Maternal socioeconomic factors and the risk of premature birth and low birth weight in Cyprus: a case–control study

Abstract

BackgroundPrematurity and low birth weight are significant predictors of perinatal morbidity and mortality and are influenced by the overall health and socioeconomic status of the pregnant mother. Although Cyprus is characterized by the highest prematurity rate in Europe (13.1% in 2014), the relationship between maternal health and socioeconomic characteristics with prematurity and low birth weight has never been investigated. We aimed to investigate the association of maternal demographic, clinical and socioeconomic characteristics with premature delivery and low neonatal birth weight in Cyprus.MethodsIn a case-control design, questionnaire data were collected from 348 women who gave birth prematurely (cases) and 349 women who gave birth at term (controls). Information was obtained on gestation duration and birth weight as well as maternal demographic, socioeconomic and clinical profiles, including parameters such as smoking, body mass index, alcohol consumption, presence of gestational diabetes and mental health factors.ResultsPremature delivery was associated with greater maternal age (OR: 1.12, 95% CI: 1.06–1.18), absence of gestational diabetes (OR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.30–0.97), long working hours (OR: 3.77, 95% CI: 2.08–6.84) and emotional stress (OR: 8.5, 95% CI: 3.03–23.89). Within the cases group, emotional stress was also associated with lower birth-weight (β: -323.68 (95% CI: -570.36, − 77.00).ConclusionsThe findings of this study demonstrate the positive association of maternal psychological factors, working conditions as well as maternal age with prematurity and low birth weight in Cyprus. Additional, prospective, studies are needed in the country to further investigate these associations and inform public health intervention measures.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12978-018-0603-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Determinants and adverse perinatal outcomes of low birth weight newborns delivered in Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia: a cohort study

“…The possible explanation for this might be most likely to be physical damage to the cervix caused methods of abortion, reduce the tensile strength of the cervical plug, result in the preterm birth subsequently LBW and due to psychological stress for the previous occurrence of the event. Hence stress-depression is associated with previous abortion [23] and other pregnancy complications [24] and lowers dietary diversity of women [25,26], reduces fetal nutrients vital for development leads to an increased risk of LBW [27][28][29][30]. Conversely, various kinds of literature suggested that induced abortion does not increase the risk for low birth weight in the subsequent pregnancy [31][32][33].…”

A Case-Control Study of Obstetric Risk Factors for Low Birth Weights and Preterm Births

“…Obstetric RFs have an important role on the multifactorial etiology of prematurity, as: multiple pregnancies which associated with assist reproductive technologies (ART), breech presentation of the fetus, placenta previa, premature amniotic fluid rupture, inducing labor for medical causes, multiple parity [2,[17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

“…A few previous studies have revealed that the risk of preterm birth in younger (under 17-or 19-year of age) and older women in child-birth (after aged 35-40 years) increases [2,17,19,[24][25][26][27]. As others, we found that the mean maternal age was significantly higher in the group of PLBW newborns (28.0±7.4) compared with the group of FTNBW newborns (26.5±7.8).…”

“…Prematurity birth rates reported in different populations range between 9% and 50%. In Bulgaria, these rates have increased from 6.1% in 80 years of 20th century (6.1% in EU, 5.5% in Norway, 4.1% in Finland) to 8.1% in 2011; these values were higher compared with the lowest values in Europe (Norway -4.8%, Finland -4.1%) and lower compared with the highest European values (Cyprus -13.1%) [1,4,7,[13][14][15][16][17].…”

Análisis Multivariante de la Mortalidad Neonatal, sus características y causas en el Servicio de Neonatología de un hospital de segundo nivel. 2016-2018

“…Muertes ocurridas en el período neonatal (edad 0-27 días). El 41% (3575 millones) de todas las muertes en niños menores de cinco años (Stylianou-Riga et al, 2018). En los países en desarrollo, la mayoría de las muertes y morbilidad maternas, perinatales y neonatales ocurren en el hogar.…”