Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Influence Of Prenatal And Early Life Factors On Bmi Z Scores And The Risk Of Being Obese In Early Childhood, Junxiu Liu

Theses and Dissertations

Childhood obesity is a serious public health challenge. The underlying causes behind the rising levels of childhood obesity might be driven by prenatal and early life factors. Recently, several studies have examined the association between gestational weight gain (GWG) and the risk of obesity in the pediatric population. Findings on the association of both inadequate and excessive GWG with offspring obesity are inconsistent and vary by maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) status. Inconsistent findings also exist for the association of GWG and BMIZ as a continuous outcome. Nevertheless, existing studies mainly focus on the BMIZ upper centiles using logistic …

Relationships Of Chronotype, Social Jetlag, Sleep, Physical Activity And Diet With Mood, Perceived Stress, Obesity, Blood Pressure And Prostate Cancer, Daria M. Mcmahon

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Chronotype, social jetlag, poor sleep, proinflammatory diet, and low physical activity have been associated with increased risk of chronic diseases: obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression and cancer. Yet the relationships between these factors have not been extensively investigated in prospective studies.

Methods: Two studies were conducted. The first study followed 390 healthy men and women ages 21-35 for two years. Social jetlag [SJL] and sleep measures (total sleep time [TST], sleep onset latency [SOL], wake after sleep onset [WASO]), sleep efficiency [SE]), were derived from physical activity personal (armband) monitoring. The participants wore the armband for 4-10 …

Influence Of Thyroid Disorders On Pregnancy Outcomes, Brittany Sullivan

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: The objective of this thesis is to investigate the effects of maternal thyroid dysfunction on maternal pregnancy outcomes.

Setting and Participants: The NICHD Consecutive Pregnancy data set contains information on a total of 114,679 pregnancies from 51,086 women who delivered ≥ 20 weeks of gestation. The data come from 20 different hospitals throughout the state of Utah and were collected between the years of 2002 to 2010.

Main Outcomes: Main outcomes of interest included: breech presentation, chorioamnionitis, gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension, hemorrhage, inductions, placental abruption, placental previa, preterm birth, premature rupture of membranes (PROM), preeclampsia, and …

Depression Among Pregnant Latinas In South Carolina, Andrew Fogner

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of depression among pregnant Latinas. To bring to light the importance of prenatal depression prevention, we assessed the effect of the quality of healthcare providers among South Carolina Latinas (n=171). Women answered a validated CES-D and were categorized as depressed (score >16). In multivariate analyses, good perception of quality of healthcare was more likely among women who were not depressed; adjusted odds ratio of 0.75, 95% confidence interval 0.37 – 1.55. The findings show the need for tailoring healthcare to Latinas with prenatal depression prevention. It is imperative to understand …

Maternal Obesity, Gestational Weight Gain And Offspring’S Asthma, Kristen Polinski

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Obesity is common among women of childbearing age and intrauterine exposures may influence the development of early childhood asthma. A handful of studies have investigated pre-pregnancy obesity, but even fewer have thoroughly explored gestational weight gain as possible childhood asthma risk factors. Gaps remain in the literature and to our knowledge, none have longitudinally explored these relationships in a nationally representative sample of U.S. children.

Methods: We used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Birth Cohort, in which children were followed through age four (n≈5,200). Asthma was based on parent report of a physician’s diagnosis. …

Environmental Exposures And Childhood Pulmonary Function, Pallavi Prakash Balte

Theses and Dissertations

Fetal origins of adult disease hypothesis states that adverse influences early in developmental period and particularly during intrauterine life can result in permanent changes in physiology which may lead to increased disease risk of chronic diseases in adulthood. Both fetal and adolescent period are critical time periods for development of lungs. Any adverse environmental exposures during these critical periods of lung growth is a form of programming which can have long term effects on pulmonary function. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the association between different environmental exposures and pulmonary function in children and late adolescents. The first …

Interpregnancy Weight Change And Adverse Maternal Outcomes, Chelsea Lynes

Theses and Dissertations

Obesity during pregnancy is associated with a high risk of adverse maternal outcomes. Little is known about how weight change between consecutive pregnancies impacts subsequent pregnancy complications and newborn outcomes. This study aimed to explore the association between interpregnancy BMI change and adverse maternal outcomes, specifically, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), gestational hypertension, pre-eclampsia, non-repeat cesarean delivery (C-section), and vaginal birth after cesarean delivery (VBAC). The study sample was derived from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Consecutive Pregnancy Study, which collected data from 20 hospitals in Utah utilizing electronic medical records and International Classification …

The Relationship Of The Mediterranean Diet And The Dietary Approaches To Stop Hypertension (Dash) Style Diet With Cardiometabolic Health, Yong-Moon Park

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Much evidence shows that the Mediterranean diet and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) style diet are associated with risk reduction of cardiometabolic disease as well as lower risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer mortality. A subgroup of obese individuals (metabolically healthy obese (MHO) phenotype) and normal weight individuals (metabolically obese normal weight (MONW) phenotype) have been identified to have different cardiometabolic risks compared with their counterparts in the same category of body mass index (BMI). Scarce evidence exists demonstrating a relationship between adherence to Mediterranean diet or DASH style diets with MHO and MONW …

Food Security Status And Life Events Among Households With Children In The Midlands Of South Carolina, Erin Rebekah Drucker

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: Food insecurity is a major public health problem in the United States (US) with 14.5% of US households having experienced some level of food insecurity in 2012. Among households with children, 20% experienced low food security in 2012, and in half of these households, both the children and adults were affected. Food insecurity among children can have lifelong negative health and mental effects. Life events are defined as self-­‐reported life changes, which create a strain on resources and an opportunity for food insecurity, Methods: The Midlands Family Study (MFS) was a cross-­‐ sectional study that surveyed households …