reveal the process of change (and lack of change) in the views of one immigrant over more than half a century. The Custom of the Country is an accurate edition of scripts as near as possible to the words as Cooke wrote and spoke them. The edition, spanning the years 1946-2003, was compiled from manuscripts and transcripts in the Alistair Cooke collection at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University, and at the BBC Written Archives Centre in Reading, England. Available versions were consulted and compared in the preparation of the text. In addition to the introduction, which contains specific references to the texts, footnotes report key variant readings, along with historical and biographical background, as well as extensive cross-referencing of topics and events

    An Observational Analysis of Meal Patterns in Overweight and Obese Pregnancy

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    Background Nutrient intakes are known to be poorer among pregnant women with raised body mass index (BMI) than those with a healthy BMI. While meal patterns have the potential to influence obstetric, metabolic and anthropometric measures for mother and infant, limited data exists regarding meal patterns among pregnant women with raised BMI. Aim To identify categories of meal patterns among pregnant women with overweight and obesity and determine whether patterns change with advancing gestation. To determine if maternal meal patterns are associated with dietary intakes and pregnancy outcomes. Methods Prospective, observational analysis of pregnant women (n = 143) (BMI 25–39.9 kg/m2). Meal pattern data were analysed from 3-day food diaries at 16 and 28 weeks’ gestation. Outcomes include maternal blood glucose, insulin resistance, gestational diabetes, gestational weight gain and infant anthropometry. Results Three meal pattern categories were identified: ‘main meal dominant’ (3 main eating occasions + 0–3 snacks), ‘large meal dominant’ (≤ 2 main eating occasions + \u3c 2 snacks), and ‘snack dominant’ (3 main eating occasions + \u3e 3 snacks and ≤2main + ≥ 2 snacks). A main meal–dominant pattern prevailed at 16 weeks’ (85.3%) and a snack-dominant pattern at 28 weeks’ (68.5%). Dietary glycaemic index was lower among the main meal versus large meal–dominant pattern at 28 weeks (P = 0.018). Infant birth weight (kg) and macrosomia were highest among participants with a large meal–dominant pattern at 28 weeks (P = 0.030 and P = 0.008, respectively). Conclusion Women with raised BMI changed eating patterns as pregnancy progressed, moving from main meal–dominant to snack-dominant patterns. Large meal–dominant meal patterns in later pregnancy were associated with higher glycaemic index and greater prevalence of macrosomia

    Uncertainty analysis of the use of a retailer fidelity card scheme in the assessment of food additive intake

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    International audienceThe feasibility of using a retailer fidelity card scheme to estimate food additive intake has been investigated in an earlier study. Fidelity card survey information was combined with information provided by the retailer on levels of the food colour Sunset Yellow (E110) in the foods to estimate a daily exposure to the additive in the Swiss population. As with any dietary exposure method the fidelity card scheme is subject to uncertainties and in this paper the impact of uncertainties associated with input variables including amounts of food purchased, levels of E110 in food, proportion of food purchased at retailer, rate of fidelity card usage, proportion of foods consumed outside of home and bodyweights and with systematic uncertainties has been assessed using a qualitative, deterministic and probabilistic approach. An analysis of the sensitivity of the results to each of the probabilistic inputs was also undertaken. The analysis was able to identify the key factors responsible for uncertainty within the model and demonstrate how the application of some simple probabilistic approaches can be used to quantitatively assess uncertainty

    Heavy Quark Spectroscopy and Matrix Elements: A Lattice Study using the Static Approximation

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    We present results of a lattice analysis of the BB parameter, BBB_B, the decay constant fBf_B, and several mass splittings using the static approximation. Results were obtained for 60 quenched gauge configurations computed at β=6.2\beta=6.2 on a lattice size of 243×4824^3\times48. Light quark propagators were calculated using the O(a)O(a)-improved Sheikholeslami-Wohlert action. We find \Bbstat(m_b) = 0.69\er{3}{4} {\rm(stat)}\er{2}{1} {\rm(syst)}, corresponding to \Bbstat = 1.02\er{5}{6}\er{3}{2}, and \fbstat = 266\err{18}{20}\err{28}{27} \mev, f_{B_s}^2 B_{B_s}/f_B^2 B_B = 1.34\er{9}{8}\er{5}{3}, where a variational fitting technique was used to extract \fbstat. For the mass splittings we obtain M_{B_s}-M_{B_d} = 87\err{15}{12}\err{6}{12} \mev, M_{\Lambda_b}-M_{B_d} = 420\errr{100}{90}\err{30}{30} \mev and M_{B^*}^2-M_B^2 = 0.281\err{15}{16}\err{40}{37} \gev^2. We compare different smearing techniques intended to improve the signal/noise ratio. From a detailed assessment of systematic effects we conclude that the main systematic uncertainties are associated with the renormalisation constants relating a lattice matrix element to its continuum counterpart. The dependence of our findings on lattice artefacts is to be investigated in the future.Comment: 40 pages, uuencoded compressed tar file, containing one LaTeX file and 14 postscript files (to be included with epsf). Minor change in the value of the B parameter. Contains corrected value for the B*-B mass splitting. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

    Determinants of Restaurant Systematic Risk: A Reexamination

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    This study reexamines determinants of the systematic risk or beta of restaurant firms based on the financial data of 75 U.S. restaurant firms from 1996 through 1999. Our weighted least-squares regression analysis found that restaurant systematic risk correlated negatively with assets turnover but positively with quick ratio. The findings suggest that high efficiency in generating sales revenue helps lower the systematic risk, while excess liquidity tends to increase the risk

    Physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and childhood asthma: a European collaborative analysis

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    OBJECTIVES: To investigate the associations of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour in early childhood with asthma and reduced lung function in later childhood within a large collaborative study. DESIGN: Pooling of longitudinal data from collaborating birth cohorts using meta-analysis of separate cohort-specific estimates and analysis of individual participant data of all cohorts combined. SETTING: Children aged 0-18 years from 26 European birth cohorts. PARTICIPANTS: 136 071 individual children from 26 cohorts, with information on PA and/or sedentary behaviour in early childhood and asthma assessment in later childhood. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Questionnaire-based current asthma and lung function measured by spirometry (forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), FEV1/forced vital capacity) at age 6-18 years. RESULTS: Questionnaire-based and accelerometry-based PA and sedentary behaviour at age 3-5 years was not associated with asthma at age 6-18 years (PA in hours/day adjusted OR 1.01, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.04; sedentary behaviour in hours/day adjusted OR 1.03, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.07). PA was not associated with lung function at any age. Analyses of sedentary behaviour and lung function showed inconsistent results. CONCLUSIONS: Reduced PA and increased sedentary behaviour before 6 years of age were not associated with the presence of asthma later in childhood. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.The authors received no specific funding for this article. Funding information per cohort: ABCD: The ABCD study has been supported by grants from The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW) and The Netherlands Heart Foundation. ABIS: Special thanks to the participating families in the ABIS study, and all staff at Obstetric departments and Well-Baby Clinics. ABIS has been supported by Swedish Research Council (K2005-72X-11242-11A and K2008-69X-20826-01-4) and the Swedish Child Diabetes Foundation (Barndiabetesfonden), JDRF Wallenberg Foundation (K 98-99D-12813-01A), Medical Research Council of Southeast Sweden (FORSS), and the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (FAS2004-1775) and Östgöta Brandstodsbolag. BAMSE: This BAMSE birth cohort was supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, Formas, the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, the Swedish Asthma and Allergy Research Foundation, Region Stockholm (ALF project, and for cohort and database maintenance), and the European Research Council (TRIBAL, grant agreement 757919). CHOP: The CHOP study reported herein have been carried out with partial financial support from the Commission of the European Community, specific RTD Programme 'Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources', within the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), project EarlyNutrition under grant agreement no. 289346, partial financial support from Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (2571/7.PR/2012/2), the EU H2020 project PHC-2014-DynaHealth under grant no. 633595 and the European Research Council Advanced Grant META-GROWTH (ERC-2012-AdG-no.322605). COPSAC2000: All funding received by COPSAC is listed on www.copsac.com. The Lundbeck Foundation (Grant no R16-A1694); The Ministry of Health (Grant no 903516); Danish Council for Strategic Research (Grant no 0603-00280B) and The Capital Region Research Foundation have provided core support to the COPSAC research center. DNBC: The Danish National Birth Cohort was established with a significant grant from the Danish National Research Foundation. Additional support was obtained from the Danish Regional Committees, the Pharmacy Foundation, the Egmont Foundation, the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, the Health Foundation and other minor grants. The DNBC Biobank has been supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Lundbeck Foundation. EDEN: EU FP7 Framework MedAll project, National Institute for Research in Public Health (IRESP TGIR Cohorte Santé 2008 Program); National Agency for Research (ANR non-thematic programme); French Speaking Association for the Study of Diabetes and Metabolism (Alfediam); Mutuelle Générale de l’Éducation Nationale; Nestlé; French National Institute for Health Education (INPES); Paris‐Sud University; French National Istitute for Population Health Surveillance (InVS); French Agency for Environment Security (AFFSET); French Ministry of Health Perinatal Program; Inserm Nutrition Research Program; Institut Fédératif de Recherche and Cohort Program; French Ministry of Research; EURIP and FIRE doctoral school–Programme Bettencourt; Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (FRM). G21: Generation XXI was supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Internationalisation and national funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education under the project 'HIneC: When do health inequalities start? Understanding the impact of childhood social adversity on health trajectories from birth to early adolescence' (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029567; Reference PTDC/SAU-PUB/29567/2017). It is also supported by the Unidade de Investigação em Epidemiologia–Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (EPIUnit) (UIDB/04750/2020), Administração Regional de Saúde Norte (Regional Department of Ministry of Health) and Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian; PhD Grant SFRH/BD/108742/2015 (to SS) co-funded by FCT and the Human Capital Operational Programme (POCH/FSE Program); ACS is founded by a FCT Investigator contracts IF/01060/2015. Generation R: The Generation R Study is made possible by financial support from the Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Erasmus University Rotterdam and The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development. The project received funding for projects from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (LIFECYCLE, grant agreement No 733206, 2016; EUCAN-Connect grant agreement No 824989; ATHLETE, grant agreement No 874583). LD received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 cofunded programme ERA-Net on Biomarkers for Nutrition and Health (ERA HDHL) (ALPHABET project (no 696295; 2017), ZonMW The Netherlands (no 529051014; 2017)). GINIplus: The GINIplus study was mainly supported for the first 3 years of the Federal Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Technology (interventional arm) and Helmholtz Zentrum Munich (former GSF) (observational arm). The 4 years, 6 years, 10 years and 15 years follow-up examinations of the GINIplus study were covered from the respective budgets of the five study centres (Helmholtz Zentrum Munich (former GSF), Research Institute at Marien-Hospital Wesel, LMU Munich, TU Munich and from 6 years onwards also from IUF - Leibniz Research-Institute for Environmental Medicine at the University of Düsseldorf) and a grant from the Federal Ministry for Environment (IUF Düsseldorf, FKZ 20462296). Further, the 15-year follow-up examination of the GINIplus study was supported by the Commission of the European Communities, the 7th Framework Program: MeDALL project, and as well by the companies Mead Johnson and Nestlé. The authors thank all the families for their participation in the GINIplus study. Furthermore, we thank all members of the GINIplus Study Group for their excellent work. The GINIplus Study group consists of the following: Institute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg (Heinrich J, Brüske I, Schulz H, Flexeder C, Zeller C, Standl M, Schnappinger M, Ferland M, Thiering E, Tiesler C); Department of Pediatrics, Marien-Hospital, Wesel (Berdel D, von Berg A); Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Dr von Hauner Children’s Hospital (Koletzko S); Child and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital rechts der Isar of the Technical University Munich (Bauer CP, Hoffmann U); IUF- Environmental Health Research Institute, Düsseldorf (Schikowski T, Link E, Klümper C, Krämer U, Sugiri D). HUMIS: HUMIS is supported by the Research Council of Norway (NevroNor, grant number 226402). INMA Asturias: This study was funded by grants from, FIS-FEDER: PI04/2018, PI09/02311, PI13/02429, PI18/00909; Obra Social Cajastur/Fundación Liberbank, and Universidad de Oviedo. We thank Fundación NOE Alimerka. INMA Gipuzkoa: This study was funded by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (FIS-PI06/0867, FIS-PI09/00090, FIS-PI13/02187 include FEDER funds), CIBERESP, Department of Health of the Basque Government (2005111093, 2009111069, 2013111089 and 2015111065), and the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa (DFG06/002, DFG08/001 and DFG15/221) and annual agreements with the municipalities of the study area (Zumarraga, Urretxu, Legazpi, Azkoitia y Azpeitia y Beasain). INMA Menorca: This study was funded by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Red INMA G03/176; CB06/02/0041; 97/0588; 00/0021-2; PI061756; PS0901958; PI14/00677 incl. FEDER funds), CIBERESP, Beca de la IV convocatoria de Ayudas a la Investigación en Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas de La Caixa, and EC Contract No. QLK4-CT-2000-00263. INMA Sabadell: This study was funded by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Red INMA G03/176; CB06/02/0041; PI041436; PI081151 incl. FEDER funds; CPII/00018), CIBERESP, Generalitat de Catalunya-CIRIT 1999SGR 00241, Generalitat de Catalunya-AGAUR 2009 SGR 501, Fundació La marató de TV3 (090430), EU Commission (261357). ISGlobal is a member of the CERCA Programme, Generalitat de Catalunya. INMA Valencia: This study was funded by grants from UE (FP7-ENV-2011 cod 282957 and HEALTH.2010.2.4.5-1), Spain: ISCIII (Red INMA G03/176, CB06/02/0041; FIS-FEDER: PI03/1615, PI04/1509, PI04/1112, PI04/1931, PI05/1079, PI05/1052, PI06/1213, PI07/0314, PI09/02647, PI11/01007, PI11/02591, PI11/02038, PI13/1944, PI13/2032, PI14/00891, PI14/01687, PI16/1288, PI17/00663, and 19/1338; Miguel Servet-FEDER CP11/00178, CP15/00025 and CPII16/00051), Generalitat Valenciana: FISABIO (UGP 15-230, UGP-15-244, UGP-15-249, and AICO 2020/285), and Alicia Koplowitz Foundation 2017. KOALA: The KOALA cohort study was cofinanced by Friesland Foods (now FrieslandCampina), Netherlands Asthma Foundation (grant numbers 3.2.07.022 and 3.2.03.48) and Netherlands Heart Foundation (grant number 2014 T037), the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw Prevention Program number 1.210-00-090). The funding sources had no role in the study design and the collection, analysis and interpretation of data and the writing of the article and the decision to submit it for publication. Lifeways: The Lifeways study has been funded by the Health Research Board, Ireland, and the Irish Department of Health and Children’s Health Promotion Policy Unit. LISA: The LISA study was mainly supported by grants from the Federal Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Technology and in addition from Helmholtz Zentrum Munich (former GSF), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Leipzig, Research Institute at Marien-Hospital Wesel, Pediatric Practice, Bad Honnef for the first 2 years. The 4 years, 6 years, 10 years and 15 years follow-up examinations of the LISA study were covered from the respective budgets of the involved partners (Helmholtz Zentrum Munich (former GSF), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Leipzig, Research Institute at Marien-Hospital Wesel, Pediatric Practice, Bad Honnef, IUF—Leibniz-Research Institute for Environmental Medicine at the University of Düsseldorf) and in addition by a grant from the Federal Ministry for Environment (IUF Düsseldorf, FKZ 20462296). Further, the 15-year follow-up examination of the LISA study was supported by the Commission of the European Communities, the 7th Framework Program: MeDALL project. The authors thank all the families for their participation in the LISA study. Furthermore, we thank all members of the LISA Study Group for their excellent work. The LISA Study group consists of the following: Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute of Epidemiology, Munich (Heinrich J, Schnappinger M, Brüske I, Ferland M, Schulz H, Zeller C, Standl M, Thiering E, Tiesler C, Flexeder C); Department of Pediatrics, Municipal Hospital 'St. Georg', Leipzig (Borte M, Diez U, Dorn C, Braun E); Marien Hospital Wesel, Department of Pediatrics, Wesel (von Berg A, Berdel D, Stiers G, Maas B); Pediatric Practice, Bad Honnef (Schaaf B); Helmholtz Centre of Environmental Research—UFZ, Department of Environmental Immunology/Core Facility Studies, Leipzig (Lehmann I, Bauer M, Röder S, Schilde M, Nowak M, Herberth G, Müller J); Technical University Munich, Department of Pediatrics, Munich (Hoffmann U, Paschke M, Marra S); Clinical Research Group Molecular Dermatology, Department of Dermatology and Allergy, Technische Universität München (TUM), Munich (Ollert M, J. Grosch). LRC: All phases of this study were supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grants: SNF 320030_182628, 32003B_162820, PDFMP3 137033, 32003B_162820, 32003B_144068, PZ00P3_147987) and Asthma UK 07/048. LUCKI: This study was supported by Maastricht University and the Public Health Service South Limburg. PIAMA: The Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy Study has been funded by grants from the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development; the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research; the Lung Foundation of the Netherlands; the Netherlands Ministry of Planning, Housing and the Environment; the Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport; and the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. SEATON: Medical Research Council, Grant number: 80219, MR/K001035/1; Asthma UK, Grant numbers: 00/011, 02/017. STEPS Study: The Academy of Finland (grant no. 123571 and 121659); the Juho Vainio Foundation; the Foundation for Pediatric Research; the Finnish Medical Foundation. SWS: The SWS was supported by grants from the Medical Research Council (MC_UU_12011/4), Dunhill Medical Trust, British Heart Foundation, Food Standards Agency (contract no N05071), British Lung Foundation. National Institute for Health Research Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton National Health Service Foundation Trust, the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), project EarlyNutrition (grant 289346) and European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 733206 (LifeCycle). WHISTLER: The authors (from the WHISTLER birth cohort) received no specific funding for this article. The WHISTLER birth cohort was supported with a grant from the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (grant no. 2001-1-1322) and by an unrestricted grant from GlaxoSmithKline Netherlands

    Impact of maternal body mass index and gestational weight gain on pregnancy complications : an individual participant data meta-analysis of European, North American and Australian cohorts

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    Objective To assess the separate and combined associations of maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain with the risks of pregnancy complications and their population impact. Design Individual participant data meta-analysis of 39 cohorts. Setting Europe, North America, and Oceania. Population 265 270 births. Methods Information on maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, gestational weight gain, and pregnancy complications was obtained. Multilevel binary logistic regression models were used. Main outcome measures Gestational hypertension, pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, preterm birth, small and large for gestational age at birth. Results Higher maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain were, across their full ranges, associated with higher risks of gestational hypertensive disorders, gestational diabetes, and large for gestational age at birth. Preterm birth risk was higher at lower and higher BMI and weight gain. Compared with normal weight mothers with medium gestational weight gain, obese mothers with high gestational weight gain had the highest risk of any pregnancy complication (odds ratio 2.51, 95% CI 2.31- 2.74). We estimated that 23.9% of any pregnancy complication was attributable to maternal overweight/obesity and 31.6% of large for gestational age infants was attributable to excessive gestational weight gain. Conclusions Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain are, across their full ranges, associated with risks of pregnancy complications. Obese mothers with high gestational weight gain are at the highest risk of pregnancy complications. Promoting a healthy pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain may reduce the burden of pregnancy complications and ultimately the risk of maternal and neonatal morbidity.Peer reviewe

    Maternal body mass index, gestational weight gain, and the risk of overweight and obesity across childhood : An individual participant data meta-analysis

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    Background Maternal obesity and excessive gestational weight gain may have persistent effects on offspring fat development. However, it remains unclear whether these effects differ by severity of obesity, and whether these effects are restricted to the extremes of maternal body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain. We aimed to assess the separate and combined associations of maternal BMI and gestational weight gain with the risk of overweight/obesity throughout childhood, and their population impact. Methods and findings We conducted an individual participant data meta-analysis of data from 162,129 mothers and their children from 37 pregnancy and birth cohort studies from Europe, North America, and Australia. We assessed the individual and combined associations of maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain, both in clinical categories and across their full ranges, with the risks of overweight/obesity in early (2.0-5.0 years), mid (5.0-10.0 years) and late childhood (10.0-18.0 years), using multilevel binary logistic regression models with a random intercept at cohort level adjusted for maternal sociodemographic and lifestylerelated characteristics. We observed that higher maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain both in clinical categories and across their full ranges were associated with higher risks of childhood overweight/obesity, with the strongest effects in late childhood (odds ratios [ORs] for overweight/obesity in early, mid, and late childhood, respectively: OR 1.66 [95% CI: 1.56, 1.78], OR 1.91 [95% CI: 1.85, 1.98], and OR 2.28 [95% CI: 2.08, 2.50] for maternal overweight; OR 2.43 [95% CI: 2.24, 2.64], OR 3.12 [95% CI: 2.98, 3.27], and OR 4.47 [95% CI: 3.99, 5.23] for maternal obesity; and OR 1.39 [95% CI: 1.30, 1.49], OR 1.55 [95% CI: 1.49, 1.60], and OR 1.72 [95% CI: 1.56, 1.91] for excessive gestational weight gain). The proportions of childhood overweight/obesity prevalence attributable to maternal overweight, maternal obesity, and excessive gestational weight gain ranged from 10.2% to 21.6%. Relative to the effect of maternal BMI, excessive gestational weight gain only slightly increased the risk of childhood overweight/obesity within each clinical BMI category (p-values for interactions of maternal BMI with gestational weight gain: p = 0.038, p <0.001, and p = 0.637 in early, mid, and late childhood, respectively). Limitations of this study include the self-report of maternal BMI and gestational weight gain for some of the cohorts, and the potential of residual confounding. Also, as this study only included participants from Europe, North America, and Australia, results need to be interpreted with caution with respect to other populations. Conclusions In this study, higher maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain were associated with an increased risk of childhood overweight/obesity, with the strongest effects at later ages. The additional effect of gestational weight gain in women who are overweight or obese before pregnancy is small. Given the large population impact, future intervention trials aiming to reduce the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity should focus on maternal weight status before pregnancy, in addition to weight gain during pregnancy.Peer reviewe

    Reading Comprehension and Reading Comprehension Difficulties

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