Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Sars-Cov-2 Infection In Unvaccinated High-Risk Pregnant Women In The Bronx, Ny, Usa Is Associated With Decreased Apgar Scores And Placental Villous Infarcts, Sandra E. Reznik, Patricia M. Vuguin, Alexa Cohen, Rasha Khoury, Olivier Loudig, Ridin Balakrishnan, Susan A. Fineberg, Francine Hughes, Malini Harigopal, Maureen J. Charron

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Babies born to severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected mothers are at greater risk for perinatal morbidity and more likely to receive a neurodevelopmental diagnosis in the first year of life. However, the effect of maternal infection on placental function and neonatal outcomes varies depending upon the patient population. We set out to test our hypothesis that maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection in our underserved, socioeconomically disadvantaged, mostly unvaccinated, predominantly African American and Latina population in the Bronx, NY would have effects evident at birth. Under IRB approval, 56 SARS-CoV-2-positive patients infected during the “first wave” of the pandemic with alpha …

Acceptability And Feasibility Of A Low-Cost Device For Gestational Age Assessment In A Low-Resource Setting: Qualitative Study, Angela Koech, Peris Muoga Musitia, Grace Mwashigadi, Mai-Lei Woo Kinshella, Marianne Vidler, Marleen Temmerman, Rachel Craik, J. Alison Noble, Peter Dadelszen Von Dadelszen, Aris T . Papageorghiou

Obstetrics and Gynaecology, East Africa

Background: Ultrasound for gestational age (GA) assessment is not routinely available in resource-constrained settings, particularly in rural and remote locations. The TraCer device combines a handheld wireless ultrasound probe and a tablet with artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled software that obtains GA from videos of the fetal head by automated measurements of the fetal transcerebellar diameter and head circumference.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the perceptions of pregnant women, their families, and health care workers regarding the feasibility and acceptability of the TraCer device in an appropriate setting.

Methods: A descriptive study using qualitative methods was conducted in …

Microrna Analysis In Maternal Blood Of Pregnancies With Preterm Premature Rupture Of Membranes Reveals A Distinct Expression Profile, Michail Spiliopoulos, Andrew Haddad, Huda B Al-Kouatly, Saeed Haleema, Michael J Paidas, Sara N Iqbal, Robert I Glazer

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVE: To determine the expression profile of microRNAs in the peripheral blood of pregnant women with preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) compared to that of healthy pregnant women.

STUDY DESIGN: This was a pilot study with case-control design in pregnant patients enrolled between January 2017 and June 2019. Patients with healthy pregnancies and those affected by PPROM between 20- and 33+6 weeks of gestation were matched by gestational age and selected for inclusion to the study. Patients were excluded for multiple gestation and presence of a major obstetrical complication such as preeclampsia, diabetes, fetal growth restriction and stillbirth. A …

Symptoms Of Maternal Psychological Distress During Pregnancy: Sex-Specific Effects For Neonatal Morbidity, Sandra J. Weiss, Joseph Musana

Obstetrics and Gynaecology, East Africa

Objectives: Maternal psychological distress during pregnancy has been associated with preterm birth. However, little is known about the relationship of a woman’s psychological symptoms during pregnancy to the infant’s morbidity at birth or any differential effects of these symptoms on female vs. male fetuses. Our research aims addressed these gaps.

Methods: A total of 186 women were enrolled between 24 and 34 weeks gestation when demographic information was acquired and they completed the Brief Symptom Inventory to measure psychological distress. Data on gestational age at birth, fetal sex, and neonatal morbidity was extracted from the medical record. To control for …

Birth Length Is The Strongest Predictor Of Linear Growth Status And Stunting In The First 2 Years Of Life After A Preconception Maternal Nutrition Intervention: The Children Of The Women First Trial, Nancy F Krebs, K Michael Hambidge, Jamie L Westcott, Ana L Garcés, Lester Figueroa, Antoinette K Tshefu, Adrien L Lokangaka, Shivaprasad S Goudar, Sangappa M Dhaded, Sarah Saleem, Sumera Aziz Ali, Melissa S Bauserman, Richard J Derman, Robert L Goldenberg, Abhik Das, Dhuly Chowdhury

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: The multicountry Women First trial demonstrated that nutritional supplementation initiated prior to conception (arm 1) or early pregnancy (arm 2) and continued until delivery resulted in significantly greater length at birth and 6 mo compared with infants in the control arm (arm 3).

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated intervention effects on infants' longitudinal growth trajectory from birth through 24 mo and identified predictors of length status and stunting at 24 mo.

METHODS: Infants' anthropometry was obtained at 6, 12, 18, and 24 mo after the Women First trial (registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01883193), which was conducted in low-resource settings: Democratic Republic …

Machine Learning Guided Postnatal Gestational Age Assessment Using New-Born Screening Metabolomic Data In South Asia And Sub-Saharan Africa, Sunil Sazawal, Kelli K. Ryckman, Sayan Das, Muhammad Imran Nisar, Usma Mehmood, Amina Barkat, Farah Khalid, Muhammad Ilyas Muhammad Ilyas, Ambreen Nizar, Fyezah Jehan

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Babies born early and/or small for gestational age in Low and Middle-income countries (LMICs) contribute substantially to global neonatal and infant mortality. Tracking this metric is critical at a population level for informed policy, advocacy, resources allocation and program evaluation and at an individual level for targeted care. Early prenatal ultrasound examination is not available in these settings, gestational age (GA) is estimated using new-born assessment, last menstrual period (LMP) recalls and birth weight, which are unreliable. Algorithms in developed settings, using metabolic screen data, provided GA estimates within 1-2 weeks of ultrasonography-based GA. We sought to leverage machine …

Using Amanhi-Act Cohorts For External Validation Of Iowa New-Born Metabolic Profiles Based Models For Postnatal Gestational Age Estimation, Sunil Sazawal, Kelli K. Ryckman, Harshita Mittal, Muhammad Imran Nisar, Usma Mehmood, Amina Barkat, Farah Khalid, Muhammad Ilyas, Ambreen Nizar, Fyezah Jehan

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Globally, 15 million infants are born preterm and another 23.2 million infants are born small for gestational age (SGA). Determining burden of preterm and SGA births, is essential for effective planning, modification of health policies and targeting interventions for reducing these outcomes for which accurate estimation of gestational age (GA) is crucial. Early pregnancy ultrasound measurements, last menstrual period and post-natal neonatal examinations have proven to be not feasible or inaccurate. Proposed algorithms for GA estimation in western populations, based on routine new-born screening, though promising, lack validation in developing country settings. We evaluated the hypothesis that models developed …

Preconception Nutrition Intervention Improved Birth Length And Reduced Stunting And Wasting In Newborns In South Asia: The Women First Randomized Controlled Trial., Sangappa M Dhaded, K. Michael Hambidge, Sumera Aziz Ali, Manjunath Somannavar, Sarah Saleem, Omrana Pasha, Umber Khan, Veena Herekar, Sunil Vernekar, S. Yogesh Kumar, Jamie E. Westcott, Vanessa R. Thorsten, Amaanti Sridhar, Abhik Das, Elizabeth Mcclure, Richard J. Derman, Robert L. Goldenberg, Marion Koso-Thomas, Shivaprasad S. Goudar, Nancy F. Krebs

Global Health Articles

South Asia has >50% of the global burden of low birth weight (LBW). The objective was to determine the extent to which maternal nutrition interventions commenced before conception or in the 1st trimester improved fetal growth in this region. This was a secondary analysis of combined newborn anthropometric data for the South Asian sites (India and Pakistan) in the Women First Preconception Maternal Nutrition Trial. Participants were 972 newborn of mothers who were poor, rural, unselected on basis of nutritional status, and had been randomized to receive a daily lipid-based micronutrient supplement commencing ≥3 months prior to conception (Arm 1), …

Low-Dose Aspirin For The Prevention Of Preterm Delivery In Nulliparous Women With A Singleton Pregnancy (Aspirin): A Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial., Matthew K. Hoffman, Shivaprasad S. Goudar, Bhalachandra S. Kodkany, Mrityunjay Metgud, Manjunath Somannavar, Jean Okitawutshu, Adrien Lokangaka, Antoinette Tshefu, Carl L. Bose, Abigail Mwapule, Musaku Mwenechanya, Elwyn Chomba, Waldemar A. Carlo, Javier Chicuy, Lester Figueroa, Ana Garces, Nancy F. Krebs, Saleem Jessani, Farnaz Zehra, Sarah Saleem, Robert L. Goldenberg, Kunal Kurhe, Prabir Das, Archana Patel, Patricia L. Hibberd, Emmah Achieng, Paul Nyongesa, Fabian Esamai, Edward A. Liechty, Norman Goco, Jennifer Hemingway-Foday, Janet Moore, Tracy L. Nolen, Elizabeth M. Mcclure, Marion Koso-Thomas, Menachem Miodovnik, R. Silver, Richard J. Derman, Aspirin Study Group

Global Health Articles

BACKGROUND: Preterm birth remains a common cause of neonatal mortality, with a disproportionately high burden in low-income and middle-income countries. Meta-analyses of low-dose aspirin to prevent pre-eclampsia suggest that the incidence of preterm birth might also be decreased, particularly if initiated before 16 weeks of gestation.

METHODS: ASPIRIN was a randomised, multicountry, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial of low-dose aspirin (81 mg daily) initiated between 6 weeks and 0 days of pregnancy, and 13 weeks and 6 days of pregnancy, in nulliparous women with an ultrasound confirming gestational age and a singleton viable pregnancy. Participants were enrolled at seven community sites in …

Prediction Of Neonatal Birthweight Associated With Maternal Obesity And Diabetes, Laura Gleason, Rebekah Mccurdy, Md, Mph

Phase 1

Introduction: To design a model that will predict neonatal birth weight within obese mothers by diabetic status.

Methods: A secondary data analysis of an RCT (NCT 02909582) was utilized to create a neonatal birth weight prediction model. Women (n=325) with a BMI > 35 kg/m2 from a tertiary academic institution, 2016 – 2019, were included to estimate the risk of large for gestational age (LGA) infants and neonatal birth weight based on maternal prepregnancy BMI and diabetic status. LGA was defined as an infant birth weight > 90th percentile. Analysis included Chi-square, t-test, multivariate logistic and linear regression.

Results: Mean birthweight did …

Additive Drug-Specific And Sex-Specific Risks Associated With Co-Use Of Marijuana And Tobacco During Pregnancy: Evidence From 3 Recent Developmental Cohorts (2003-2015)., Suena H Massey, Daniel K Mroczek, David Reiss, Emily S Miller, Jessica A Jakubowski, Eileen K Graham, Shannon M Shisler, Meaghan Mccallum, Marilyn A. Huestis, Jody M Ganiban, Daniel S Shaw, Leslie D Leve, Rina D Eiden, Laura R Stroud, Jenae M Neiderhiser

Institute of Emerging Health Professions Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Methodologic challenges related to the concomitant use (co-use) of substances and changes in policy and potency of marijuana contribute to ongoing uncertainty about risks to fetal neurodevelopment associated with prenatal marijuana use. In this study, we examined two biomarkers of fetal neurodevelopmental risk-birth weight and length of gestation-associated with prenatal marijuana use, independent of tobacco (TOB), alcohol (ALC), other drug use (OTH), and socioeconomic risk (SES), in a pooled sample (N = 1191) derived from 3 recent developmental cohorts (2003-2015) with state-of-the-art substance use measures. We examined differential associations by infant sex, and multiplicative effects associated with co-use of …

Incidence And Outcome Of Small For Gestational Age Fetuses: An Experience From A Secondary Care Hospital, Riffat Bano, Nousheen Asim, Ammara Mushtaq, Mehreen Adhi, Noureen Afzal

Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

The objective of the study was to determine the frequency and outcome of Small for Gestational Age (SGA) foetuses, and its association with the mode of delivery, foetal birthweight, maternal age and gestational age. It was a hospital-based descriptive study, conducted at Aga Khan Hospital for Women, Karachi, from January 2009 to December 2010. Mode of deliveries, foetal birthweight, maternal age and gestational age of SGA foetuses were recorded and analszed. Of a total of 6024 deliveries during the study period, 722(11.98%) had SGA foetuses. Maternal age in such cased ranged between 20-40 years in 588(81.44%), while 406(56.23%) of these …

The Relationship Between Prenatal Stress, Depression, Cortisol And Preterm Birth: A Review, Kiran Shaikh, Shahirose Premji, Khurshid Khowaja, Suzanne Tough, Ambreen Kazi, Shaneela Khowaj

School of Nursing & Midwifery

Preterm birth is one of the most common adverse pregnancy outcomes. Maternal risk factors such as stress and depression have been associated with preterm birth. Preterm infants are at a higher risk of poor growth and neuro developmental outcomes. The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between maternal stress, depression, cortisol level, and preterm birth. Preterm birth is one of the most common adverse pregnancy outcomes with a global prevalence of 9.6% and one of the major contributors to infant mortality and morbidity. The association between psychosocial stress and preterm birth, although examined for more than 25 …