This study tested a model describing the relationships between various biopsychosocial, behavioral, and cognitive factors on nutritional adequacy and infant birth weight in low-income pregnant women. The findings showed that maternal age, body mass index prior to pregnancy, nutritional knowledge, and infant gestation at birth explained 52% of the variance in infant birth weight. Providing nutritional education throughout pregnancy might lead to improved dietary patterns, which, in turn, might reduce the incidence of low birth weight.
The goals of this study were (1) to examine the influence of prenatal nutrition on birth outcomes, (2) to describe research on the effects of macro- and micronutrients on birth outcomes, and (3) to discuss strategies for monitoring diet and implementing nutrition education during pregnancy.
The researchers examines the effects of prenatal participation in the New York State WIC Program on birth weight through enhanced control of selection bias and gestational age bias. Adjusted estimates showed a significant positive effect of longer prenatal WIC participation on birth outcomes for all of the groups studied.
The objective of this study was to examine whether socioeconomic status (SES) gradients emerged in health outcomes as early as birth. Results showed that participation in WIC substantially flattened income gradients for short-term participants and virtually eliminated an income gradient among long-term participants. The researcher concluded that WIC’s effects on income gradients warrant additional study, to explore further whether interventions or participants; characteristics could resolve socioeconomic disparities in such early-life health;outcomes as low birth weight.
The goal of this study was to determine whether perceived levels of social support affected birth weight. Data suggested that infants born to African-American mothers were, on average, 297 grams lighter than those born to white mothers. For African-American mothers only, the mean birth weight decreased significantly as the neighborhood level of economic disadvantage increased. A positive association between perceived levels of social support and birth weight was found for white mothers only.
The researchers; goal was to determine whether the availability of community health and social services was associated with the risk of poor fetal growth for infants born small for gestational age (SGA). There was no association between SGA births and the accessibility of community services for either high- or low-risk women.
This study examines the impact of maternal participation in WIC on birth weight. The authors concluded that after controlling for potential biases, a significant positive association between WIC participation and birth weight was observed.
The author tested predictors of infant birth weight, including prepregnancy body mass index, gestational weight gain, and smoking. Results showed that higher birth weight was predicted by prepregnancy obesity. Lower infant birth weight was predicted by both lower and higher-than-recommended weight gain and by lower and higher levels of smoking.
This study examines whether dietary attitudes and demographics differed, based on the smoking status among low-income women participating in a dietary intervention. Results indicated that relative to nonsmokers, current smokers reported significantly higher overall calories; higher percentages of calories from fat, sweets, and alcohol; and a lower percentage of calories from protein. Those who had never smoked and who received the dietary intervention evidenced the greatest dietary changes over time.
This study evaluated an intervention aimed at increasing the report of prenatal alcohol use in a community setting. The rates of reported prenatal alcohol consumption at the 12 WIC intervention sites were compared with rates at 12 WIC control sites, using a repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent-samples t-tests. Within 8 months of study commencement, rates of reported prenatal alcohol consumption were significantly higher at the intervention sites than at the control sites.
