Several different indices of prenatal care have been used in birth outcome models to analyze the relationship between the adequacy of prenatal care and low birthweight, preterm birth, and infant mortality.
These studies are relatively common because they use birth outcome data routinely collected by governmental entities.
We undertook these analyses in order to further characterize how two measures of partner involvement often used in birth outcomes research, relationship type based on marital status and cohabitation and partner support reported by the mother, influenced the risk of preterm birth, low birth weight, and maternal health behaviors in a low income cohort of Black women.
General background characteristics were collected on gender, SES, age, weight and height (to determine Body Mass Index), pubertal stage by Tanner [ 30, 31], oral contraceptive use (females only), medication use, birth outcome information reported by the parent(s).
The birth outcomes of gestation length (determined using a clinical assessment at birth), birth weight, head circumference and birth length were collected directly from mothers soon after the birth.
Given these relatively high rates of use, the lack of evidence that the most frequently used medications improve birth outcomes, and the safety concerns raised both by early and late pregnancy use for many frequently-used medications, there is a need for further study of factors driving use of these medicines during pregnancy.
Given this relatively high rate of use, the lack of evidence that the most frequently used medications improve birth outcomes and the safety concerns associated with both early and late pregnancy use for many frequently-used medications, there is a need for further study of factors driving psychotropic medication use during pregnancy.
In this analysis, we explored the association between maternal exposure to NGD and birth outcomes, using a data set with individual-level birth data and geocoded natural gas well locations.
Table 3 shows the characteristics of the 186 subjects used for the birth outcomes analyses.
Whilst straightforward least squares regression was used for the birth outcomes, weight gain analysis was performed in three stages.
