scholarly journals Preterm Birth and Neurodevelopment: A Review of Outcomes and Recommendations for Early Identification and Cost-effective Interventions

2013 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 258-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. S. Sutton ◽  
G. L. Darmstadt
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Karen Patricia Best ◽  
Judith Gomersall ◽  
Maria Makrides

Worldwide, around 15 million preterm babies are born annually, and despite intensive research, the specific mechanisms triggering preterm birth (PTB) remain unclear. Cost-effective primary prevention strategies to reduce PTB are required, and nutritional interventions offer a promising alternative. Nutrients contribute to a variety of mechanisms that are potentially important to preterm delivery, such as infection, inflammation, oxidative stress, and muscle contractility. Several observational studies have explored the association between dietary nutrients and/or dietary patterns and PTB, often with contrasting results. Randomized trial evidence on the effects of supplementation with zinc, multiple micronutrients (iron and folic acid), and vitamin D is promising; however, results are inconsistent, and many studies are not adequately powered for outcomes of PTB. Large-scale clinical trials with PTB as the primary outcome are needed before any firm conclusions can be drawn for these nutrients. The strongest evidence to date for a nutritional solution exists for omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs), key nutrients in fish. In 2018, a Cochrane Review (including 70 studies) showed that prenatal supplementation with omega-3 LCPUFAs reduced the risk of PTB and early PTB (EPTB) compared with no omega-3 supplementation. However, the largest trial of omega-3 supplementation in pregnancy, the Omega-3 to Reduce the Incidence of Prematurity (ORIP) trial (<i>n</i> = 5,544), showed no reduction in EPTB and a reduction in PTB only in a prespecified analysis of singleton pregnancies. Exploratory analyses from the ORIP trial found that women with low baseline total omega-3 status were at higher risk of EPTB, and that this risk was substantially reduced with omega-3 supplementation. In contrast, women with replete or high baseline total omega-3 status were already at low risk of EPTB and additional omega-3 supplementation increased the risk of EPTB compared to control. These findings suggest that determining an individual woman’s PUFA status may be the most precise way to inform recommendations to reduce her risk of PTB.


2021 ◽  
pp. 113539
Author(s):  
Natalie Lawrance ◽  
George Petrides ◽  
Marie-Anne Guerry

1985 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 422-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
George L. Hicks ◽  
Lynne A. Jensen ◽  
Lisa H. Norsen ◽  
Jill R. Quinn ◽  
Scott S. Stewart ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ning Zhang ◽  
Shujuan Yang ◽  
Peng Jia

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic poses wide-ranging impacts on the physical and mental health of people around the world, increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners on the topic of resilience. In this article, we review previous research on resilience from the past several decades, focusing on how to cultivate resilience during emerging situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic at the individual, organizational, community, and national levels from a socioecological perspective. Although previous research has greatly enriched our understanding of the conceptualization, predicting factors, processes, and consequences of resilience from a variety of disciplines and levels, future research is needed to gain a deeper and comprehensive understanding of resilience, including developing an integrative and interdisciplinary framework for cultivating resilience, developing an understanding of resilience from a life span perspective, and developing scalable and cost-effective interventions for enhancing resilience and improving pandemic preparedness. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 73 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


2022 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar M. E. Ali

Abstract Fibromyalgia is a debilitating chronic condition which poses a therapeutic challenge to the clinician. With a large backlog in patient flow subsequent to the COVID-19 pandemic and rising numbers of patients with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) presenting with fibromyalgia-like clinical features, there is an increasingly pressing need to identify broad cost-effective interventions. Low levels of vitamin D have previously been reported in patients with fibromyalgia, though any causative link has been difficult to establish. A systematic literature review on the association between vitamin D deficiency and fibromyalgia was performed examining retrospective evidence both for and against an association between vitamin D deficiency (VDD) and fibromyalgia and evaluating the therapeutic benefit from supplementation. A group of six studies were selected based on relevance, use of controls, quality of research and citations. Four primary studies assessing the prevalence of VDD in fibromyalgia patients versus controls were evaluated with a total 3,496 subjects. Three included females only and one larger study assessed males. Two (n = 313) concluded the presence of a statistically significant association, and two (n = 161) found none. Two randomised controlled trials assessing the effect of vitamin D supplementation in a total of 80 subjects found conflicting results, with pain reduction in one and none in the other. It is likely there exists an association between VDD deficiency and fibromyalgia in a large subset of patients, although establishing primary causation is difficult. There is a need for larger randomised controlled trial designs with more effective comparison with healthy subjects and control for confounding factors. Given VDD is a major problem in the general population, we recommend supplementation be recommended by healthcare professionals to fibromyalgia patients for the purpose of maintaining bone health given their potentially increased susceptibility to developing deficiency and its sequelae.


Author(s):  
Ambika R. Bhaskar ◽  
Mridula Solanki

Background: Immunization is one of the most cost-effective interventions to prevent the suffering that comes from avoidable sickness, disability and death. Outreach immunization services ensure that immunization is available to children who are unable to access a general practice in a timely fashion for their immunization events. Effective supervision and monitoring will help in improving quality and coverage of immunization.Methods: This was an observational cross-sectional study conducted in the rural field practice area of a tertiary care hospital. 50 outreach sessions held in various outdoor places including Anganwadi were supervised and monitored using checklist. 110 mothers and 20 stakeholders were interviewed. Immunization records were assessed.Results: Outreach immunization sessions were found to be of good quality. 89% children were fully immunized. ANMs and ASHAs were of the opinion that outreach session has significantly raised immunization coverage. 75.4% mothers had knowledge about services provided by outreach sessions.Conclusions: There was increase in immunization coverage due to outreach sessions. There is need for adequate supervision on safety injection practices and regular timely incentive to ASHA.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricio López-Jaramillo ◽  
Ramfis E. Nieto-Martínez ◽  
Gestne Aure-Fariñez ◽  
Carlos O. Mendivil ◽  
Rodolfo A. Lahsen ◽  
...  

To understand the status of prediabetes diagnosis and treatment in Latin America and to evaluate the use of metformin for diabetes prevention in this context. A panel of 15 diabetes experts from seven countries in Latin America met on 14 – 15 August 2014 in Lima, Peru, to review the available literature, discuss the role of prediabetes in type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease, analyze collected information, and make conclusions for prediabetes diagnosis and treatment in Latin America. Prediabetes diagnosis, screening, and treatment, including lifestyle changes, pharmacological treatment, and cost-effectiveness were discussed. Five resulting statements were issued for Latin America: prediabetes is a clinical and public health problem; health care systems do not currently diagnose/treat prediabetes; use of prediabetes risk detection tools are needed region-wide; treatment includes lifestyle changes, multidisciplinary education, and metformin; and registries of patient records and further studies should be supported. The expert panel concluded that in Latin America, preventive treatment through lifestyle changes and metformin are cost-effective interventions. It is important to improve prediabetes identification and management at the primary care level.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher John Bryant ◽  
Courtney Dillard

In this comprehensive evaluation of Educated Choices Program’s educational intervention, we report on our analysis of 95,241 student survey responses. We are excited to share these findings for a number of reasons. First and foremost, our analysis clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of this educational intervention in positively impacting student attitudes, behavioral intentions and self-reported behaviors in regard to their food choices. The scale of the dataset and the comprehensive nature of the analyses conducted provides a strong basis for funding considerations for educational interventions. This is particularly heartening because similar impacts have been difficult to find in other consumer-facing advocacy interventions. As will be highlighted later in the report, ECP’s model of intervention is both high quality and cost effective, allaying some fears about the feasibility of deploying effective interventions of this nature on a large scale.


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