BACKGROUND Because hospital records rarely exist for a representative sample of the population in developing countries, researchers frequently rely on birthweight data from surveys. Yet, the quality of these data has rarely been evaluated. This study explores the accuracy of birthweight information in six demographic and health surveys in Latin America conducted in the early 1990s: two in Guate...

BACKGROUND A population-based study on prevalence of cerebral palsy in multiple births has not been carried out in China. The purpose of this paper was to determine the prevalence of cerebral palsy in multiple births and to explore the influence of multiple pregnancy on cerebral palsy after controlling for birthweight. METHODS A cross-sectional study of cerebral palsy was carried out among 38...

OBJECTIVES This article examines trends in infant mortality and the incidence of low birthweight from 1975 to 1995. DATA SOURCES The data are from the Canadian Vital Statistics Data Base, compiled from information provided to Statistics Canada by the Vital Statistics Registries in each province and territory. ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES Death rates, stillbirth rates, and the incidence of low birt...

The aims of this study were to examine the association between maternal working conditions and birth outcomes, and to determine the extent to which these contributed to class inequalities in six birth outcomes. We used an existing job exposure matrix developed from survey data collected in 1977 and 1979 to apply occupational-level information on working conditions to the national Swedish Regist...

A definition of the protein requirement of any population must include consideration of the purposes for which the requirement is being defined. For the normal adult, the requirement addresses primarily the needs for maintenance (i.e., the exogenous protein needed to maintain nitrogen equilibrium and hence body protein stores). The protein requirement of any pediatric population, particularly t...

OBJECTIVE to determine whether there is an independent association between physical abuse during pregnancy or stress because of emotional, sexual, or physical abuse during pregnancy and birthweight after adjusting for behavioral, psychosocial, demographic, and medical variables. METHODS We conducted a cross sectional study of 808 low-income women, age 18 years or older, who delivered single i...

Low birthweight is associated with maternal anaemia and, in some circumstances, with low iron and zinc status, but this relationship has not been investigated in the Philippines. In this study, we assessed the prevalence of anaemia and suboptimal iron and zinc status in pregnant women from three geographical regions (mountain, coast, city) of Zamboanga del Sur province at 24 weeks (n = 305). an...