Annals of epidemiology
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Annals of epidemiology · Jul 2013
Lower respiratory tract infection in the first year of life is associated with worse lung function in adult life: prospective results from the Barry Caerphilly Growth study.
We examined the association between childhood respiratory infections and adult lung function and how this association varies depending on the age at infection. ⋯ LRTIs are associated with an obstructive lung function deficit. Furthermore, the first year of life may be a sensitive period for experiencing LRTIs.
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Annals of epidemiology · Jul 2013
Medically induced preterm birth and the associations between prenatal care and infant mortality.
During the last 30 years, the use of prenatal care, both the proportion of women receiving the recommended number of visits and the average number of visits, has increased substantially. Although infant mortality has decreased, the incidence of preterm birth has increased. We hypothesized that prenatal care may lead to lower infant mortality in part by increasing the detection of obstetrical problems for which the clinical response may be to medically induce preterm birth. ⋯ These analyses suggest that some of the benefit of prenatal care in terms of infant mortality may be in part due to medically induced preterm birth. If so, the use of preterm birth rates as a metric for tracking birth policy and outcomes could be misleading.