BACKGROUND: The nutritional status of the mothers before pregnancy and the weights gained during pregnancy are very crucial factors affecting the pregnancy outcomes and health of the infants. This study aimed to assess early pregnancy weight, determine the magnitude of gestational weight gain, and investigate the factors affecting gestational weight gain among pregnant women in the Gurage zone, 2022.
METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted among pregnant women who started antenatal care follow-up before the 16th week of gestation in the selected hospitals and health centers of the Gurage zone, Ethiopia. The gestational weight gain was obtained by subtracting the early pregnancy weight from the last pregnancy weight and categorizing based on the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendation.
RESULTS: The early pregnancy weight status of the women at enrollment indicates that 10% of them were underweight and 83% of them had normal weight. On average, the study participants gained 13.3 kgs of weight with [95% CI: 13.0, 13.6]. More than half (56%) of them gained adequate weight, a quarter (26%) of them gained inadequate weight, and 18% of them gained excess weight during pregnancy compared to the IOM recommendation. Maternal age, occupational status, and early pregnancy weight status were found to have a statistically significant association with the gestational weight gained.
CONCLUSIONS: Almost half (44%) of the pregnant women gained either inadequate or excess weight during pregnancy. Promoting gestational weight gain within recommended guidelines should be emphasized for younger, employed women and those who are either underweight or overweight.

UNASSIGNED: This study aimed to explore the effect of cryopreservation duration after blastocyst vitrification on the singleton birth-weight of newborns to assess the safety of long-term preservation of frozen-thawed blastocyst transfer (FBT) cycles.
UNASSIGNED: This was a retrospective observational study conducted at the Gynecological Endocrinology and Assisted Reproduction Center of the Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Patients who gave birth to singletons between January 2006 and December 2021 after undergoing FBT cycles were included. Five groups were formed according to the duration of cryopreservation of embryos at FBT: Group I included 274 patients with a storage time < 3 months. Group II included 607 patients with a storage time of 3-6 months. Group III included 322 patients with a storage time of 6-12 months. Group IV included 190 patients with a storage time of 12-24 months. Group V included 118 patients with a storage time of > 24 months. Neonatal outcomes were compared among the groups. Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate birth-weights and other birth-related outcomes.
UNASSIGNED: A total of 1,511 patients were included in the analysis. The longest cryopreservation period was 12 years. The birth-weights of neonates in the five groups were 3344.1 ± 529.3, 3326.1 ± 565.7, 3260.3 ± 584.1, 3349.9 ± 582.7, and 3296.7 ± 491.9 g, respectively (P > 0.05). The incidences of preterm birth, very preterm birth, low birth-weight, and very low birth-weight were similar in all groups (P > 0.05). The large-for-gestational-age and small-for-gestational-age rates did not differ significantly among the groups (P > 0.05). After adjusting for confounding factors that may affect neonatal outcomes, a trend for an increased risk of low birth-weight with prolonged cryopreservation was observed. However, cryopreservation duration and neonatal birth-weight were not significantly correlated (P > 0.05).
UNASSIGNED: The duration of cryopreservation after blastocyst vitrification with an open device for more than 2 years had no significant effect on the birth-weight of FBT singletons; however, attention should be paid to a possible increase in the risk of low birth-weight.

Often linear regression is used to perform mediation analysis. However, in many instances, the underlying relationships may not be linear, as in the case of placentalfetal hormones and fetal development. Although, the exact functional form of the relationship may be unknown, one may hypothesize the general shape of the relationship. For these reasons, we develop a novel shape-restricted inference-based methodology for conducting mediation analysis. This work is motivated by an application in fetal endocrinology where researchers are interested in understanding the effects of pesticide application on birth weight, with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) as the mediator. We assume a practically plausible set of nonlinear effects of hCG on the birth weight and a linear relationship between pesticide exposure and hCG, with both exposure-outcome and exposure-mediator models being linear in the confounding factors. Using the proposed methodology on a population-level prenatal screening program data, with hCG as the mediator, we discovered that, while the natural direct effects suggest a positive association between pesticide application and birth weight, the natural indirect effects were negative.

UNASSIGNED: This study explored the effect of fetoscopic laser surgery on the placental structure and birth-weight discordance of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS).
UNASSIGNED: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in TTTS patients who were admitted to the Peking University Third Hospital between April 2014 and April 2020. The patients were divided into two groups: laser group and control group. Placentas with twin survival were injected, and pregnancy outcomes and placental characteristics of the two groups were compared. The correlation between the birth-weight discordance and placental characteristics in each group was analyzed.
UNASSIGNED: The gestational age at first diagnosis in the laser group was significantly smaller than that in the control group (21.6 ± 2.8 weeks vs. 27.7 ± 3.0 weeks, p < 0.001). The proportion of patients with TTTS stage-I in the laser group was significantly lower than the control group (9.4 vs. 64.0%, p < 0.001). The gestational age at delivery in the laser group was significantly larger than that in the control group (33.6 ± 2.1 weeks vs. 31.4 ± 2.5 weeks, p = 0.001). In the laser group, the birth-weight discordance ratio was positively correlated with the placental territory discordance ratio (Spearman coefficient = 0.556; p = 0.001).
UNASSIGNED: The birth-weight discordance is positively correlated with placental territory discordance in TTTS patients after FLS.

Abnormal lipid metabolism is associated with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and is observed in neonates with abnormal fetal growth. However, the underlying specific changes in the lipoprotein profile remain poorly understood. Thus, in the present study we used a novel nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based approach to profile the umbilical cord serum lipoproteins. Two-dimensional diffusion-ordered 1H-NMR spectroscopy showed that size, lipid content, number and concentration of particles within their subclasses were similar between offspring born to control (n = 74) and GDM (n = 62) mothers. Subsequent data stratification according to newborn birth-weight categories, i.e., small (n = 39), appropriate (n = 50) or large (n = 49) for gestational age (SGA, AGA and LGA, respectively), showed an interaction between GDM and birth-weight categories for intermediate-density lipoproteins (IDL)-cholesterol content and IDL- and low-density lipoproteins (LDL)-triglyceride content, and the number of medium very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) and LDL particles specifically in AGA neonates. Moreover, in a 2-year follow-up study, we observed that small LDL particles were independently associated with offspring obesity at 2 years (n = 103). Collectively, our data demonstrate that GDM disturbs triglyceride and cholesterol lipoprotein content across birth-weight categories, with AGA neonates born to GDM mothers displaying a profile more similar to that of adults with dyslipidemia. Furthermore, an altered fetal lipoprotein pattern was associated with the development of obesity at 2 years.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the suitability of 11 basic statistical models for estimating child-growth of under-five children and to bring-forth estimated growth curves for mean height & mean weight by their selected birth-weight categories for Central Region of India.
METHODS: The study used fourth round of National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4) data of India, consisting of 75,645 under-five children, belonging to 3 Indian States - Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh & Uttar Pradesh. The children of the Region were first divided into 4 sub categories according to their birth-weight: (i) < 2000 gm, (ii) 2000-2499 gm, (iii) 2500-2999 gm (iv) 3000+gm, growth curve for mean height and mean weight were estimated for two sexes.
RESULTS: The significant association of 7 socio-demographic factors studied, namely - age & sex of child, birth-order, BMI, mother\'s highest level of education, place of residence and wealth index. Further, Cubic Model and Power Model, demonstrated best-fit to height & weight data of under-five children, belonging to different birth-weight categories, for estimating growth of boys & girls separately. These models enabled us to estimate mean height and mean weight, with 95% CI, for boys and girls separately by different birth-weight categories.
CONCLUSIONS: Study concluded that 7 socio-demographic factors were significantly associated with birth-weight. Further, Cubic Model and Power Model were most suitable for estimating child growth in terms of mean height & mean weight for boys and girls - considering specific birth-weight categories.

BACKGROUND: Offspring of women with type 1 diabetes are at increased risk of fetal growth patterns which are associated with perinatal morbidity. Our aim was to compare rates of large- and small-for-gestational age (LGA; SGA) defined according to different criteria, using data from the Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Type 1 Diabetes Pregnancy Trial (CONCEPTT).
METHODS: This was a pre-specified analysis of CONCEPTT involving 225 pregnant women and liveborn infants from 31 international centres ( ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01788527; registered 11/2/2013). Infants were weighed immediately at birth and GROW, INTERGROWTH and WHO centiles were calculated. Relative risk ratios, sensitivity and specificity were used to assess the different growth standards with respect to perinatal outcomes, including neonatal hypoglycaemia, hyperbilirubinaemia, respiratory distress, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission and a composite neonatal outcome.
RESULTS: Accelerated fetal growth was common, with mean birthweight percentiles of 82.1, 85.7 and 63.9 and LGA rates of 62, 67 and 30% using GROW, INTERGROWTH and WHO standards respectively. Corresponding rates of SGA were 2.2, 1.3 and 8.9% respectively. LGA defined according to GROW centiles showed stronger associations with preterm delivery, neonatal hypoglycaemia, hyperbilirubinaemia and NICU admission. Infants born > 97.7th centile were at highest risk of complications. SGA defined according to INTERGROWTH centiles showed slightly stronger associations with perinatal outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS: GROW and INTERGROWTH standards performed similarly and identified similar numbers of neonates with LGA and SGA. GROW-defined LGA and INTERGROWTH-defined SGA had slightly stronger associations with neonatal complications. WHO standards underestimated size in preterm infants and are less applicable for use in type 1 diabetes.
BACKGROUND: This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov . number NCT01788527 . Trial registered 11/2/2013.

Vacuum-assisted vaginal delivery (VAVD) is considered a major risk factor for obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASIS). However, it is difficult to estimate its true contribution to the occurrence of OASIS, as its performance may be confounded by other determinants. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the association of VAVD with OASIS among primiparous women compared to SVD.
A retrospective cohort study including all primiparous women who vaginally delivered a cephalic singleton gestation during the years 2011 to 2020. As VAVDs were not performed before 34 gestational weeks, we capped the cohort at this gestational age. Women were allocated into two groups: VAVDs and spontaneous vaginal deliveries (SVD). We compared women with OASIS to those without and performed a multivariate analysis including factors that were found significant in the univariate analysis. We further divided the whole cohort into different subcategories. The primary outcome was the rate of OASIS in VAVD compared to SVD.
Overall, 23,272 primiparous vaginal deliveries were available for evaluation. Of these, 3595 delivered by VAVD and 19,677 delivered spontaneously. OASIS occurred in 421 (1.8%) of the deliveries. OASIS were more common in VAVDs than in SVDs [83 (2.3%) vs. 338 (1.7%), respectively, OR (95% CI) 1.35 (1.06-1.72), p = 0.01]. After multivariate regression analysis, OASIS were not found to be independently associated with the mode of delivery [aOR 1.21 (95% CI) 0.88-1.68, P = 0.23]. In a categorical analysis of OASIS rates by risk factors and mode of delivery, VAVD was not associated with an increase in OASIS among women giving birth to neonates weighing > 3500 g compared to SVD [OR (95% CI) 1.02 (0.65-1.62), P = 0.90].
Among primiparous women VAVD did not increase the risk of OASIS compared to SVD.

OBJECTIVE: Low birth-weight is a major risk factor for perinatal death in sub-Saharan Africa, but the relative contribution of determinants of birth-weight are difficult to disentangle in low resource settings. We sought to delineate the relationship between birth-weight and maternal pre-eclampsia across gestation in a low-resource obstetric setting.
METHODS: Prospective cohort study in a tertiary referral centre in urban Uganda, including 971 pre-eclampsia cases and 1461 control pregnancies between 28 and 42 weeks gestation.
METHODS: Nonlinear modeling of birth-weight versus maternal pre-eclampsia status across gestation. Models were adjusted for maternal-fetal characteristics including maternal age, parity, HIV status, and socio-economic status. Propensity score matching was used to control for the severity of pre-eclampsia at different gestational ages.
RESULTS: Mean birth-weight for pre-eclampsia cases was 2.48 kg (±0.81SD) compared to 3.06 kg (±0.46SD) for controls (p < 0.001). At 28 weeks, the mean birth-weight difference between pre-eclampsia cases and controls was 0.58 kg (p < 0.05), narrowing to 0.17 kg at 39 weeks (p < 0.01). Controlling for pre-eclampsia severity only partially explained this gestational difference in mean birth-weight between pre-eclampsia cases and controls. Holding gestational age constant, pre-eclampsia status predicted 7.1-10.5% of total variation in birth-weight, compared to 0.05-0.7% for all other maternal-fetal characteristics combined.
CONCLUSIONS: Pre-eclampsia is the dominant predictor of birth-weight in low-resource settings and hence likely to heavily influence perinatal survival. The impact of pre-eclampsia on birth-weight is smaller with advancing gestational age, a difference that is not fully explained by controlling for pre-eclampsia severity.

UNASSIGNED: Even though most of the systematic reviews suggest that depression and anxiety are related to poor neonatal outcomes, it is not yet clear whether a dose-response effect exists.
UNASSIGNED: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the amount of depressive and anxiety symptoms in a cohort of pregnant women and its effect on their newborns.
UNASSIGNED: Two hundred ninety-nine women were assessed for anxiety and depressive disorders and anxious and depressive symptoms at near monthly intervals throughout pregnancy. At the time of delivery, we collected the newborns\' gestational age, birth weight and the Apgar score at 1 and 5 min.
UNASSIGNED: Sixty-seven women were diagnosed as depressed and 43 had an anxious disorder. After controlling for confounding variables only the overall levels of anxiety during pregnancy were negatively associated with birth weight (B = -5.76; 95% CI = -10.96, -2.81), suggesting the existence of a \"dose-response\" effect. The birth outcomes in mildly depressed pregnant women were similar to those of nondepressed women.
UNASSIGNED: Anxiety symptoms, beyond a categorical diagnosis, are associated with low birth weight and should be recognized and properly treated during pregnancy.