High order multiple births in the Maltese population

Triplets are a relatively rare occurrence being encountered in the Maltese Islands with an overall incidence of about 0.1 per 1000 maternities. The incidence appears to be on the increase over the last twenty years rising from the 0.08 per 1000 maternities in the decade 1960-69 to 0.11 per 1000 maternities in the following two decades. This increase has been correlated with the increasing use of ovulation induction agents, as has the occurrence of two quadruplets and one octuplet pregnancies in 1988-90. Triplets are shown to occur more frequently in elderly mothers, but no relationship to parity could be identified. Higher order births are shown to have a high incidence of antenatal and intrapartum problems, and are associated with a higher fetal loss than singleton pregnancies.peer-reviewe

The increasing trend in preterm birth in public hospitals in northern Argentina

Objective: To identify factors associated with the increasing incidence of preterm birth in northern Argentina. Methods: In an observational study, data were reviewed from a prospective, population-based registry of pregnancy outcomes in six cities in 2009-2012. The primary outcome was preterm birth (at 20-37 weeks). Bivariate tests and generalized estimating equations were used within a conceptual hierarchical framework to estimate the cluster-corrected annual trend in odds of preterm birth. Results: The study reviewed data from 11 433 live births. There were 484 (4.2%) preterm births. The incidence of preterm births increased by 38% between 2009 and 2012, from 37.5 to 51.7 per 1000 live births. Unadjusted risk factors for preterm birth included young or advanced maternal age, normal body mass index, nulliparity, no prenatal care, no vitamins or supplements during pregnancy, multiple gestation, and maternal hypertension or prepartum hemorrhage. The prevalence of many risk factors increased over the study period, but variations in these factors explained less than 1% of the increasing trend in preterm birth. Conclusion: The incidence of preterm births insix small cities in northern Argentina increased greatly between 2009 and 2012. This trend was unexplained by the risk factors measured. Other factors should be assessed in future studies.Fil: Weaver, Emily H.. University of North Carolina School at Chapel Hill; Estados UnidosFil: Gibbons, Luz. Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria; ArgentinaFil: Belizan, Jose. Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Althabe, Fernando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria; Argentin

Female Employment and Timing of Births Decisions: A Multiple State Transition Model

In this paper we estimate a multiple state transition model, describing transitions into maternity and labor market transitions for women.Each state is characterized by two components: the labor market state and the maternity state. This enables us to investigate to disentangle the effects of socio-economic variables on the timing of births and on labor market transitions.We find that the transition intensities into maternity are significantly higher for non-employed women than for employed women, and transition intensities into employment are significantly higher for women with no children than for women with children.Lower educated non-employed women have a higher transition probability into maternity and lower transition probability into employment than higher educated non-employed women.female workers;models;pregnancy

On the Bootstrap for Persistence Diagrams and Landscapes

Persistent homology probes topological properties from point clouds and functions. By looking at multiple scales simultaneously, one can record the births and deaths of topological features as the scale varies. In this paper we use a statistical technique, the empirical bootstrap, to separate topological signal from topological noise. In particular, we derive confidence sets for persistence diagrams and confidence bands for persistence landscapes

Determinants of infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe: Results of multivariate hazard analysis

This study addresses important issues in infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe. The objective of the paper is to determine the impact of maternal, socioeconomic and sanitation variables on infant and child mortality. Results show that births of order 6+ with a short preceding interval had the highest risk of infant mortality. The infant mortality risk associated with multiple births was 2.08 times higher relative to singleton births (pCox proportional hazards models, Demographic and Health Survey, infant and child mortality, under-five mortality, Zimbabwe

Exploring Biomedical, Temporal, and Embodied Perspectives on the Timing of Birth in Central Nepal

As an ANHS Senior Fellow, I began to explore the standardization of time in obstetrics and its translation into everyday practice in Nepal by analyzing the various perspectives involved in determining a woman’s ideal time of delivery and a successful pregnancy: those of laypeople, doctors, and the scholars setting the guidelines. I observed Nepali biomedical practitioners’ negotiation of multiple understandings of parturition and their strategies for overcoming the challenges of pre- and post-term births

Is Marriage Protective for all Children? Cumulative Risks at Birth and Subsequent Child Behavior among Urban Families

Today, 37% of all births are to unmarried mothers (Hamilton, Martin, & Ventura, 2006). This represents a doubling in nonmarital childbearing in the past 25 years. Reducing nonmarital childbearing and promoting marriage among unmarried parents have become major policy concerns because, although the increase in nonmarital births has occurred at all education levels and among all race/ethnic groups, the trends have disproportionately affected lower educated and minority women (Ellwood & Jencks, 2004), which is fueling the growing inequality in this country. A concern is that two very different trajectories have been created for children; one for children born to married parents that is largely advantageous and one for children born to unmarried mothers that is beset with multiple risks.