Intergenerational Effects of Maternal Exposure to Drought in Utero on Newborn Size in Rural Malawi

Hanjahanja-Phiri, Thokozani

doi:10.1159/000490671

Cited by 2 publications

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“…Most recent studies in diverse populations, however, point to the importance of maternal and ecological characteristics in mediating the impact of supplementation. Women's parity (Adu‐Afarwuah et al, ; Blackwell, Chow, Chinn, Blackwell, & Hsu, ; Huybregts et al, ; Ramakrishnan et al, ; Roberfroid et al, ), age (Mridha et al, ), body mass index (Fall, Fisher, Osmond, Margetts, & Maternal Micronutrient Supplementation Study, ; Huybregts et al, ; Roberfroid et al, ), anemia (Huybregts et al, ), and drought exposure in utero (Hanjahanja‐Phiri, , ) modify the effects of prenatal supplementation on infant outcomes. Studies also reveal heterogeneity in the effect of supplements on infants by sex (Blackwell et al, ; Mora et al, ; Mridha et al, ; Smith et al, ) and season of birth (Ceesay et al, ; Prentice et al, ; Toe et al, ).…”

Section: Prenatal Supplementation Studies: Contingent Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A life history approach to prenatal supplementation: Building a bridge from biological anthropology to public health and nutrition

Reiches

2019

American J Hum Biol

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While prenatal supplementation with protein, lipids, carbohydrates, and micronutrients has been used to improve infant outcomes in undernourished populations since the 1960s with inconsistent results, a flourishing body of literature within biological anthropology has used life history theory to explain why supplemental resources are often allocated to maternal survival and future reproduction and not to the current offspring. To date, however, public health and nutrition researchers have not adopted evolutionary perspectives in designing or analyzing prenatal supplementation studies. The result is a long series of supplementation trials with unpredictable and often disappointing outcomes for women and children, as well

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Section: Prenatal Supplementation Studies: Contingent Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A life history approach to prenatal supplementation: Building a bridge from biological anthropology to public health and nutrition

Reiches

2019

American J Hum Biol

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“…For example, in The Gambia, Rickard and colleagues found that even a brief exposure to early environmental deprivation by mothers, when they were children, had a negative impact on their subsequent offspring's growth in utero, even among rural populations that were not necessarily very food insecure (Rickard et al, 2012). More recently, the intergenerational effects of in utero maternal exposure to drought or famine on subsequent child nutritional and birth outcomes have been explored in recent papers covering a range of droughts and famines from different countries (Belesova et al, 2019;Hanjahanja-Phiri, 2018;Johnson et al, 2017). The present study, however, will only explore the intergenerational effects of maternal early life exposure to drought (from age 0-5 yr) on subsequent infant birth outcomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A conceptual framework of the impact of maternal early life drought exposure on newborn size in Malawi

Hanjahanja-Phiri

2021

Sustainable Environment

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The effects of adverse prenatal conditions are not only experienced over the life course but can be passed on intergenerationally. The present study took advantage of a natural experiment from three drought periods of 1981/82, 1987/88, and 1992/93 that occurred in Malawi with varying severity and used data from a randomized clinical trial (RCT), conducted between 2011-2015 (Protocol #NCT01239693). The present study aimed to assess the effect of the interactions between maternal exposure to drought in early life and prenatal supplementation with a novel supplement [small quantity (SQ), lipid-based nutrient supplement (LNS)], the standard of care prenatal supplement [iron-folic acid or IFA], or a close substitute of the standard of care [multiple micronutrients or MMN], on subsequent infant birth outcomes. During data analysis, ordinary least squares were used to run multiple regressions. The regression results were as follows. When there was no maternal exposure to drought, SQ-LNS compared to IFA appeared to improve subsequent infant birth outcomes for length-for-age Z score or LAZ (0.403 standard deviation (SD), Confidence interval CI [0.099, 0.708]), for subsequent infant weight-for-age Z score or WAZ (0.372 SD, CI [0.053, 0.691]), and for imputed infant birthweight or BTW (125.900 g, CI [2.901, 248.899]). In conclusion, the results show a pattern emerging whereby some positive associations can be observed, specifically, when maternal non-drought exposure variables and the SQ-LNS variable interact. Their combined effects on subsequent infant birth outcomes notably subsequent infant LAZ, subsequent infant WAZ, and subsequent infant imputed BWT appear to be positive.

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Intergenerational Effects of Maternal Exposure to Drought in Utero on Newborn Size in Rural Malawi

Cited by 2 publications

References 2 publications

A life history approach to prenatal supplementation: Building a bridge from biological anthropology to public health and nutrition

A life history approach to prenatal supplementation: Building a bridge from biological anthropology to public health and nutrition

A conceptual framework of the impact of maternal early life drought exposure on newborn size in Malawi

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