Child Electronic Growth Monitoring System: An innovative and sustainable approach for establishing the Kaduna Infant Development (KID) Study in Nigeria

Abstract

Background Developing countries bear the burden of childhood stunting but lack resources for cohort studies to develop preventive strategies. To enable future prospective studies, we designed and tested the Child Electronic Growth Monitoring System (CEGROMS) using a readily available electronic data capture platform, the Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap). Objectives To demonstrate the feasibility of using CEGROMS for data collection for a pilot study for the Kaduna Infant Development (KID) Birth Cohort Study in Nigeria. Methods CEGROMS consists of the data capture form for growth monitoring, a central cloud server, electronic tablets, and desktop computer. We implemented the pilot study in 2017‐2019 at the Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital, Kaduna, Nigeria. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for completeness of baseline data (relative to individuals with incomplete data) and completion of follow‐up at different time points (relative to individuals with no follow‐up visit) by the participant characteristics. Complete data were defined as date of birth, sex, and birthweight recorded at recruitment. Results Among 3152 infant records in CEGROMS, 2789 (88.5%) had complete data. Of these, 1905 (68.3%) had at least one follow‐up visit. The main determinants of data completeness were health facility delivery (OR 19.17, 95% CI 13.65, 26.92) and tertiary education (OR 3.54, 95% CI 2.69, 4.67). Follow‐up was greater for women with tertiary education (OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.06, 1.51 for at least one visit). Maternal education is associated with completeness and follow‐up (following adjustments for parity and employment). Conclusions The CEGROMS electronic data collection system enables complete and consistent data collection. The data will enable design of strategies to improve follow‐up in the future implementation of the birth cohort study.

Association of intimate partner violence during pregnancy and birth weight among term births: a cross-sectional study in Kaduna, Northwestern Nigeria

“…Although we did not collect information about place of delivery, in the parent study from which all the participants came, few women (2.3%) gave birth at home. 31 Prevalence of exposure to different forms of prenatal IPV among term births We observed that 67% of the mothers experienced at least one form of IPV during pregnancy and 11% were exposed to all three (table 2). A relatively small proportion of the IPV-exposed women were exclusively exposed to only one form of IPV.…”

“…The difficulty of enrolling women delivering at home is a major challenge to getting a representative sample of participants for perinatal research in Nigeria. 31 We recognise the potential bias in birth weight measurement within 48 hours for infants born at home, as it is known that there is a 5%-10% loss of birth weight during the initial few days of life. 45 46 However, the proportion Open access of mothers that gave birth at home was too low to influence the mean birth weight and further we have reported that breastfeeding practices are comparable with those of women who delivered in the health facility.…”

“…45 46 However, the proportion Open access of mothers that gave birth at home was too low to influence the mean birth weight and further we have reported that breastfeeding practices are comparable with those of women who delivered in the health facility. 31 There could be unmeasured confounding for factors we did not assess, especially hypertension during pregnancy and pregnancy-associated malaria. However, we had a relatively short period of recruitment, which should standardise the seasonal exposure to malaria.…”

“…Participants of this study were selected from a larger population that has been previously described (online supplemental file 1-participant selection flowchart). 31 This larger population included all women who brought their newborns to the study site for BCG vaccination and growth monitoring within the first week of life over the period of January 2017-April 2019. The participant recruitment for the IPV study occurred in October-December 2018 and targeted all mothers whose infants were 14 weeks of age or less at the time of the clinic visit.…”

Technology as a tool to speed progress in reproductive, perinatal, and paediatric epidemiology

“…Kana and colleagues 8 evaluated the feasibility of using the Child Electronic Growth Monitoring System (CEGROMS) for data collection for a pilot study for the Kaduna Infant Development (KID) Birth Cohort Study in Nigeria. CEGROMS involves a data capture form for growth monitoring, a central cloud server, electronic tablets, and desktop computers.…”