Do Cash Transfers Improve Birth Outcomes? Evidence from Matched Vital Statistics, and Program and Social Security Data

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verónica Amarante ◽  
Marco Manacorda ◽  
Edward Miguel ◽  
Andrea Vigorito
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Birth Outcomes ◽  
Low Birthweight ◽  
Maternal Nutrition ◽  
Vital Statistics ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Gestational Length ◽  
Assistance Program ◽  
Intrauterine Growth ◽  
Key Driver

There is limited empirical evidence on whether cash transfers to poor pregnant women improve children's birth outcomes and potentially help weaken the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Using a unique array of program and social security administrative micro-data matched to longitudinal vital statistics in Uruguay, we estimate that participation in a generous social assistance program led to a sizable reduction in the incidence of low birthweight. The effect is due to faster intrauterine growth rather than longer gestational length. Our findings are consistent with improved maternal nutrition during pregnancy being a key driver of improved birthweight. (JEL I14, I32, I38, J13, J16, O15)

scholarly journals Human Capital and Wage Income Gains of Scaling-Up Maternal Prenatal Nutrition Interventions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 887-887
Author(s):  
Nandita Perumal ◽  
Mia Blakstad ◽  
Goodarz Danaei ◽  
Gunther Fink ◽  
Mark Lambiris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Birth Outcomes ◽  
Low Birthweight ◽  
Maternal Nutrition ◽  
Scaling Up ◽  
Nutrition Intervention ◽  
Nutrition Interventions ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Prenatal Nutrition ◽  
Middle Income Countries

Abstract Objectives Scaling-up nutrition interventions during pregnancy may provide human capital gains by lowering the risk of adverse birth outcomes associated with reduced long-term socioeconomic outcomes. We estimated gains in years of schooling and lifetime wages of scaling up prenatal maternal nutrition interventions for a 137 low- and middle-income countries. Methods Through a comprehensive review of the literature, we identified four prenatal maternal nutrition interventions with convincing-level of evidence for improving birth outcomes: prenatal multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS), calcium supplements, iron-folic acid supplements (IFA), and balanced protein energy supplements (BEP) among underweight pregnant women (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2). Effect sizes for intervention impact were derived from systematic reviews and random-effects meta-analysis. We focused on low birthweight (LBW) and preterm birth (PTB) as primary birth outcomes. We used the 2015 LBW and PTB prevalence estimates to calculate country-specific absolute reductions attributable to scaling-up a given prenatal nutrition invention. We then used an effect size based on a de novo review of the economics literature to quantify gains in schooling and lifetime wages due to reductions in LBW/PTB under two hypothetical scale-up scenarios of 50% and 90% coverage. Results For each country, returns on schooling and lifetime wages were estimated for scaling-up each prenatal nutrition intervention. For example, in Bangladesh, scaling-up IFA supplements from current coverage of 26% to 90% was estimated to reduce LBW prevalence by 3.2% contributing to a predicted increase of 0.11 million school years and US$153 million in wages per birth cohort. Similarly, scaling-up MMS, calcium supplements, and BEP to 90% coverage was predicted to increase schooling by 0.25, 0.17, and 0.07 million years, and wages by US$338, US$223, and US$97 million, respectively, per birth cohort. Global, regional, and national-level estimates for schooling and wage gains for each nutrition intervention will be presented. Conclusions Our findings indicate that scaling-up prenatal maternal nutrition interventions will contribute to substantial population-level increases in human capital, particularly in countries with a high burden of low birthweight or preterm birth. Funding Sources Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

scholarly journals Birth outcomes of cases with different congenital heart defects - a population-based study

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Attila Vereczkey ◽  
Balázs Gerencsér ◽  
Andrew E Czeizel ◽  
István Szabó
Keyword(s):  
Birth Weight ◽  
Birth Outcomes ◽  
Gestational Age ◽  
Intrauterine Growth Restriction ◽  
Congenital Heart ◽  
Low Birthweight ◽  
Heart Defects ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Intrauterine Growth ◽  
Gestational Age At Delivery

<p><strong>Background:</strong> In general, previous epidemiological studies evaluated congenital heart defects (CHDs) together. The aim of the present study was to identify possible etiological factors of different CHD-entities, because the underlying causes are unclear in the vast majority of patients.</p><p><strong>Objectives:</strong> Different CHD-entities as homogeneously as possible with confirmed diagnoses were analyzed in the population-based large dataset of the Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities.</p><p><strong>Methods</strong>: 3,750 live-born singleton CHD-patients were analyzed according to birth outcomes, i.e. gestational age at delivery and birth weight, the rate of preterm birth, low birthweight and small for gestational age.</p><p><strong>Results</strong>: The major findings of the study showed that cases with different CHD-entities had shorter gestational age at delivery and lower mean birth weight, and these variables associated with a higher rate of preterm birth and particularly with a much higher rate of low birthweight and small for gestational age. This study showed the importance of sex in the birth outcomes of some CHD-entities. The question is why several CHD-entities manifested more frequently in newborns with intrauterine growth restriction because fetal heart has a passive role before birth without pulmonary circulation.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> The birth outcomes of cases indicate the effect of CHDs for fetal development. In addition maternal confounders have to consider. Finally, CHDs and intrauterine growth restriction as two developmental errors may have a common route, thus fetal growth and birthweight associated gene polymorphisms may have a role in the origin of CHDs.</p>

The Global Rise of Social Cash Transfers

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lutz Leisering
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Security ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Social Citizenship ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Social Cash Transfers ◽  
The Right

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) proclaimed the equality of all human beings in dignity and rights. The right to social security, however, has been taken more seriously only since the 2000s, through calls for ‘Social security for all’ and ‘Leaving no one behind’. The book investigates a major response, social cash transfers to the poor. The idea of simply giving money to the poor had been rejected by all major development organizations until the 1990s, but since the early 2000s, social cash transfers have mushroomed in the global South and on agendas of international organizations. How come? What programmes have emerged in which countries? How inclusive are the programmes? What models have international organizations devised? Based on unique quantitative and qualitative data, the book takes stock of all identifiable cash transfers in all Southern countries and of the views of all major international organizations. The author argues that cash transfers reflect broader changes: new understandings of development, of human rights, of global risks, of the social responsibility of governments, and of universalism. Social cash transfers have turned the poor from objects of charity into rights-holders and agents of their own lives and of development. A repertoire of cash transfers has evolved that has enhanced social citizenship, but is limited by weak political commitments. The book also contributes to a general theory of social policy in development contexts, through a constructivist sociological approach that complements the dominant approaches from welfare economics and political economy and includes a theory of social assistance.

Differential Effects of Maternal Diets on Birth Outcomes and Metabolic Parameters in Rats After Ethanol Consumption during Pregnancy

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Yidi Wang ◽  
Bradley A. Feltham ◽  
Michael N. A. Eskin ◽  
Miyoung Suh
Keyword(s):  
Total Cholesterol ◽  
Birth Outcomes ◽  
Maternal Nutrition ◽  
Maternal Diet ◽  
Hdl Cholesterol ◽  
Nutrition Intervention ◽  
Metabolic Parameters ◽  
Nutrition Status ◽  
Sprague Dawley ◽  
Metabolic Outcomes

Abstract Maternal nutrition status plays an important role in the development of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), but its direct evidence is lacking. This study compared a standard chow with a semi-purified energy dense (E-dense) diet on birth and metabolic outcomes in rats after ethanol (EtOH) consumption during pregnancy. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into four groups: chow (n=6), chow+EtOH (20% v/v) (n=7), E-dense (n=6), and E-dense+EtOH (n=8). Birth outcomes including litter size, body and organ weights were collected. Metabolic parameters were measured in dams and pups at postnatal day (PD) 7. Maternal EtOH consumption decreased body weights (p <0.0001) and litter sizes (p <0.05) in chow-fed dams. At PD7, pups born to dams fed E-dense diet had higher body (p <0.002) and liver weights (p <0.0001). These pups also had higher plasma total cholesterol (p <0.0001), triacyclglycerol (p <0.003) and alanine aminotransferase (p <0.03) compared to those from chow-fed dams. Dams fed E-dense diet had higher plasma total- (p <0.0001) and HDL-cholesterol (p <0.0001) and lower glucose (p <0.0001). EtOH increased total cholesterol (p <0.03) and glucose (p <0.05) only in dams fed the E-dense diet. Maternal exposure to E-dense diet attenuated prenatal EtOH-induced weight loss and produced different metabolic outcomes in both dams and pups. While the long-lasting effects of these outcomes are unknown, this study highlights the importance of maternal diet quality for maternal health and infant growth, and suggests that maternal nutrition intervention may be a potential target for alleviating FASD.

Categories of intrauterine growth retardation

1993 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 203-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger A Fay ◽  
David A Ellwood
Keyword(s):  
Soft Tissue ◽  
Fetal Growth ◽  
Gestational Age ◽  
Growth Retardation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Intrauterine Growth Retardation ◽  
Low Birthweight ◽  
Ponderal Index ◽  
Intrauterine Growth ◽  
Different Types

Originally all low birthweight infants were considered to be premature. When prematurity was redefined in terms of gestational age (SGA) and not preterm. With the large scale collection of obstetric data the distributions of birthweight at different gestational ages were described and from these, infants who were SGA could be defined. SGA became synonymous with terms such as growth retardation, but it soon became appearent that the two were not necessarily interchangeable. Scott and Usher found that it was the degree of soft tissue wasting rather than birthweight that related to poor perinatal outcome. Miller and Hassanein stated that: “birthweight by itself is not a valid measure of fetal growth impairment”. They used Rorher’s Ponderal Index (weight (g) × 100/length (cm)) to diagnose the malnourished or excessively wasted infants with reduced soft tissue mass. Most studies of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) still use low birthweight for gestational age centile as their only definition of IUGR or only study infants who have a low birthweight. Altman and Hytten expressed disquiet about this definition and stated: “There is now an urgent need to establish true measures of fetal growth from which deviations indicating genuine growth retardation can be derived” and that “it is particularly important that some reliable measures of outcome should be established”. In large series of term deliveries published recently, two groups of IUGR infants with different growth patterens have been identified. These studies confirm that birthweight alone is inadequate to define the different types of IUGR. They established that low Ponderal Index (PI) is a measure of IUGR associated with an increased incidence of perinatal problems and that it is time to re-evaluate IUGR in terms of the different types of aberrant fetal growth.

scholarly journals Some Risk Factors for Low Birthweight Infants at Manado Hospital

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 94-100
Author(s):  
S. M. Salendu W. ◽  
Sutomo Raharjo ◽  
Immanuel Mustadjab ◽  
Nan Warouw
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Maternal Age ◽  
Intrauterine Growth Retardation ◽  
Maternal Education ◽  
Low Birthweight ◽  
Term Infants ◽  
Intrauterine Growth ◽  
Hypertension In Pregnancy ◽  
History Of ◽  
In Pregnancy

The risk factors of low birthweight infants were assessed in a retrospective study covering 3607 singleton livebirth infants at Manado Hospital from January until December 1993. The analysis confirmed that patterns of risk birthweight hypertension in pregnancy (P<0.01), maternal education (P<0.01), maternal age (P<0.05), and parity (P<0.01), marital status (P<0.01), history of abortion (P<0.05), and parity (P<0.01). Anemia in pregnancy was also associated with birthweight in low birth weight (P<0.05). Asymetric intrauterine growth retardation (Ponderal Index below 2.32) was found both in premature and term infants.

Second-Generation Consequences of Small-for-Dates Birth

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-347
Author(s):  
Mark A. Klebanoff ◽  
Olav Meirik ◽  
Heinz W. Berendes
Keyword(s):  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Birth Outcomes ◽  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Intrauterine Growth Retardation ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Intrauterine Growth ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Reported Study ◽  
Increase In Risk

This is the first reported study of birth outcomes of a group of women whose own birth weights and gestational ages had been previously recorded. Births occurring from 1972 to 1983 among 1154 Swedish women, born from 1955 to 1965, were studied. Women who were themselves small for gestational age (SGA) at birth were at increased risk of giving birth to a SGA infant (odds ratio = 2.21, 95% confidence interval = 1.41, 3.48). Women who had been SGA had an even greater increase in risk of giving birth to a preterm infant (odds ratio = 2.96, 95% confidence interval = 1.47, 5.94). Women who were preterm at birth were not at increased risk of giving birth to either preterm (odds ratio = 0.65, 95% confidence interval = 0.15, 2.74) or SGA (odds ratio 1.21, 95% confidence interval = 0.62, 2.38) infants. It is concluded that the long-term effects of intrauterine growth retardation may extend to the next generation; women who had been SGA should be considered at increased risk to give birth to both growth-retarded and preterm infants.

scholarly journals Personal Oral Infection Control, Low Birthweight, and Preterm Births in Appalachia West Virginia: A Cross-Sectional Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Constance Wiener ◽  
Christopher Waters
Keyword(s):  
Oral Health ◽  
West Virginia ◽  
Infection Control ◽  
Birth Outcomes ◽  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Low Birthweight ◽  
Preterm Births ◽  
Oral Infection ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Powered Toothbrush

Introduction. Appalachia West Virginia has a higher prevalence of preterm and low birthweight babies than the US national prevalence. Many factors have been studied which are known to influence preterm births and low birthweight babies. There are limited interventions that are available to decrease the likelihood of preterm and low birthweight babies; however oral health and personal oral infection control may be helpful. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of limited personal oral infection control among pregnant West Virginia Appalachian women and poor birth outcomes (preterm and low birthweight babies). Methods. A secondary data analysis of data from the West Virginia Healthy Start Helping Appalachian Parents and Infants (HAPI) Project from 2005 to 2016 was conducted. The researchers determined the odds ratio of personal oral infection control with a powered toothbrush (use of the brush fewer than 13 times per week versus use of the brush 13 or more times per week) on poor birth outcomes. Results. There were 845 women who completed the oral health program within the HAPI project. In unadjusted logistic regression, women who used the powered toothbrush and brushed less frequently had greater odds of poor birth outcomes than women who brushed more frequently (odds ratio of 2.07 [1.18, 3.62] P = 0.011 for low birthweight babies; and an odds ratio of 1.78 [1.04, 3.02] P = 0.034 for preterm birth). The results remained positive but were no longer significant in adjusted analysis. Conclusion. There is a need to identify interventions that will benefit pregnant women so that their pregnancies result in healthy pregnancy outcomes.

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