Clair A Enthoven, Jeremy A Labrecque, Hanan El Marroun, Nicole Lucassen, Dionne V Gootjes, Eefje van Vliet, Hilmar H Bijma, Pauline W Jansen
{"title":"Reducing Inequalities in Timing of Antenatal Care Initiation: A Hypothetical Intervention in the Generation R Study.","authors":"Clair A Enthoven, Jeremy A Labrecque, Hanan El Marroun, Nicole Lucassen, Dionne V Gootjes, Eefje van Vliet, Hilmar H Bijma, Pauline W Jansen","doi":"10.1111/ppe.70020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.70020","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Much research has focused on identifying predictors of late antenatal care initiation. Many of these predictors (e.g., young age, migration background, socioeconomic position) are impossible to modify, illustrating the need to explore other interventions.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study aims to investigate inequalities in antenatal care initiation and assess whether early pregnancy recognition may reduce these inequalities.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Data from Generation R were used (N = 4196), a population-based birth cohort study in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The association of gestational age at pregnancy recognition with the timing of antenatal care initiation and associations of individual and socioeconomic factors with the timing of antenatal care initiation were assessed using linear regression analyses. G-methods were used to estimate the reduction of the inequalities in antenatal care initiation if everyone would have recognised the pregnancy within 6 weeks.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Participants who recognised their pregnancy within 6 weeks (81.7%) had their first antenatal care visit 1.3 weeks (95% confidence interval [CI] -1.6, -0.9) earlier than those who recognised their pregnancy after 6 weeks. All individual and socioeconomic factors were associated with the timing of antenatal care initiation. Modelling a scenario where pregnancy recognition occurred within 6 weeks reduced inequalities in antenatal care initiation timing across several groups: age < 20 versus 30-35 (-0.4 weeks, 95% CI -0.7, -0.2), first-generation migrants versus no migration (-0.1 weeks, 95% CI -0.2, 0.0), unplanned/ambivalent versus planned pregnancies (-0.4 weeks, 95% CI -0.6, -0.2), lower versus higher educational attainment (-0.1 weeks, 95% CI -0.2, 0.0), unemployed versus employed (-0.1 weeks, 95% CI -0.2, 0.0), low versus high household income (-0.1 weeks, 95% CI -0.3, 0.0), renters versus homeowners (-0.1 weeks, 95% CI -0.2, 0.0), and high versus low neighbourhood deprivation (-0.1 weeks, 95% CI -0.2, -0.1).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Early recognition of pregnancy may help reduce the impact of socio-economic inequalities in the timely initiation of antenatal care.</p>","PeriodicalId":19698,"journal":{"name":"Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143795888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Isabel Giacomini, Bárbara Hatzlhoffer Lourenço, Mia Zhu, Allison L Seeley, Alicia Matijasevich, Eduardo Villamor, Marly Augusto Cardoso
{"title":"Re: 'Childhood Growth and Later Outcomes-How We Quantify and Model Growth Matters'.","authors":"Isabel Giacomini, Bárbara Hatzlhoffer Lourenço, Mia Zhu, Allison L Seeley, Alicia Matijasevich, Eduardo Villamor, Marly Augusto Cardoso","doi":"10.1111/ppe.70016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.70016","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19698,"journal":{"name":"Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143780919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Perinatal Epidemiology When Data Are Imperfect: Lessons From Studies on Maternal Mortality.","authors":"Jennifer Zeitlin","doi":"10.1111/ppe.70017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.70017","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19698,"journal":{"name":"Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143753883","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tim A Bruckner, Allison Stolte, Brenda Bustos, Alison Gemmill, Joan A Casey, Hedwig Lee, Ralph A Catalano
{"title":"Left Truncation in the Periviable Period and the Black Survival Advantage.","authors":"Tim A Bruckner, Allison Stolte, Brenda Bustos, Alison Gemmill, Joan A Casey, Hedwig Lee, Ralph A Catalano","doi":"10.1111/ppe.70019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.70019","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Infants born in the periviable period show an extremely high risk of infant death. At all gestational ages in the periviable period, non-Hispanic (NH) Black infants counterintuitively show relatively lower infant mortality risk than do NH white infants. The literature theorises that cohort variation over time in pregnancy loss (a form of left truncation in utero) could explain a portion of this survival advantage.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>We test this left truncation hypothesis in the US (Jan 1996 to Jun 2018) by focusing on NH Black singleton periviable males. We use twin sex ratios as a gauge of cohort left truncation against frail males.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We retrieved US birth and infant death records for all NH Black and NH white singleton infants born in the periviable range for 282 monthly conception cohorts. We used high and low outliers in the monthly sex ratio of extremely preterm twins (M:F), where a higher sex ratio indicates less selection against frail males. We applied augmented time-series methods which control for both autocorrelation and confounding.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>NH Black male periviable singleton infants show a stronger survival advantage (relative to NH whites) for cohorts with high outliers in left truncation (4.0 fewer deaths per 100 live births, 95% confidence interval 1.0, 7.2).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Elevated left truncation in utero may contribute to the survival advantage of NH Black male singletons in the periviable period. Observed racial/ethnic differences in infant mortality across conception cohorts vary, at least in part, from left truncation.</p>","PeriodicalId":19698,"journal":{"name":"Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143764473","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Drops in Atmospheric Pressure and Subsequent Fluctuations in Daily Delivery Volume: A Case-Crossover Study.","authors":"Shuhei Terada, Hisaaki Nishimura, Naoyuki Miyasaka, Takeo Fujiwara","doi":"10.1111/ppe.70012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.70012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Fluctuations in daily delivery volume impact obstetricians' workload and maternal-fetal complications. While sudden drops in atmospheric pressure (e.g. due to typhoons or hurricanes) may be associated with an increase in daily delivery volume in the following days, few studies have explored these associations by gestational week while considering lagged effects.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To investigate whether drops in atmospheric pressure are associated with fluctuations in the daily volume of deliveries with spontaneous onset of labour.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We employed a time-stratified case-crossover design. Data on the daily volume of spontaneous-onset deliveries from 47 prefectures between 2011 and 2020 were obtained from the Japan Perinatal Registry Network database. Quasi-Poisson regression models with distributed lag nonlinear models were used to examine the association between pressure drops (e.g. -13.8 hectopascal (hPa), representing the 1st percentile) and daily delivery volume in each prefecture, with lag periods of up to 14 days. Prefectural estimates were combined using random-effects meta-analysis. Stratified analyses were conducted by the gestational week, categorised as < 37, 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41+ weeks.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 1,074,380 spontaneous-onset deliveries were recorded. The lag-cumulative relative risk of spontaneous-onset deliveries peaked with a lag period of 0-4 days and became negligible beyond 1 week, likely due to harvesting effects. The associations were most pronounced among women with a gestational age between 38 and 40 weeks. Specifically, for a PCN of -13.8 hPa, the 0-4 day lag-cumulative relative risk was as follows: at 38 weeks, 1.07 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.00, 1.14); at 39 weeks, 1.08 (95% CI 1.02, 1.14); and at 40 weeks, 1.10 (95% CI 1.03, 1.19), compared to no pressure change.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Pressure drops were associated with a modestly larger volume of spontaneous-onset deliveries over the following few days, especially at full-term gestation.</p>","PeriodicalId":19698,"journal":{"name":"Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143720939","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Surviving Severe Bleeding After Childbirth: Consequences Along the Life Course?","authors":"Ugochinyere Vivian Ukah, Cande V Ananth","doi":"10.1111/ppe.70015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.70015","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19698,"journal":{"name":"Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143670552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Deborah Karasek, Daniel F Collin, Rita Hamad, Kaitlyn Jackson, Alison Gemmill
{"title":"Perinatal Health and Healthcare Utilisation During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Nationwide Interrupted Time Series Analysis.","authors":"Deborah Karasek, Daniel F Collin, Rita Hamad, Kaitlyn Jackson, Alison Gemmill","doi":"10.1111/ppe.70000","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ppe.70000","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Perinatal health was profoundly affected as a result of the socioeconomic hardships and public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Few studies have evaluated changes and disparities in perinatal health using population-based data and rigorous methods.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To examine changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic in perinatal health and healthcare utilisation.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Using population-based data from the 2016-2021 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (N = 116,170), we employed a Bayesian structural time-series approach to examine deviations in perinatal health and healthcare utilisation outcomes from predicted trends following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, adjusting for covariates.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with delayed prenatal care initiation (1.1%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.2, 2.0), reduced prenatal care (-2.8%, 95% CI -3.6, -1.7), reduced postpartum visits (-1.0%, 95% CI -1.5, -0.4), and increased gestational hypertension (11.1%, 95% CI 5.4, 16.7), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), (17.6%, 95% CI 10.1, 26.2), and prenatal depression (7.3%, 95% CI 1.9, 13.0). Stratified models showed that Black participants experienced earlier prenatal care initiation; Native American participants experienced lower prenatal care visits and greater increases in gestational hypertension and GDM; Asian/Pacific Islander participants experienced delayed prenatal care initiation and heightened prenatal depression and postnatal depressive symptoms; and Hispanic participants experienced higher GWG and reduced postpartum visits.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>As perinatal health imparts enduring impacts for pregnant people and infants, this study provides insight into the pandemic's potentially long-lasting population health effects. Future work should examine longer-term trends and how pandemic-related policies contributed to disparate impacts.</p>","PeriodicalId":19698,"journal":{"name":"Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143616627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Big Data Are Only as Good as the People and the Processes That Create Them: The EUROlinkCAT Success Story.","authors":"Babak Khoshnood","doi":"10.1111/ppe.70014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.70014","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19698,"journal":{"name":"Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143616625","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marianne Philibert, Mika Gissler, Oscar Zurriaga, Serena Donati, Zeljka Drausnik, Günther Heller, Alison Macfarlane, Ashna Mohangoo, Luule Sakkeus, Vlad Tica, Petr Velebil, Jeannette Klimont, Lisa Broeders, Tonia A Rihs, Jennifer Zeitlin
{"title":"Evaluating Perinatal Health in Europe: A Comparison of Routine Population Birth Data Sources.","authors":"Marianne Philibert, Mika Gissler, Oscar Zurriaga, Serena Donati, Zeljka Drausnik, Günther Heller, Alison Macfarlane, Ashna Mohangoo, Luule Sakkeus, Vlad Tica, Petr Velebil, Jeannette Klimont, Lisa Broeders, Tonia A Rihs, Jennifer Zeitlin","doi":"10.1111/ppe.13178","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.13178","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>International comparisons of population birth data provide essential benchmarks for evaluating perinatal health policies.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study aimed to describe routine national data sources in Europe by their ability to provide core perinatal health indicators.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The Euro-Peristat Network collected routine national data on a recommended set of core indicators from 2015 to 2021 using a federated protocol based on a common data model with 16 data items. Data providers completed an online questionnaire to describe the sources used in each country. We classified countries by the number of data items they provided (all 16, 15-14, < 14).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 29 out of the 31 countries that provided data responded to the survey. Routine data sources included birth certificates (15 countries), electronic medical records (EMR) from delivery hospitalisations (16 countries), direct entry by health providers (9 countries), EMR from other care providers (7 countries) and Hospital Discharge Summaries (7 countries). Completeness of population coverage was at least 98%, with 17 countries reporting 100%. These databases most often included mothers giving birth in the national territory, regardless of nationality or place of residence (24 countries), whereas others register births to residents only. In 20 countries, routine sources were linked, including linkage between birth and death certificates (16 countries). Countries providing all 16 items (N = 8) were more likely to use EMRs from delivery hospitalisations (100%) compared to 50% and 11% in countries with 15-14 items (N = 12) and < 14 items (N = 9), respectively. Linkage was also more common in these countries (100%) versus 75% and 56%, respectively. Other data source characteristics did not differ by the ability to provide data on core perinatal indicators.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>There are wide differences between countries in the data sources used to construct perinatal health indicators in Europe. Countries using EMR linking to other sources had the best data availability.</p>","PeriodicalId":19698,"journal":{"name":"Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143605957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Susan M Mason, Kriszta Farkas, Lisa M Bodnar, Richard F MacLehose, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer
{"title":"Adolescent Risk Factors for Adult Pre-Pregnancy Obesity and High Gestational Weight Gain: A Longitudinal Study.","authors":"Susan M Mason, Kriszta Farkas, Lisa M Bodnar, Richard F MacLehose, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer","doi":"10.1111/ppe.70007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.70007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Risk factors during adolescence appear to shape adult health, but little is known about how they are associated with pregnancy health.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>We aimed to assess whether a variety of adolescent risk factors with links to adult overweight or obesity are associated with pre-pregnancy obesity (Body Mass Index [BMI] ≥ 30 kg/m<sup>2</sup>) and high gestational weight gain (GWG; > 0.5 SD for pre-pregnancy BMI category and gestational age) in a cohort of women participating since adolescence in a longitudinal cohort.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>At age 11-18 years participants reported on adolescent risk factors (overweight or obesity, healthy and unhealthy home food availability, food insufficiency, family meals, depressive symptoms, body dissatisfaction, weight teasing, binge eating, unhealthy weight control behaviours and dieting). Twenty years later, participants reporting a live birth (n = 656) recalled their pre-pregnancy weight and total GWG. Modified Poisson regression models were used to estimate associations of each factor with pre-pregnancy obesity and high GWG, adjusting for sociodemographics. We used Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations to account for outcome misclassification using internal validation data.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Eighteen percent of the sample had pre-pregnancy obesity and 26% had high GWG. Adolescent overweight or obesity (RR = 4.98, 95% CI 3.27, 7.57), body dissatisfaction (RR = 1.99; 95% CI: 1.31, 3.03) and unhealthy weight control behaviours (RR = 1.70; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.74), among other factors, were associated with pre-pregnancy obesity risk. For high GWG, there were imprecise associations with adolescent overweight or obesity (RR = 1.57; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.31), binge eating (RR = 1.36; 95% CI: 0.77, 2.39) and unhealthy weight control behaviours (RR = 1.38; 95% CI: 0.84, 2.25), among others.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Findings suggest that some risk markers for pre-pregnancy obesity (and possibly high GWG) may be apparent as early as adolescence. Supporting adolescent health and well-being might have a role in improving weight-related health in the perinatal period.</p>","PeriodicalId":19698,"journal":{"name":"Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143605951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}