Fasting during Ramadan Increases Risk of Very Preterm Birth among Arabic-Speaking Women

2019 ◽  
Vol 149 (10) ◽  
pp. 1826-1832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasmi M Tith ◽  
Marianne Bilodeau-Bertrand ◽  
Ga Eun Lee ◽  
Jessica Healy-Profitós ◽  
Nathalie Auger

ABSTRACT Background The impact of fasting on risk of preterm birth during Ramadan is unclear. Objectives We evaluated the association between Ramadan fasting during pregnancy and risk of preterm birth for Arab women in Canada. Methods We analyzed birth certificates from 3,123,508 deliveries in Quebec, Canada, from 1981 to 2017. We identified 78,109 births of Arabic-speaking women and determined if Ramadan occurred during any trimester of pregnancy. We calculated rates of extreme (22–27 wk), very (28–31 wk), and late (32–36 wk) preterm birth and estimated RRs and 95% CIs for the association of Ramadan fasting with risk of preterm birth by pregnancy trimester, using log-binomial regression models adjusted for maternal characteristics. Results Arabic speakers had an overall preterm birth rate of 5.53 per 100 births, but rates varied with timing of Ramadan. Among Arabic speakers, fasting during Ramadan between weeks 15–21 of the second trimester was associated with 1.33 times the risk of very preterm birth relative to no fasting (95% CI: 1.06, 1.68). Between weeks 22 and 27 of the second trimester, fasting during Ramadan was associated with 1.53 times the risk of very preterm birth (95% CI: 1.21, 1.93). Ramadan fasting was not associated with extreme or late preterm birth regardless of the trimester of pregnancy. Conclusions In this study of 78,109 births to Arabic-speaking women in Quebec, Ramadan fasting during the second pregnancy trimester was associated with the risk of very preterm birth. Optimal prenatal education about nutritional needs in the second trimester of pregnancy is recommended.

2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 298-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Johansson ◽  
Susanne Buchmayer ◽  
Sophia Harlid ◽  
Anastasia Iliadou ◽  
Malin Sjöholm ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (Suppl) ◽  
pp. 333-344
Author(s):  
Kaitlyn K. Stanhope ◽  
Shakira F. Suglia ◽  
Carol J.R. Hogue ◽  
Juan S. Leon ◽  
Dawn L. Comeau ◽  
...  

Introduction: Limited existing research suggests that immigration climate and enforcement practices represent a social determinant of health for immigrants, their families, and communities. However, national research on the impact of specific policies is limited. The goal of this article is to estimate the effect of county-level participation in a 287(g) immigration enforcement agreement on very preterm birth (VPTB, <32 weeks’ gestation) rates between 2005-2016 among US-born and foreign-born Hispanic women across the United States.Methods: We fit spatial Bayesian models to estimate the effect of local participa­tion in a 287(g) program on county VPTB rates, accounting for variation by mater­nal nativity, county ethnic density, and controlling for individual specific Hispanic background and nativity and county-level confounders.Results: While there was no global ef­fect of county participation in a 287(g) program on county VPTB rates, rates were slightly increased in some counties, primarily in the Southeast (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina).Future Directions: Future research should consider the mechanisms through which immigration policies and enforce­ment may impact health of both immi­grants and wider communities.Ethn Dis. 2021;31(Suppl 1):333-344; doi:10.18865/ed.31.S1.333


Biostatistics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 790-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua L Warren ◽  
Wenjing Kong ◽  
Thomas J Luben ◽  
Howard H Chang

Summary Understanding the impact that environmental exposure during different stages of pregnancy has on the risk of adverse birth outcomes is vital for protection of the fetus and for the development of mechanistic explanations of exposure–disease relationships. As a result, statistical models to estimate critical windows of susceptibility have been developed for several different reproductive outcomes and pollutants. However, these current methods fail to adequately address the primary objective of this line of research; how to statistically identify a critical window of susceptibility. In this article, we introduce critical window variable selection (CWVS), a hierarchical Bayesian framework that directly addresses this question while simultaneously providing improved estimation of the risk parameters. Through simulation, we show that CWVS outperforms existing competing techniques in the setting of highly temporally correlated exposures in terms of (i) correctly identifying critical windows and (ii) accurately estimating risk parameters. We apply all competing methods to a case/control analysis of pregnant women in North Carolina, 2005–2008, with respect to the development of very preterm birth and exposure to ambient ozone and particulate matter $&lt;$ 2.5 $\mu$m in aerodynamic diameter, and identify/estimate the critical windows of susceptibility. The newly developed method is implemented in the R package CWVS.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vyacheslav R. Karolis ◽  
Sean Froudist-Walsh ◽  
Jasmin Kroll ◽  
Philip J. Brittain ◽  
Chieh-En Jane Tseng ◽  
...  

AbstractPrevious research investigating structural neurodevelopmental alterations in individuals who were born very preterm demonstrated a complex pattern of grey matter changes that defy straightforward summary. Here we addressed this problem by characterising volumetric brain alterations in individuals who were born very preterm from adolescence to adulthood at three hierarchically related levels - global, modular and regional. We demarcated structural components that were either particularly resilient or vulnerable to the impact of very preterm birth. We showed that individuals who were born very preterm had smaller global grey matter volume compared to controls, with subcortical and medial temporal regions being particularly affected. Conversely, frontal and lateral parieto-temporal cortices were relatively resilient to the effects of very preterm birth, possibly indicating compensatory mechanisms. Exploratory analyses supported this hypothesis by showing a stronger association of lateral parieto-temporal volume with IQ in the very preterm group compared to controls. We then related these alterations to brain maturation processes. Very preterm individuals exhibited a higher maturation index compared to controls, indicating accelerated brain ageing and this was specifically associated with younger gestational age. We discuss how the findings of accelerated maturation might be reconciled with evidence of delayed maturation at earlier stages of development.


1996 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 266-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Hagan ◽  
Sherryl Pope ◽  
Sharon Evans ◽  
Sue Priest ◽  
Rosie Rooney ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eline Skirnisdottir Vik ◽  
Roy Miodini Nilsen ◽  
Vigdis Aasheim ◽  
Rhonda Small ◽  
Dag Moster ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: This study compares subsequent birth outcomes in migrant women who had already had a child before arriving in Norway with those in migrant women whose first birth occurred in Norway. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between country of first birth and adverse neonatal outcomes (very preterm birth, moderately preterm birth, post-term birth, small for gestational age, large for gestational age, low Apgar score, stillbirth and neonatal death) in parous migrant and Norwegian-born women. Methods: National population-based study including second and subsequent singleton births in Norway from 1990-2016. Data were retrieved from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway and Statistics Norway. Neonatal outcomes were compared between births to: 1) migrant women with a first birth before immigration to Norway (n=30,062) versus those with a first birth after immigration (n=66,006), and 2) Norwegian-born women with a first birth outside Norway (n=6,205) versus those with a first birth in Norway (n=514,799). Associations were estimated as crude and adjusted odds ratios (aORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using multiple logistic regression. Results: Migrant women with a first birth before immigrating to Norway had increased odds of adverse outcomes in subsequent births relative to those with a first birth after immigration: very preterm birth (22-31 gestational weeks (gwks); aOR=1.27; CI 1.09-1.48), moderately preterm birth (32-36 gwks; aOR=1.10; CI 1.02-1.18), post-term birth (≥42 gwks; aOR=1.19; CI 1.11-1.27), low Apgar score (<7 at 5 minutes; aOR=1.27; CI 1.16-1.39) and stillbirth (aOR=1.29; CI 1.05-1.58). Similar results were found in the sample of births to Norwegian-born women. Conclusions: The increased odds of adverse neonatal outcomes for migrant and Norwegian-born women who had their first births outside Norway should serve as a reminder of the importance of taking a careful obstetric history in these parous women to ensure appropriate care for their subsequent pregnancies and births in Norway. Keywords: immigration, parous women, neonatal outcomes, obstetric history, predictor


2022 ◽  
Vol 226 (1) ◽  
pp. S455
Author(s):  
Meg Raymond ◽  
Christy Pylypjuk ◽  
Molly Seshia ◽  
Ruben Alvaro ◽  
Michael Helewa ◽  
...  

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