Maternal and Child Health Commons^™

Kidney Conditions Associated With Hypertension In Pregnancy, Immaculate Franklin Preethi Nevis

Open Access Dissertations and Theses

We defined hypertension in pregnancy as a composite of gestational hypertension, preeclampsia and eclampsia. The etiology of hypertension in pregnancy remains controversial. The three chapters of this thesis explore the risk of hypertension in pregnancy from various kidney conditions. Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the thesis. Chapter 2 is a systematic review that studied the risk of developing hypertension in pregnant women with chronic kidney disease but not on dialysis. We found that women with chronic kidney disease had at least a twofold higher relative risk of developing hypertension during pregnancy compared with women having no chronic kidney disease ...

Prenatal Oral Health Education In U.S. Obstetrics And Gynecology Residencies And Dental Schools: Results Of A National Survey, Megan Weeks, Judith A. Savageau, Hugh Silk

Senior Scholars Program

Background: Pregnant women represent a special population within oral health care. Adverse pregnancy outcomes and increased infant caries can occur when prenatal oral disease is not addressed. Currently, medical and dental clinicians are not meeting the oral health needs of pregnant patients.

Objective: Medical and dental providers are not addressing prenatal oral health (POH) with patients despite knowledge of the risks. The objective of this study was to determine how training in dental schools and OB/Gyn residencies may contribute to this paradox.

Methods: We conducted a national survey of 60 dental school deans and 240 obstetrics and gynecology residency ...

Microglial Disruption In Young Mice With Early Chronic Exposure To Lead, Christina Sobin Ph.D., Mayra Gisel Flores Montoya M.A., Natali Parisi Ph.D., Tanner Schaub Ph.D., Miguel Cervantes B.S., Rodrigo Xavier Armijos M.D., Scd

Christina Sobin, Ph.D.

The mechanisms by which early chronic lead (Pb) exposure alters brain development have not been identified. We examined neuroimmune system effects in C57BL/6J mice with Pb exposure, including levels that may be common among children in lower socioeconomic income environments. Pups were exposed via dams’ drinking water from birth to post-natal day 28 to low, high or no Pb conditions. We compared gene expression of neuroinflammatory markers (study 1); and microglial mean cell body volume and mean cell body number in dentate gyrus, and dentate gyrus volume (study 2). Blood Pb levels in exposed animals at sacrifice (post-natal day ...

Relative Roles Of Medical Interventions And Infrastructure In An Urban Community’S Infant Mortality Rate: 100 Years Of Infant Mortality In The City Of Worcester, Maya Y. Mauch, B. Dale Magee

Senior Scholars Program

Background: The infant mortality rate (IMR), defined as the number of deaths in children under 1 year of age per 1000 live births, is regarded as a sensitive measure of population health (Blaxter). This reflects the overlap between those societal factors that impact infant mortality and those that affect the health of the larger community, such as SES, nutrition, living conditions, education, employment and access to health care. In 2003, Reidpath et al showed a strong linear relation between IMR and the disability adjusted life expectancy (DALE), a more comprehensive measure of population health. They concluded that either the IMR ...

Maternal Obesity Alters Fetal Development Due To Impaired Placental Function And Has Lasting Effects On Adult Offspring, Kristin Ann Norwood

Theses and Dissertations in Animal Science

Obesity is an epidemic in many developed nations and maternal obesity can result in developmental alterations in offspring that have long-lasting effects. Two experiments were conducted to determine the impact of maternal obesity on placental development and early embryonic growth and muscle development. Experiment one utilized obese Lethal Yellow (LY) and normal weight C57BL/6 (B6) dams to assess how maternal obesity alters skeletal muscle development in mid-gestational embryos. Embryos from LY dams exhibited decreased embryo and placental weights as well as an increase in the myogenic marker desmin. Furthermore, the adipogenic marker PPARG expression was predominately localized to the ...

The Characteristics Of Women Seeking Funding From The Dc Abortion Fund, Karin Elizabeth Bleeg

GW Research Days 2013

Objectives: To determine whether the population DCAF serves, based on current research, are those most in need of its financial services. Describe the population that DCAF is supports by age, race and ethnicity, poverty, educational attainment, union status, contraceptive method used, referral source, and number of prior pregnancies.

Methods: An adapted version of The Guttmacher Institute's National Patient Survey will be used to collect data from women who contact DCAF for financial assistance for their abortion (n=150). The data will be collected for one month and then analyzed in SPSS.

Results: Between January and March 2013 approximately 400 ...

Factors Associated With Early Sexual Debut Among Ghanaian Women From The Manya – Krobo District, – Ghana, 2011, Omoro Faye Omoighe, Amanda D. Castel, Jeffrey Bingenheimer

GW Research Days 2013

Affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics GW, School of Public Health and Health Services

Title: "Factors associated with early sexual debut among Ghanaian women from the Manya – Krobo district, – Ghana, 2011"

Background: The dipo, a Krobo puberty initiation rite practiced annually among an estimated 2,000 Ghanaian females ages 2–20, is a cultural rite of passage into womanhood that is intended to promote abstinence from sexual activity until marriage.

Objectives: This study examined the risk of early sexual debut among dipo-initiated Krobo females versus uninitiated Krobo females. This study also assessed Manya–Krobo societal opinions regarding the sexual health ...

Los Factores Sociales Que Influyen En El Embarazo Y En El Uso De Anticonceptivos De Adolescentes En El Barrio 25 De Mayo, Maipú, Mendoza., Isabel Odean

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Background: Adolescent pregnancy is a common phenomenon among those living in poverty. Adolescent pregnancy is influenced by many social and cultural factors, leading to lack of use of contraceptives. This study took place in the neighborhood 25 de Mayo, in the city of Maipú, Mendoza in Argentina. This community is mostly composed of people with low incomes and limited education. Socioeconomic and the attitudes toward teenage pregnancy, as well as the use of contraceptives by adolescents, are distinct from those in wealthier better educated groups. This neighborhood is approximately 10,000 people, the majority of whom are women. Most of ...

International Teen Reproductive Health And Development: The Canadian First Nations Context, Michelle M. Mann

The International Indigenous Policy Journal

Women’s well-being is dependent on access to reproductive health care. Around the world, however, many women do not have adequate access to this essential health service. Barriers to accessing reproductive health services are especially problematic for Canadian First Nations youth, especially those living in rural and remote communities. This article explores the unique challenges of and approaches to teen reproductive health and sustainable development internationally. The international context of reproductive health and sustainable development can inform and set the context for a discussion of Canadian First Nations teens’ reproductive health. Of special interest is how the United Nations and ...

Mongolian Women's Voices: A Case Study On Maternal Healthcare, Pregnancy, And Birth In Ulaanbaatar's Public Hospitals, Amelia Olmsted

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mongolia is a country undergoing an incredible amount of change. Last year, in 2011, they had the fastest growing economy in the world, with a 17.2% increase in their GDP, according to the World Bank. A mere 22 years ago, Mongolia was a communist country, and today they are a parliamentary democracy. The country has opened itself up to the rest of the world and a free market economy, and experienced a very drastic shift in this direction in the early 1990's. Many Mongolians will tell you that the mindset of Mongolia's citizens has made a drastic ...

Differentials In Physical Health Outcomes Among Children In Single-Parent And Dual-Parent Families, Jennifer Lynn Rayner

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Children live in increasingly varied family structures and there is some suggestion that children who live with single mothers have poorer health outcomes than children who live with two-parents. The examination of the pathways that link family structure to children’s physical health is important because it will help increase our understanding of why some children are healthier than others. The purpose of this dissertation is to: 1) determine if there are differences in health status between children raised in female-headed single-parent families and children in two-parent families; 2) gain an understanding of why these differences may exist; and, 3 ...

Is It Really Just All About Sex And Money? A Case Study Of Teenage Motherhood In The Village Of Kwaximba In The Valley Of A 1,000 Hills, Margaret Nelson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The aim of this learnership at the Valley Trust was to gain insight into why teenage girls in the Valley of the 1,000 Hills fall pregnant and what is the cost of early motherhood on the future of young women. Previous research of the province KwaZulu-Natal has revealed that teenage pregnancies are a large problem in school districts and restricting the future academic pursuits of teenage mothers. The learner worked alongside the Valley Trust in coordination with their outreach programs in the local villages of the Valley of a 1,000 Hills to learn fundamental and underlying reasons behind ...

A Patient-Centered Approach For Evaluating Public Health Roles Within Systems Of Care For Children With Special Healthcare Needs, Danielle M. Varda, Ayelet Talmi

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Despite the apparent success that local and state health departments have had integrating a public health approach to provide programs and services for families with children who have complex health needs, there continues to be mixed results in terms of satisfaction and degree of support from this system. Current evaluations collect performance data from system stakeholders, rarely including the patient perspective. Examining the system holistically using Social Network Analysis, to include both the stakeholder and patient perspectives of how well the system is functioning affords greater understanding of how a public health approach to systems of care leads to more ...

Parents' Perceptions Of Activity Restrictions In Children With Epilepsy: First Two Years Post-Diagnosis, Nathan C. King

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Children with epilepsy are less physically and socially active than their peers. The objective is to explore whether parents represent a barrier to children’s activity, by examining associations between child and family factors and parents’ perceptions of epilepsy-related activity restrictions. Data were from the Health Related Quality of Life in Children with Epilepsy Study, a longitudinal study of children 4-12 years old with new-onset epilepsy. Parents reported on activity restrictions and family factors and neurologists reported on epilepsy-related characteristics at baseline, 6, 12, and 24 months. Linear mixed models were used to model relationships among child and family factors ...

Child Maltreatment Outpatient Visits To Kentucky Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals, 2008-2010, Marjorie Stanek, Michael Singleton, Svetla Slavova, Terry Bunn

Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center Reports

No abstract provided.

Active Video Gaming Compared To Unstructured, Outdoor Play In Children: Measurements Of Estimated Energy Expenditure And Measured Percent Time In Moderate-To-Vigorous Physical Activity, Susan Brittin Macarthur

Masters Theses

It is recommended that children and adolescents participate in > 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day. Despite the current recommendations and positive health benefits, many children and adolescents still do not engage in regular physical activity (PA).

One challenge for assisting children in becoming more active is sedentary screen-based activities (SBAs), such as watching television (TV), using computers, and playing sedentary video games (VGs), as SBAs may compete with time for being physically active in children. One modification to sedentary VGs that may increase PA in children is to alter them so that the VGs actually provide an ...

Adverse Maternal Outcomes For Women With Different Health Insurance Statuses In Nevada, Jay J. Shen, Hong Wei

Nevada Journal of Public Health

Objective. Nevada women with unfavorable health insurance status may face greater barriers than women in the rest of the nation, since the development of healthcare infrastructure in Nevada is running behind population growth. This study examines the relationship between health insurance status and adverse maternal outcomes in Nevada.

Methods. Hospital discharge information of 33,149 women aged 13 or older who delivered in 2004 was abstracted from the 2004 State Inpatient Data for Nevada. A total of 13 measures of complications associated with pregnancy were identified, including preterm labor, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes, ante-partum hemorrhage, membrane disorders, cesarean ...

Blood Lead Levels In Nevada Children, Arthur F. Di Salvo, Terry R. Hall

Nevada Journal of Public Health

The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of plumbism in children one to six years of age in Nevada. During a four-year period from 1992 – 1996, 10,700 children were screened for evidence of blood lead intoxication. The capillary specimens were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrometry. All children with a lead level => 10 ug/L were retested using venous blood. Ninety three percent of the children had blood lead levels < 10 µg/dL

Adverse Maternal Outcomes In Nevada: Does Asthma Matter?, Jay J. Shen, Hong Wei, Robin Mukalian

Nevada Journal of Public Health

Objective. Asthma is a common clinical complication of pregnancy and women with asthma are at greater risk of having complications. This study compared adverse maternal outcomes between women with asthma and women without asthma in Nevada.

Methods. A total of 64,664 hospital discharges of delivery were abstracted from the Nevada 2003-2004 hospital discharges and thirteen adverse maternal outcomes were examined. Logistic regression was applied to compare the maternal outcomes between women with and without asthma.

Results. Women with asthma were more likely to have pre-eclampsia (OR [CI] 1.73 [1.13, 2.65]), transient hypertension of pregnancy (OR [CI ...

Analysis Of Lead Levels In Deciduous Teeth From Children In Clark County, Nevada., Kristin Murphy, Jennifer Berger-Ritchie, Shawn L. Gerstenberger, Amol B. Amin, Jason K. Nitta, Frederick G. More, Jeanne A. Hibler, Karl Kingsley

Nevada Journal of Public Health

Background: Elevated blood lead levels (EBLL) are declining in the United States, although some population subgroups continue to exhibit significant health disparities. A childhood lead poisoning prevention program was recently started in Nevada, and many efforts have been made to support this program and increase the screening rates.

Methods: To expand the potential pool of children screened for EBLLs, a pilot study was performed to evaluate lead concentrations in extracted deciduous teeth using Graphic Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (GFAAS), Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis.

Results: Lead concentrations as determined by GFAAS and ICP-MS were ...