Low birth weight (LBW) increases infant morbidity and mortality worldwide. One well-established risk factor is maternal smoking. Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure has recently been focused on as another potential risk factor. In this article, we review epidemiologic literature on the effects of ETS on LBW and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), the cause of LBW related to maternal ...

OBJECTIVE To reevaluate at age 8 years children who had participated during the first 3 years of life in a randomized clinical trial of special services for low-birthweight (LBW) premature infants. DESIGN Follow-up of a randomized controlled trial of premature infants (< or = 37 weeks' gestation), stratified by 2 LBW groups (lighter [< or = 2000 g] and heavier [2001-2500 g]) and divided into ...

BACKGROUND Effects of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on birth outcomes remain controversial. OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of antenatal exposure to ART on the occurrence of preterm birth (PTB) and low birth weight (LBW). METHODS A cross-sectional study conducted at the Essos Hospital Center in Yaounde from 2008 to 2011 among HIV vertically exposed infants with two distinct maternal antiretro...

BACKGROUND Adverse birth outcomes, including low birth weight (LBW), defined as <2500 grams, small-for-gestational-age (SGA), and prematurity, contribute to 60%-80% of infant mortality worldwide and may be related to infections during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to assess whether febrile human rhinovirus (HRV) illness is associated with adverse birth outcomes. METHODS Active househol...

Fetal environment is known to be a major predictive factor of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, associations of fetal environment and cord blood glycoforms are uncertain. In this study, we aimed to determine whether glycosylation status in neonatal cord blood is associated with perinatal outcomes reflecting a poor fetal environment.Thirty-six low birth weight (LBW) infants an...

We reported previously that increases in ambient air pollution in the Los Angeles basin increased the risk of low weight and premature birth. However, ambient concentrations measured at monitoring stations may not take into account differential exposure to pollutants found in elevated concentrations near heavy-traffic roadways. Therefore, we used an epidemiologic case-control study design to ex...

In developing countries, low birth weight (LBW) is a major public health problem. Seventy-two percent of low birth weight infants in developing countries are born in Asia, with 40 per cent being born in India [1]. Fetal growth restriction or intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a condition where the fetus fails to achieve its intrinsic growth potential, due to anatomical or functional diso...

A six month prospective study of neonatal morbidity and mortality of the newborn unit (NBU) at Kenyatta National Hospital is presented. Of the 126 infants delivered in the maternity unit, 967 (30%) ended up in the NBU and 562 (59.8%) were low birth weight (LBW); 79.3% were appropriate for gestational age (AGA), 19.9% were small for gestational age (SGA) while 1.8% were large for gestational age...

BACKGROUND Increased prevalence of visual impairments has been reported in preterm populations. However, it remains unclear about the long-term visual electrophysiological outcomes and their association with visual cognitive functions in premature infants. We investigated visual electrophysiological outcome of 2-year-old infants of different birth weights by flash visual evoked potentials (FVEP...