Introduction: Although preterm birth represents a risk factor for early mother-infant interactions, few studies have focused on toddlerhood, an important time for the development of symbolic play, autonomous skills, and child's socialization competences. Moreover, no study has looked at the effect of birth weight on mother-child interactions during this period. Expanding on the available litera...

Introduction: Preterm birth is a risk factor for a number of conditions that requires comprehensive examination. Our study was designed to investigate the impact of preterm birth on the processing of auditory stimuli and brain structures at the brainstem level at a preschool age.   Materials and Methods: An auditory brainstem response (ABR) test was performed with low rates of stimuli in 60 ch...

An accurate assessment of gestational age is vital to population-based research and surveillance in maternal and infant health. However, the quality of gestational age measurements derived from birth certificates has been in question. Using the 2002 US public-use natality file, the authors examined the agreement between estimates of gestational age based on the last menstrual period (LMP) and c...

Review of perinatal statistics at Denver General Hospital over the past decade shows (1) that perinatal mortality has dropped about 50% but (2) that the incidence of infants born weighing less than 2500 grams is still 14% which is far too high. 1971 data indicate that (1) a substantial number of mothers delivering truly premature or small-for-gestational-age infants are %ormal” and without appa...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to measure interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels in maternal serum of women undergoing preterm labor without a clear infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty two pregnant women with diagnosis of preterm labor who presented to the outpatient clinic of 19 Mayis University Faculty of Medicine from July 2011 through December 2011 were enrolled in the study group. Twenty t...

Background: The timing of maternal weight change in pregnancy may be an important determinant of birth weight. The objective of this study was to measure weight gain patterns from early pregnancy until delivery, and to examine the relationship between prenatal weight gain and low birth weight. Methods: A total of 500 pregnant women within 15-20 days of conception, with confirmed pregnancies and...

Preterm birth is a delivery that occurs at less than 37 completed weeks of gestation and it is associated with perinatal morbidity and mortality. Spontaneous preterm birth accounts for up to 75% of all preterm births. A number of maternal or fetal characteristics have been associated with preterm birth, but the use of individual or group biochemical markers have advanced some of the understandi...

BACKGROUND Gestational age and birth weight are the principal determinants of newborn's health status. Chile, a middle income country traditionally has public policies that promote maternal and child health. The availability of an exhaustive database of live births has allows us to monitor over time indicators of newborns health. METHODS This descriptive epidemiological study included all liv...

Birth before completion of 37 weeks of pregnancy is considered preterm. These early births are associated with more than 85 percent of all perinatal morbidity and mortality and are the leading cause of infant mortality and long-term disability.1-2 Each year in the United States more than 475,000 infants are born preterm representing 12.5 percent of live births.3 Efforts to reduce preterm birth ...