Search Results

Methods: A total of 7496 births to 3990 mothers from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 survey are examined. Outcomes include macrosomia, gestational length, incidence of low birthweight, preterm birth, large and small for gestational age (LGA, SGA), c-section, infant doctor visits, mother's and infant's days in hospital post-partum, whether the mother breastfed, and duration of breastfeeding. Association of outcomes with maternal pre-pregnancy obesity was examined using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression to compare across mothers and fixed effects to compare within families.

Results: In fixed effect models we find no statistically significant association between most outcomes and prepregnancy obesity with the exception of LGA, SGA, low birth weight, and preterm birth. We find that prepregnancy obesity is associated with a lower risk of low birthweight, SGA, and preterm birth but controlling for prepregnancy obesity, increases in GWG lead to increased risk of LGA.

Conclusions: Contrary to previous studies, which have found that maternal obesity increases the risk of c-section, macrosomia, and LGA, while decreasing the probability of breastfeeding, our sibling comparison models reveal no such association. In fact, our results suggest a protective effect of obesity in that women who are obese prepregnancy have longer gestation lengths, and are less likely to give birth to a preterm or low birthweight infant.

Methods: Three indices of work attributes (Status and Recognition, Physical Demands, and Exposure to Conflict) were derived by factor analysis of variables extracted from the Department of Labor's O*Net database. The indices were linked to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth using occupation codes for the primary jobs held by women who gave birth between 1979 and 2000 and worked during the quarter prior to birth (n = 3,386 births to n = 2,508 mothers). Multiple regression was used to model birth outcomes as functions of the work attribute indices, controlling for several measures of socioeconomic status and risk factors for adverse birth outcomes.

Results: In the full sample, work-related Physical Demands were associated with lower average birthweight and increased odds of preterm birth while Status and Recognition was associated with higher average birthweight and lower odds of fetal growth restriction. In stratified models, Status and Recognition was associated with higher birth weight among women with low (versus high) income and with lower odds of preterm birth among women with low (versus high) education. Physical Demands were associated with higher rates of preterm birth among women with low (versus high) income and education and among African-American mothers (compared to Whites).

Conclusions: The work environment is an important predictor of healthy births. Relations between maternal work attributes and birth outcomes differ by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status and according to the outcome under investigation. Further research with measures of work attributes specific to maternal work experiences is recommended to confirm our findings.

Methods: Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Child and Young Adult data, this study retrospectively examined a cohort of 4114 women and 8668 children. In addition to questions focusing on maternal smoking and general demographics, each survey included the Behavior Problems Index (BPI), a 28-item questionnaire with six subscales measuring childhood behavior problems (antisocial behavior, anxiousness/depression, headstrongness, hyperactivity, immature dependency, and peer conflict/social withdrawal). Responses to the BPI, completed by mothers with children ages 4–14, were summarized on a QALY scale using published preference weights.

Results: Children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy experience additional QALY losses of 0.181, on average, per year due to increased behavior problems. Boys suffered larger QALY losses associated with maternal smoking (0.242) compared to girls (0.119; p value = .021), regardless of age. Moreover, heavier smoking during pregnancy (i.e., 1 or more packs/day) was associated with larger QALY losses (0.282; p-value < .001).

Conclusions for Practice: These findings illustrate the burden of maternal smoking during pregnancy on child health, namely behavioral problems. The losses in QALYs may be incorporated into economic evaluations for smoking cessation interventions during pregnancy. Future research will investigate how maternal smoking following childbirth is associated with child QALYs.

Methods: Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort, we utilized nested, multivariable hierarchical linear models to examine the correlation of these three outcomes between births (n = 6006) to women (n = 3605) and sisters (n = 3170) so that we can quantify the clustering by sibship and by woman for these three pregnancy-related outcomes.

Results: After controlling for confounding covariates, prepregnancy BMI (intraclass correlation (ICC) 0.24, 95% CI 0.16, 0.32), gestational weight gain (ICC 0.23, 95% CI 0.16, 0.31), and infant's birthweight (ICC 0.07, 95% CI 0.003, 0.13) were correlated between sisters. Additionally, all three outcomes were significantly correlated between births for each sister, suggesting that prepregnancy BMI (ICC 0.82, 95% CI 0.81, 0.83), gestational weight gain (ICC 0.45, 95% CI 0.42, 0.49), and birth weight (ICC 0.31, 95% CI 0.28, 0.35) track between pregnancies in the same woman. .

Methods: Observational study of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, a nationally representative sample of 12,686 men and women between the ages of 14 and 21. We used data from surveys of women reporting childbirth between 1979 and 2004. Relationship status was defined as relationship with an opposite-sex partner in the child's birth year. Relationship stability was defined as the consistency in relationship status in the 1 year before, of, and after the child's birth. Childbirth outcome included small-for-gestational age (SGA) infant. We applied random effects logistic regression models to assess the association between relationship status and stability and childbirth outcome—adjusting for maternal race, infant sex, history of miscarriage, employment, maternal age, multiparity, cohort-entry year, household poverty status, and tobacco use.

Results: The study included 4439 women with 8348 live births. In fully adjusted models, term SGA infants were more commonly born to partnered women (AOR 1.81; 95 % CI 1.20–2.73) and unmarried women (AOR 1.82; CI 1.34–2.47; LRT p value 0.0001), compared to married women. SGA infants were also more commonly born in unstable relationships (AOR 1.72; 95 % CI 1.14–2.63; LRT p value 0.01) compared to stable relationships.

Conclusions for Practice: Maternal relationship status and stability during pregnancy is independently associated with risk of SGA infant birth.