ObjeCTIVE: To study the association of preeclampsia with abnormal bleeding in the first trimester and after delivery. DESIGN: Register-based population study. Setting. The Medical Birth Registry of Norway. Population. A total of 315,085 women in Norway with singleton deliveries after 21 weeks of gestation (1999-2004). METHODS: We compared frequencies of vaginal bleeding in the first trimester between women who subsequently developed preeclampsia and women without preeclampsia development, and made similar comparisons for postpartum bleeding. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Proportion of women with bleeding. RESULTS: In the first trimester, vaginal bleeding occurred in 1.6% (215/13,166) of subsequent preeclampsia cases, compared to 2.0% (6,112/301,919) of normotensives (p1,500 mL) occurred in 3.0% (399/13,166) of preeclampsia cases and in 1.4% (4,223/301,919) of normotensives (p500 mL) was also more common in preeclampsia cases (22.9% versus 13.9%, p
A population-based case-control study was conducted in Sweden and Norway to analyse possible associations between breast cancer occurring before the age of 45 and several different characteristics of the women's reproductive life. A total of 422 (89.2%) of all eligible patients, and 527 (80.6%) of all eligible controls were interviewed. In univariate analyses, different characteristics of child-bearing (parity, age at first birth, years between last birth and diagnosis, duration of breast-feeding, and number of induced and spontaneous abortions), measures of the fertile or ovulating period (age at menarche, years between menarche and first pregnancy, and estimates of the menstruation span) and symptoms of anovulatory cycles or infertility were all seemingly unrelated to, or at most weakly associated with breast cancer. Adjustment for possible confounding factors in multivariate analyses resulted in largely unaltered risk estimates with odds ratios close to unity and without any significant trends when the exposure variables were studied in categorised or in continuous form. We conclude that reproductive factors did not explain the occurrence of breast cancer before the age of 45 in this population.
The study aims to describe the incidence and geographical distribution of accidental out-of-hospital births (accidental births) in Finland in relation to the changes in the hospital network, and to compare the perinatal outcomes of accidental births and all hospital births.
Data for the incidence and distribution analyses of accidental births were obtained from the official statistics between 1962 and 1973 and from the national Medical Birth Registry (MBR) in 1992-1993. The infant outcomes were analyzed for the MBR data in 1991-1995.
Between 1963 and 1975 the central hospital network expanded and by 1975 they covered 72% of births. The number of small maternity units has decreased since 1963. The incidence of accidental births decreased between 1963 and 1973, from 1.3 to 0.4 per 1000 births, and rose by the 1990s to 1/1000. In the 1990s the parity adjusted risk of an accidental birth was higher for residents of northern than of southern Finland, OR 2.51 (CI 1.75-3.60), and for residents of rural compared to urban municipalities, OR 3.26 (CI 2.48-4.27). The birthweight adjusted risk for a perinatal death was higher in accidental births than in hospital births, OR 3.11 (CI 1.42-6.84).
A temporal correlation between closing of small hospitals and an increase in accidental birth rates was detected. Due to the poor infant outcomes of accidental births, centralization policies should include measures to their prevention.
Revealing causal effects from correlative data is very challenging and a contemporary problem in human life history research owing to the lack of experimental approach. Problems with causal inference arising from measurement error in independent variables, whether related either to inaccurate measurement technique or validity of measurements, seem not well-known in this field. The aim of this study is to show how structural equation modeling (SEM) with latent variables can be applied to account for measurement error in independent variables when the researcher has recorded several indicators of a hypothesized latent construct.
As a simple example of this approach, measurement error in lifetime allocation of resources to reproduction in Finnish preindustrial women is modelled in the context of the survival cost of reproduction. In humans, lifetime energetic resources allocated in reproduction are almost impossible to quantify with precision and, thus, typically used measures of lifetime reproductive effort (e.g., lifetime reproductive success and parity) are likely to be plagued by measurement error. These results are contrasted with those obtained from a traditional regression approach where the single best proxy of lifetime reproductive effort available in the data is used for inference.
As expected, the inability to account for measurement error in women's lifetime reproductive effort resulted in the underestimation of its underlying effect size on post-reproductive survival.
This article emphasizes the advantages that the SEM framework can provide in handling measurement error via multiple-indicator latent variables in human life history studies.
The 10-item Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire-Revised (PRAQ-R) is a widely used instrument to assess and identify pregnancy-specific anxiety in nulliparous women. It has good psychometric values and predictive validity for birth and childhood outcomes. Nonetheless, the PRAQ-R is not designed for use in parous women, as particularly one item of the questionnaire is not relevant for women who gave birth before. We tested the factorial and scalar invariance of a modified PRAQ-R2 across nulliparous and parous women with an adapted item to fit both groups of pregnant women. A longitudinal study among 1144 pregnant women (n = 608 nulliparous and n = 536 parous) with two repeated measures of the PRAQ-R2 was used to test for measurement invariance of the instrument. Results show metric and scalar invariance, indicating that the PRAQ-R2 measures similar constructs on the same scale for all pregnant women at two different times during pregnancy. We conclude that the PRAQ-R2 can be used, compared, or combined in a sample of nulliparous and parous women.
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Cites: J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2002 Sep;41(9):1078-8512218429
The purpose of this study was to examine differences in adequacy of prenatal care and incidence of low birthweight between low-income women with Medicaid in Washington State and low-income women with Canadian provincial health insurance in British Columbia.
A population-based cross-sectional study was done by using linked birth certificates and claims data.
Overall, the adjusted odds ratio for inadequate prenatal care in Washington (comparing women with Medicaid with those with private insurance) was 3.2. However, the risk varied by time of Medicaid enrollment relative to pregnancy (2.0, 1.0, 2.7, 6.3; for women who enrolled prior to pregnancy, during the first trimester, during the second trimester, or during the third trimester, respectively). In British Columbia, the adjusted odds ratio for inadequate care (comparing women receiving a health premium subsidy with those receiving no subsidy) was 1.5 for women receiving a 100% subsidy and 1.2 for women receiving a 95% subsidy. The risk for low birthweight followed a similar trend in both regions, but there was no association with enrollment period in Washington.
Overall, the risk for inadequate prenatal care among poor women was much greater in Washington than in British Columbia. Most of the difference was due to Washington women's delayed enrollment in Medicaid. In both regions, the poor were at similar risk for low birthweight relative to their more affluent counterparts.
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To investigate the association between advanced maternal age and stillbirth risks in first, second, third, and fourth births or more.
A population-based registry study including all women aged 25 years and older with singleton pregnancies at 28 weeks of gestation and later gave birth in Sweden from 1990 to 2011; 1,804,442 pregnancies were analyzed. In each parity group, the risk of stillbirth at age 30-34 years, 35-39 years, and 40 years and older compared with age 25-29 years was investigated by logistic regression analyses adjusted for sociodemographic factors, smoking, body mass index, history of stillbirth, and interdelivery interval. Also, two low-risk groups were investigated: women with a high level of education and nonsmoking women of normal weight.
Stillbirth rates increased by maternal age: 25-29 years 0.27%; 30-34 years 0.31%; 35-39 years 0.40%; and 40 years or older 0.53%. Stillbirth risk increased by maternal age in first births. Compared with age 25-29 years, this increase was approximately 25% at 30-34 years and doubled at age 35 years. In second, third, and fourth birth or more, stillbirth risk increased with maternal age in women with a low and middle level of education, but not in women with high education. In nonsmokers of normal weight, the risk in second births increased from age 35 years or older and in third births or more from age 30 years or older.
Advanced maternal age is an independent risk factor for stillbirth in nulliparous women. This age-related risk is reduced or eliminated in parous women, possibly as a result of physiologic adaptations during the first pregnancy.
