Although collectively they are fairly common, birth defects receive limited attention as a group of outcomes either clinically or from a public health perspective. This article provides an overview ...of the prevalence, trends and selected socio-demographic risk factors for several major birth defects, including neural tube defects, cranio-facial anomalies, congenital heart defects, trisomies 13, 18, and 21, and gastroschisis and omphalocele. Attention should focus on strengthening existing registries, creating birth defects surveillance programs in states that do not have them, and standardizing registry methods so that broadly national data to monitor these trends are available.
Studies in low- and middle-income regions suggest that child marriage (<18 years) is a risk factor for poor reproductive outcomes among women. However, in high-income-country contexts where ...childbearing before age 18 occurs predominantly outside marriage, it is unknown whether marriage is adversely associated with reproductive health among mothers below age 18. This study examined the joint associations of marriage and adolescent maternal age group (<18, 18-19, and 20-24 years) with reproductive, maternal, and infant health indicators in the United States.
Birth registrations with US resident mothers aged ≤24 years with complete information on marital status were drawn from the 2014 to 2019 Natality Public Use Files (n = 5,669,824). Odds ratios for the interaction between marital status and maternal age group were estimated using multivariable logistic regression, adjusting for covariates such as maternal race/ethnicity and nativity status, federal program participation, and paternal age. Marriage prevalence was 3.6%, 13.2%, and 34.1% among births to mothers aged <18, 18-19, and 20-24 years, respectively. Age gradients in the adjusted odds ratios (AORs) were present for most indicators, and many gradients differed by marital status. Among births to mothers aged <18 years, marriage was associated with greater adjusted odds of prior pregnancy termination (AOR 1.64, 95% CI 1.52-1.77, p < 0.001), repeat birth (AOR 2.84, 95% CI 2.68-3.00, p < 0.001), maternal smoking (AOR 1.24, 95% CI 1.15-1.35, p < 0.001), and infant morbidity (AOR 1.07, 95% CI 1.01-1.14, p = 0.03), but weaker or reverse associations existed among births to older mothers. For all maternal age groups, marriage was associated with lower adjusted odds of late or no prenatal care initiation, sexually transmitted infection, and no breastfeeding at hospital discharge, but these beneficial associations were weaker among births to mothers aged <18 and 18-19 years. Limitations of the study include its cross-sectional nature and lack of information on marriage timing relative to prior pregnancy events.
Marriage among mothers below age 18 is associated with both adverse and favorable reproductive, maternal, and infant health indicators. Heterogeneity exists in the relationship between marriage and reproductive health across adolescent maternal age groups, suggesting girl child marriages must be examined separately from marriages at older ages.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract The field of spatial epidemiology has evolved rapidly in the past 2 decades. This study serves as a brief introduction to spatial epidemiology and the use of geographic information systems ...in applied research in epidemiology. We highlight technical developments and highlight opportunities to apply spatial analytic methods in epidemiologic research, focusing on methodologies involving geocoding, distance estimation, residential mobility, record linkage and data integration, spatial and spatio-temporal clustering, small area estimation, and Bayesian applications to disease mapping. The articles included in this issue incorporate many of these methods into their study designs and analytical frameworks. It is our hope that these studies will spur further development and utilization of spatial analysis and geographic information systems in epidemiologic research.
This study was designed to evaluate the hypothesis that the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among children in the United States is positively associated with socioeconomic status (SES).
...A cross-sectional study was implemented with data from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, a multiple source surveillance system that incorporates data from educational and health care sources to determine the number of 8-year-old children with ASD among defined populations. For the years 2002 and 2004, there were 3,680 children with ASD among a population of 557,689 8-year-old children. Area-level census SES indicators were used to compute ASD prevalence by SES tertiles of the population.
Prevalence increased with increasing SES in a dose-response manner, with prevalence ratios relative to medium SES of 0.70 (95% confidence interval CI 0.64, 0.76) for low SES, and of 1.25 (95% CI 1.16, 1.35) for high SES, (P<0.001). Significant SES gradients were observed for children with and without a pre-existing ASD diagnosis, and in analyses stratified by gender, race/ethnicity, and surveillance data source. The SES gradient was significantly stronger in children with a pre-existing diagnosis than in those meeting criteria for ASD but with no previous record of an ASD diagnosis (p<0.001), and was not present in children with co-occurring ASD and intellectual disability.
The stronger SES gradient in ASD prevalence in children with versus without a pre-existing ASD diagnosis points to potential ascertainment or diagnostic bias and to the possibility of SES disparity in access to services for children with autism. Further research is needed to confirm and understand the sources of this disparity so that policy implications can be drawn. Consideration should also be given to the possibility that there may be causal mechanisms or confounding factors associated with both high SES and vulnerability to ASD.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
This study investigated the association of age at natural menopause with or without undergoing hysterectomy and/or bilateral oophorectomy after menopause and age at surgical menopause with all-cause ...mortality and lifespan in postmenopausal women.
The data stemmed from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (1999-2018) and NHANES III (1988-1994), including 14,161 postmenopausal women over 40. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) (95% confidence intervals CIs). We also used Cox proportional hazard models with penalized splines to depict the association between continuous age at menopause and all-cause mortality and nonparametric regression with smoothing splines to illustrate the association between age at menopause and lifespan in deceased participants.
The adjusted HRs (95% CIs) for age at natural menopause of <40, 40 to 44, and 55+ years in women without undergoing hysterectomy or bilateral oophorectomy after menopause were 1.48 (1.15-1.91), 1.16 (1.00-1.35), and 0.91 (0.77-1.07) compared with age at natural menopause of 45 to 54, respectively. The respective HRs (95% CIs) for age at surgical menopause were 1.39 (1.11-1.75), 1.09 (0.86-1.38), and 0.83 (0.53-1.32). However, no significant association was found between age at natural menopause and all-cause mortality among women undergoing hysterectomy and/or bilateral oophorectomy after menopause. When treated as continuous variables, age at natural menopause without undergoing hysterectomy or bilateral oophorectomy after menopause presented inverse and nonlinear associations with all-cause mortality, whereas age at surgical menopause was linearly inversely associated with all-cause mortality. The association between age at menopause and lifespan was linearly positive regardless of menopausal type.
Young age at menopause was associated with increased risks of all-cause mortality. The later menopause age was related to a longer lifespan.
Assisted reproductive technologies (ART), including in vitro fertilization with fresh or frozen embryos as well as intracytoplasmic sperm injection, have come into increasing use in Western nations ...since the late 1970s. Pregnancies resulting from ART are more likely to result in stillbirth, multiple gestation, preterm delivery, and low birth weight, with higher rates of adverse outcomes after procedures that involve the placing of either a single embryo or multiple embryos. Infant mortality rates are higher as well, whereas evidence for an increased risk of specific birth defects is equivocal. Here, Kirby highlights Hansen et al's research on child health and developmental outcomes
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