Effect of maternal cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy on birth weight and cardiometabolic risk factors in infants, children and adolescents: A systematic review protocol

Tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy are particularly prevalent in low socioeconomic status populations, with an adverse association with birth outcomes and cardiometabolic risk factors. However, the direct and indirect effects of prenatal cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy on cardiometabolic risk in offspring have been rather inconsistent. This may be attributed to multiple factors, such as the amount and timing of exposure to tobacco smoking and alcohol during pregnancy; the influence of maternal, environmental and socioeconomic factors; or how risk factors were defined by individual researchers and studies

Prevalence of multimorbidity in South Africa: A systematic review protocol

Introduction Multimorbidity has increased globally over the past two decades, due to ageing populations and increased burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In a country like South Africa, with a growing burden of NCDs and a high prevalence of HIV, information on multimorbidity can improve planning for healthcare delivery and utilisation, and reduce costs in the context of constrained health resources. This review aims to synthesise prevalence studies on multimorbidity, and identify dominant clusters and trends of multimorbidity in South Africa. Methods and analysis We will search electronic bibliographic databases (PubMed, Scopus, JSTOR, POPLINE, PsycINFO, ScienceDirect, Web of Science and CINAHL), and the reference lists of included articles. Two researchers will independently screen title and abstracts, and then full text to identify studies published before and in 2020 that report on prevalence of multimorbidity in South Africa. Risk of bias assessments will be done for each study. Information on the prevalence of multimorbidity and disease clusters will be extracted from each study

Interventions for preventing postpartum constipation

CITATION: Turawa, E. B., Musekiwa, A. & Rohwer, A. C. 2015. Interventions for preventing postpartum constipation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 9: Art. No.: CD011625, doi:10.1002/14651858.CD011625.pub2.The original publication is available at https://www.cochranelibrary.comBackground: Postpartum constipation, with symptoms such as pain or discomfort, straining, and hard stool, is a common condition affecting mothers. Haemorrhoids, pain at the episiotomy site, effects of pregnancy hormones and haematinics used in pregnancy can increase the risk of postpartum constipation. Eating a high-fibre diet and increasing fluid intake is usually encouraged, although laxatives are commonly used in relieving constipation. The effectiveness and safety of available interventions for preventing postpartum constipation needs to be ascertained. Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of interventions for preventing postpartum constipation

Effect of maternal cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy on birth weight and cardiometabolic risk factors in infants, children and adolescents: a systematic review protocol

Introduction Tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy are particularly prevalent in low socioeconomic status populations, with an adverse association with birth outcomes and cardiometabolic risk factors. However, the direct and indirect effects of prenatal cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy on cardiometabolic risk in offspring have been rather inconsistent. This may be attributed to multiple factors, such as the amount and timing of exposure to tobacco smoking and alcohol during pregnancy; the influence of maternal, environmental and socioeconomic factors; or how risk factors were defined by individual researchers and studies. Therefore, this review aims to provide a summary of the most recent evidence on birth outcomes and cardiometabolic risk in children associated with alcohol and/or tobacco exposure in utero.Methods and analysis PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science will be searched to identify published articles from 1 January 2001. Clinical studies that investigate the association between maternal cigarette smoking or alcohol consumption and birth weight and cardiometabolic risk factors in infants, children and adolescents will be included. Prospective cohort, case-control studies and birth cohort studies will be eligible for inclusion. Grey literature will be searched including conference proceedings, Google Scholar and the ProQuest Dissertation and Theses database. Only studies published in English will be included, with no restrictions regarding country, race or gender. Two independent reviewers will conduct the literature search and article screening. Eligibility criteria will be based on the population (infants, children, adolescents), exposure (maternal cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption or both), comparator (control group with no exposure during pregnancy) and outcomes (birth weight and cardiometabolic risk factors). Quality assessment and risk of bias will be assessed using a risk of bias tool for observational studies, and data will be extracted for analysis using a researcher-generated data extraction form. A meta-analysis will be performed to estimate pooled effect sizes if there are sufficient good-quality studies available. Sources of heterogeneity will be explored using subgroup analysis.Ethics and dissemination Ethical clearance will not be required as this review will extract publicly available secondary data. Findings from this review will be disseminated via publication in a peer-review journal.PROSPERO registration number CRD42021286630