Glinianaia, Svetlana V. and Rankin, Judith and Pless-Mulloli, Tanja and Pearce, Mark S. and Charlton, Martin and Parker, Louise
(2008)
Temporal changes in key maternal
and fetal factors affecting birth
outcomes: A 32-year population-ba
sed study in an industrial city.
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 8 (1).
p. 39.
ISSN 1471-2393
Abstract
Background:
The link between maternal factors and birth outco
mes is well established. Substantial changes in
society and medical care over time
have influenced women's reproducti
ve choices and health, subsequently
affecting birth outcomes. The objective
of this study was to describe tempor
al changes in key maternal and fetal
factors affecting birth outcomes in Newc
astle upon Tyne over three decades, 1961–1992.
Methods:
For these descriptive analyses
we used data from a populatio
n-based birth record database
constructed for the historical cohort
Pa
rticulate
M
atter and
P
erinatal
E
vents
R
esearch (PAMPER) study. The
PAMPER database was created using details from paper-base
d hospital delivery and neon
atal records
for all births
during 1961–1992 to mothers resident in Newcastle (out
of a total of 109,086 sing
leton births, 97,809 hospital
births with relevant information). In
addition to hospital records, we used
other sources for data collection on
births not included in the delivery and neonatal records,
for death and stillbirth registrations and for validation.
Results:
The average family size decreased ma
inly due to a decline in the propor
tion of families with 3 or more
children. The distribution of mean maternal ages in al
l and in primiparous women
was lowest in the mid 1970s,
corresponding to a peak in the propor
tion of teenage mothers. The propor
tion of older mothers declined until
the late 1970s (from 16.5% to 3.4%) fo
llowed by a steady incr
ease. Mean birthweight in all and term babies
gradually increased from the mid 1970s. The increase in
the percentage of preterm
birth paralleled a two-fold
increase in the percentage of caesarean section amon
g preterm births during the last two decades. The gap
between the most affluent and the most deprived gro
ups of the population widened over the three decades.
Conclusion:
Key maternal and fetal factors affecting birth outco
mes, such as maternal
age, parity, socioeconomic
status, birthweight and gestational age, changed substa
ntially during the 32-year
period, from 1961 to 1992. The
availability of accurate gestat
ional age is extremely important for correct
interpretation of trends in birthweight.
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