Sex steroids, IGF-I, and vascular morphology from birth to adulthood in individuals born small for gestational age

Abstract Aim: To study whether there is an association between size at birth, sex steroids, IGF-I, and retinal vascular morphology. Patients and methods: Two different cohorts were studied. In paper I, 25 young adult men born small for gestational age (SGA) were compared to 44 young adult men born appropriate for gestational age (AGA). In papers II–IV, participants were recruited from a cohort of 247 moderately to late preterm infants (137 boys and 110 girls). In paper II, 78 infants underwent an examination of retinal vascular morphology in the neonatal period and IGF-I was determined in umbilical cord blood. In paper III, the steroid hormone pattern in umbilical cord blood from 168 infants (99 boys and 69 girls) was determined by gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. In paper IV, sex steroids were analyzed by GC-MS/MS and IGF-I determined from birth to 10 months corrected age in 98 boys. Results: In paper I, young men born SGA were found to have elevated serum levels of estradiol and dihydrotestosterone (DHT), possibly due to increased activity of the enzymes aromatase and 5α-reductase, respectively. Birth weight standard deviation scores correlated inversely with estradiol-to-testosterone ratio and with DHT-to-testosterone ratio at adult age. Catch-up growth from birth to adult age also correlated with estradiol-to-testosterone ratio and with DHT-to-testosterone ratio. In paper II, birth weight and IGF-I in umbilical cord blood were found to be the most important predictors of abnormal retinal vascularization. In paper III, boys born SGA had lower estrone levels and girls born SGA had higher androstenedione levels than those born AGA, possibly due to decreased placental aromatase. Infants born SGA of both genders had lower cortisone levels. In paper IV, boys born SGA had elevated testosterone levels at around the estimated date of birth. A DHT surge during minipuberty was seen, but this was less pronounced in boys born SGA. At 10 months corrected age, testosterone and androstenedione levels correlated to catch-up growth. Conclusions: Individuals born SGA have an altered sex steroid pattern at different time-points in life. Further longitudinal studies are needed to investigate whether these changes are permanent and have a clinical impact. Keywords: small for gestational age, preterm, sex steroid, estradiol, testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, glucocorticoid, IGF-I, retin

Evaluating a model for the capacity building of midwifery eduators in Bangladesh through a blended, web-based master's programme

Background: While setting international standards for midwifery education has attracted considerable global attention, the education and training of midwifery educators has been relatively neglected, particularly in low-resource settings where capacity building is crucial. Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the expectations of midwifery educators in Bangladesh who took part in a blended web-based master's programme in SRHR and the extent to which these were realized after 12 months of part-time study. Methods: Both quantitative and qualitative methods have been used to collect data. A structured baseline questionnaire was distributed to all participants at the start of the first course (n = 30) and a second endpoint questionnaire was distributed after they (n = 29) had completed the core courses one year later. At the start of the first course, five focus group discussions (FGD) were held with the midwifery educators. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used for the analyses. Results: Midwifery educators who took part in the study identified expectations that can be grouped into three distinct areas. They hoped to become more familiar with technology, anticipated they would learn pedagogical and other skills that would enable them to better support their students' learning and thought they might acquire skills to empower their students as human beings. Participants reported they realized these ambitions, attributing the master's programme with helping them take responsibility for their own teaching and learning, showing them how to enhance their students' learning and how to foster reflective and critical thinking among them. Conclusions: Midwifery educators have taken part in a creative learning environment which has developed their engagement in teaching and learning. They have done this using a blended learning model which combines online learning with face-to-face contact. This model can be scaled up in low resource and remote settings

Healthcare providers' experiences of comprehensive emergency obstetric care in Somaliland : An explorative study with focus on cesarean deliveries

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the experiences of healthcare providers (HCPs) regarding the provision of emergency obstetric care (EmOC) with a focus on cesarean deliveries in a referral hospital and maternal and child health centers in Somaliland. METHODS: An exploratory qualitative approach using focus group discussions was employed at the main referral and teaching hospital and four maternal and child health centers in Hargeisa, Somaliland. Twenty-eight HCPs were divided into groups of 6-8 for discussions lasting 1 to 2 h. All HCPs included in the study had experiences with the provision of EmOC. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Collective family decision making was identified by HCPs as a barrier to the provision of EmOC. This tradition of decision making at a group level was perceived as time-consuming and delayed HCPs from obtaining informed consent for EmOC. Low socioeconomic status and poor knowledge about maternal healthcare among users affected care seeking among women. Suboptimal EmOC at the hospital was reported to be due to miscommunication, inadequate interprofessional collaboration and lack of infrastructure. CONCLUSIONS: HCPs encountered difficulties with the provision of EmOC. A broad array of strategies targeting the community and healthcare system is needed, including training of HCPs on intracultural communication competence, interprofessional collaboration and use of alternative birth methods other than CS. Antenatal care can be used to prepare families for potential obstetric emergencies and as an opportunity to obtain written informed consent

Facility-based maternal deaths : Their prevalence, causes and underlying circumstances. A mixed method study from the national referral hospital of Somaliland

OBJECTIVE: Somaliland has one of the highest rates of maternal deaths in the world. An estimated 732 women die for every 100,000 live births. This study aims to identify the prevalence of facility-based maternal deaths, the causes and their underlying circumstances by interviewing relatives and health care providers at the main referral hospital. METHOD: A hospital-based mixed method study. The prospective cross-sectional design of the WHO Maternal Near Miss tool was combined with narrative interviews with 28 relatives and 28 health care providers in direct contact with maternal deaths. The quantitative data was analysed with descriptive statistics using SPSS and the qualitative part of the study was analysed with content analysis using NVivo. RESULTS: From the 6658 women included 28 women died. The highest direct cause of maternal death was severe obstetric haemorrhage (46.4%), followed by hypertensive disorders (25%) and severe sepsis (10.7%). An indirect obstetric cause of death was medical complications (17.9%). Twenty-five per cent of these cases were admitted to ICU and 89% had referred themselves to the hospital for treatment. The qualitative data identifies two categories of missed opportunities that could have prevented these maternal mortalities: poor risk awareness in the community and inadequate interprofessional collaboration at the hospital. CONCLUSION: The referral system needs to be strengthened utilizing Traditional Birth Attendants as community resource supporting the community facilities. The communication skills and interprofessional collaboration of the health care providers at the hospital needs to be addressed and a national maternal death surveillance system needs to be commenced

Risk factors for stillbirth and beliefs : Findings from a pilot near miss questionnaire study in Somaliland focusing the mother-baby dyad

Background: Somalia is one of 13 countries in Africa with stillbirth rates of more than 30 per 1000 total birth. To our knowledge no study in Somaliland has focused on the mother-baby dyad regarding risk factors for stillbirth. The objective of this study was to identify frequency, causes and beliefs for stillbirth in mothers with life threatening conditions as a pilot for a potential nationwide near-miss study with full coverage in the Somaliland health care system.Method: A prospective cross sectional study using the WHO near-miss questionnaire in a tertiary level hospital with 1.385 deliveries during a five months period in 2015.Results: Out of 138 near miss and death events 22% (n=30) had a stillbirth. Seventy-seven percent (77%) of the mothers (n=23) with stillborn babies survived and 23% died (n=7). They were diagnosed with life threatening conditions, possible to prevent, on arrival at the tertiary hospital. None of them developed the maternal complication/s during the hospital stay. Cesarean sections (43%) were performed within three hours after arrival. Beliefs regarding the stillbirth for the near miss women were that holding the baby born death helps them cope with the loss (74%) and that religious believes helps them cope faster with the loss (91%).Conclusion and clinical implications: The near miss women, their families, TBAs and SBAs might need better information of what causes a stillbirth, how they could prevent it and about the near miss women’s beliefs surrounding stillbirth to enable them to communicate this to pregnant women and prevent delay in admission to the tertiary level hospital. Furthermore, this pilot study suggest that the “Near Miss Questionnaire” could be used in low-and middle income settings to detect a full picture of the situation with stillbirth in a country

Incidence and causes of severe maternal outcomes in Somaliland using the sub-Saharan Africa maternal near-miss criteria : A prospective cross-sectional study in a national referral hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the incidence and causes of severe maternal outcomes and the unmet need for life-saving obstetric interventions among women admitted for delivery in a referral hospital in Somaliland. METHODS: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted from April 15, 2019, to March 31, 2020, with women admitted during pregnancy or childbirth or within 42 days after delivery. Data was collected using the World Health Organization (WHO) and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) maternal near-miss (MNM) tools. Descriptive analysis was performed by computing frequencies, proportions and ratios. RESULTS: The MNM ratio were 56 (SSA criteria) and 13 (WHO criteria) per 1,000 live births. The mortality index was highest among women with medical complications (63%), followed by obstetric haemorrhage (13%), pregnancy-related infection (10%) and hypertensive disorders (7.9%) according to the SSA MNM criteria. Most women giving birth received prophylactic oxytocin for postpartum haemorrhage prevention (97%), and most laparotomies (60%) for ruptured uterus were conducted after three hours. CONCLUSION: There is a need to improve the quality of maternal health services through implementation of evidence-based obstetric interventions and continuous in-service training for health care providers. Using the SSA MNM criteria could facilitate such preventive measures in this setting as well as similar low-resource contexts

Evaluation of an online master’s programme in Somaliland. A phenomenographic study on the experience of professional and personal development among midwifery faculty

To record the variation of perceptions of midwifery faculty in terms of the possibilities and challenges related to the completion of their first online master's level programme in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Somaliland. The informants included in this phenomenongraphical focus group study were those well-educated professional women and men who completed the master's program. The informant perceived that this first online master's level programme provided tools for independent use of the Internet and independent searching for evidence-based information, enhanced professional development, was challenge-driven and evoked curiosity, challenged professional development, enhanced personal development and challenged context-bound career paths. Online education makes it possible for well-educated professional women to continue higher education. It furthermore increased the informants' confidence in their use of Internet, software and databases and in the use of evidence in both their teaching and their clinical practice. Programmes such as the one described in this paper could counter the difficulties ensuring best practice by having a critical mass of midwives who will be able to continually gather contemporary midwifery evidence and use it to ensure best practice. An increase of online education is suggested in South-central Somalia and in similar settings globally.Open Access APC beslut 15/2017</p

A lack of reproductive agency in facility-based births makes home births a first choice regardless of potential risks and medical needs : a qualitative study among multiparous women in Somaliland

BACKGROUND: Around 20% of births in Somaliland take place at health facilities staffed by trained healthcare professionals; 80% take place at home assisted by Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) with no formal training. There has been no research into women's choice of place of birth. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we explore multipara women's needs and preferences when choosing the place of birth. METHOD: An explorative qualitative study using individual in-depth interviews analysed inductively using content analysis. The interviews were conducted in Somaliland with 25 multiparous women who had experience of giving birth both at home and at a health facility within the past three years. RESULTS: The results provide a description of how, for women in Somaliland, a lack of reproductive agency in facility-based births makes home births a first choice regardless of potential risks and medical need. The women in this study desired intentionality in their role as mothers and sought some measure of control over the environment where they planned to give birth, depending on the circumstances of that particular birth. The results describe what quality care means for multipara women in Somaliland and how women choose birthplace based on previous experiences of care. The expectation of respectful care was a vital part for women when choosing a place of birth. CONCLUSION: To meet women's needs and preferences in Somaliland, further investments are needed to strengthen the midwifery profession and to define and test a context specific midwife-led continuity of care model to be scaled up. A dialogue to create new roles and responsibilities for the TBAs who attend most home births is further needed to link them to the formal healthcare system and assure timely healthcare seeking during pregnancy and birth