Article
Environmental Sciences
Zuqiang Fu, Qian Liu, Jingjia Liang, Tao Huang, Geyu Liang, Yong Zhou, Aihua Gu
Summary: Increasing evidence suggests a link between exposure to air pollution and adverse birth outcomes, particularly low birth weight. This study found that exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 was positively associated with low birth weight, and there was a negative correlation between PM2.5, PM2.5-10, PM10, NOx and birth weight.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jiawen Liao, Yang Liu, Kyle Steenland, Ajay Pillarisetti, Lisa M. Thompson, Sagnik Dey, Kalpana Balakrishnan, Thomas Clasen
Summary: A study conducted in India shows an association between exposure to PM2.5 during the in utero and post-delivery periods and child survival. This study highlights the need for measures to reduce ambient air pollution levels, especially during pregnancy and early life stages, in India and other countries where guideline values are exceeded.
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yiwen Zhang, Tingting Ye, Pei Yu, Rongbin Xu, Gongbo Chen, Wenhua Yu, Jiangning Song, Yuming Guo, Shanshan Li
Summary: Exposure to wildfire-specific PM2.5 is associated with increased risk of preterm birth and term low birth weight. Pregnant women exposed to wildfire-specific PM2.5 are at higher risk for preterm birth and term low birth weight. This study emphasizes the importance of increased attention to pregnant women by policy makers.
ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL
(2023)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Chan Lu, Fang Xiao, Xu Yang, Yinping Zhang, Baizhan Li, Zhuohui Zhao, Chen Huang, Xin Zhang, Hua Qian, Juan Wang, Wei Liu, Yuexia Sun, Yu Sun, Xi Fu, Qihong Deng
Summary: This study found that maternal exposure to persistent mould/damp stains and mouldy odour may increase the risk of low birth weight in newborns. Additionally, exposure to high temperature and PM2.5 during pregnancy can further enhance this effect.
BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Xi Gong, Franklin Benjamin Zhan
Summary: This study identifies critical exposure windows of maternal air pollution exposures associated with low birth weight (LBW) in offspring using a novel method. Through a case-control study based on birth data and air quality monitoring data in Texas, the study identifies ten chemicals and seventeen critical exposure windows where strong air pollutant-LBW associations are detected. The novel method reveals a number of critical time windows of maternal exposure to these chemicals that are positively associated with LBW in offspring.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Maayan Yitshak-Sade, Itai Kloog, D. Joel Schwartz, Victor Novack, Offer Erez, C. Allan Just
Summary: The study found associations between heat, PM2.5 exposure, and lower term birth weight, with pregnant women being more susceptible to these exposures towards the end of pregnancy. Heat sensitivity was higher in the initial weeks of pregnancy as well. These findings suggest critical windows of susceptibility that could be communicated to pregnant women during routine prenatal visits to increase awareness and target interventions to reduce exposures.
ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Xi Gong, Yanhong Huang, Jenny Duong, Shuguang Leng, F. Benjamin Zhan, Yan Guo, Yan Lin, Li Luo
Summary: This study investigated the association between maternal residential exposure to air pollution from industrial sources and the risk of low birth weight (LBW) in offspring. The results showed that exposure to 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, benzene, chlorine, ethylbenzene, and styrene were significantly associated with LBW. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Sylvester Dodzi Nyadanu, Jennifer Dunne, Gizachew Assefa Tessema, Ben Mullins, Bernard Kumi-Boateng, Michelle Lee Bell, Bereket Duko, Gavin Pereira
Summary: This study systematically reviewed and evaluated the associations between air pollutants and birth outcomes, finding plausible causal effects and consistent positive associations. However, more high-quality studies are needed to strengthen the evidence.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Zhen-Hua Li, Yi-Cheng Mao, Yang Li, Sun Zhang, Zhe-Ye Liu, Xue-Jie Liu, Jia-Wen Zhao, Kai Huang, Mao-Lin Chen, Guo-Peng Gao, Cheng-Yang Hu, Xiu-Jun Zhang
Summary: Using the method of analyzing mixed exposures, this study found that the combined exposure of air pollutants and pregnancy-related anxiety (PrA), particularly during the first trimester, is associated with a decrease in birth weight for gestational age z-score (BWz). This supports the view that prenatal exposure to chemical and non-chemical stressors has an impact on fetal growth.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yanhong Huang, Xi Gong, Lin Liu, Li Luo, Shuguang Leng, Yan Lin
Summary: Infants with low birth weight (LBW) are more likely to have health problems. This study found associations between maternal exposure to 10 metal components of PM2.5 and LBW in offspring, specifically an increase in LBW rate associated with mercury and chromium exposure.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mary D. Willis, David Schrank, Chunxue Xu, Lena Harris, Beate R. Ritz, Elaine L. Hill, Perry Hystad
Summary: This study found a consistent negative association between traffic congestion and reduced term birth weight, even after controlling for other factors. It estimated that up to 1.2 million pregnancies may be exposed to traffic congestion annually, highlighting the potential benefits of improving traffic congestion for infant health.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Li Shang, Liyan Huang, Liren Yang, Longtao Leng, Cuifang Qi, Guilan Xie, Ruiqi Wang, Leqian Guo, Wenfang Yang, Mei Chun Chung
Summary: The study found that prenatal exposure to air pollution may have adverse effects on term birth weight, with effects varying depending on trimesters and pollutants. This provides further evidence for the adverse effects of air pollution exposure on term birth weight in heavily polluted areas.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ichtiarini Nurullita Santri, Chuen-Bin Jiang, Yi-Hua Chen, Chih-Da Wu, Ming-Lun Zou, Ling-Chu Chien, Yu-Chun Lo, Hsing Jasmine Chao
Summary: In a study conducted in the Greater Taipei Area, it was found that living near commercial or greenhouse areas had adverse effects on birth weight and height of newborns, while higher greenness levels around residential areas had a positive impact on birth height.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Felipe Parra do Nascimento, Marcia Furquim de Almeida, Nelson Gouveia
Summary: This study aimed to investigate whether maternal education and area-level socioeconomic status modify the effect of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and PM10 on preterm births and term low birth weight. Results indicated that socioeconomic status plays a significant modifying role in the relationship between air pollution exposure and adverse birth outcomes.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Wenzheng Zhou, Xin Ming, Yunping Yang, Yaqiong Hu, Ziyi He, Hongyan Chen, Yannan Li, Jin Cheng, Xiaojun Zhou
Summary: This study explores the association between maternal exposure to ambient air pollutants and the risk of very low birth weight (VLBW), and identifies the sensitive exposure time window. The results suggest that high levels of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and O3 during pregnancy may increase the risk of VLBW, especially during the first and second trimester. Therefore, reducing the risk of early maternal exposure to ambient air pollution is necessary.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Laura Bojke, Marta O. Soares, Karl Claxton, Abigail Colson, Aimee Fox, Chris Jackson, Dina Jankovic, Alec Morton, Linda D. Sharples, Andrea Taylor
Summary: This article focuses on establishing reference case methods for expert elicitation to inform health care decision making. Methods choices for elicitation lack empirical evidence supporting recommendations, but reference case methods have been determined for health technology assessment. The reference methods prioritize experts with substantive knowledge, eliciting quantities directly observed by experts, and individual elicitation of beliefs. Further applied examples and experimental evidence comparing methods are recommended.
MEDICAL DECISION MAKING
(2022)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Wei Fang, Zhenru Wang, Michael B. Giles, Chris H. Jackson, Nicky J. Welton, Christophe Andrieu, Howard Thom
Summary: This article explores the computational methods for estimating the expected value of partial perfect information (EVPPI), introducing the potential of quasi Monte Carlo (QMC) and multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) estimation techniques. The study found that QMC and MLMC offer substantial computational savings in situations where parameter sets are large and correlated, and EVPPI is large.
MEDICAL DECISION MAKING
(2022)
Review
Health Care Sciences & Services
Shaun R. Seaman, Anne Presanis, Christopher Jackson
Summary: Time-to-event data can be right-truncated, leading to biased distribution towards shorter times in the sample compared to the population. This article reviews statistical methods to address this bias, particularly in the context of infectious disease epidemics like COVID-19. Issues of identifiability, estimation of time-to-event distribution, and the effects of covariates are discussed, with an illustration using data on individuals who died with coronavirus disease by April 5, 2020.
STATISTICAL METHODS IN MEDICAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
George Nicholson, Brieuc Lehmann, Tullia Padellini, Koen B. Pouwels, Radka Jersakova, James Lomax, Ruairidh E. King, Ann-Marie Mallon, Peter J. Diggle, Sylvia Richardson, Marta Blangiardo, Chris Holmes
Summary: Global and national surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 epidemiology is based on targeted testing of symptomatic individuals, but these data are often biased. A causal framework described in the study provides debiased estimates by combining targeted test counts and randomized surveillance data.
NATURE MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Christopher H. Jackson, Francesca Grosso, Kevin Kunzmann, Alice Corbella, Maria Gramegna, Marcello Tirani, Silvana Castaldi, Danilo Cereda, Daniela De Angelis, Anne Presanis
Summary: This study investigates the risks of hospital admission, death without hospital admission, and recovery without admission for people with symptomatic COVID-19 in Milan, Italy. The results show that the risk of death without hospital admission was higher during the severe burden on the healthcare system, especially for care home residents. The outcomes improved as the first wave of the pandemic waned, community healthcare resources were reinforced, and testing became more widely available.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Helen A. Blake, Linda D. Sharples, Katie Harron, Jan H. van der Meulen, Kate Walker
Summary: The study compares the pairwise and spine linkage approaches using real-world data, and finds that the spine linkage method can be an efficient alternative with little difference compared to the pairwise linkage approach.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Christopher H. Jackson, Brian D. M. Tom, Peter D. Kirwan, Sema Mandal, Shaun R. Seaman, Kevin Kunzmann, Anne M. Presanis, Daniela De Angelis
Summary: This study compares two multi-state modelling frameworks for analyzing hospital admission data of COVID-19 patients. The findings suggest that using 'cure-rate' models to define transition-specific hazards can better represent the low risk of certain groups for intensive care unit admission.
STATISTICAL METHODS IN MEDICAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Kamaryn T. Tanner, Linda D. Sharples, Rhian M. Daniel, Ruth H. Keogh
Summary: This study introduces two methods, path-specific effects and additive hazards model with exposure splitting, to address statistical challenges in mediation analysis for time-to-event outcomes and longitudinal observational data. Both methods are applied to observational datasets and found to produce unbiased estimates, although estimates may be biased if the data are measured infrequently.
STATISTICAL METHODS IN MEDICAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Biology
John N. S. Matthews, Sofia Bazakou, Robin Henderson, Linda D. Sharples
Summary: This paper focuses on complete case analysis of complete crossover designs, which can be used to estimate the difference between principal stratum strategy and hypothetical strategy estimands. The results show that the difference between these estimands exceeds 5% only when the trial is severely affected by dropouts or if the within-subject correlation is low.
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Kamaryn T. Tanner, Rhian M. Daniel, Diana Bilton, Nicholas J. Simmonds, Linda D. Sharples, Ruth H. Keogh
Summary: This study investigated the potential mediating factors, including lung function, pulmonary exacerbations, and nutritional status, through which cystic fibrosis-related diabetes (CFRD) affects the composite outcome of mortality or transplant in adult cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. The results showed that pulmonary exacerbations were the strongest mediator of the effect, attributing to a significant proportion of the total effect. Other factors may also contribute to the influence of CFRD on patient survival.
Article
Immunology
Jyoti Sehjal, Linda D. Sharples, Ruth H. Keogh, Kate Walker, Andreas Prachalias, Nigel Heaton, Tommy Ivanics, Jan van der Meulen, David Wallace
Summary: This study reveals time-varying differences in the hazard of all-cause mortality after liver transplantation between hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recipients and non-HCC recipients. It also provides evidence that some HCC patients have extra-hepatic spread at the time of transplantation, which has implications for post-transplant surveillance protocols.
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Ramzi A. Ajjan, Simon R. Heller, Colin C. Everett, Armando Vargas-Palacios, Ruchi Higham, Linda Sharples, Diana A. Gorog, Alice Rogers, Catherine Reynolds, Catherine Fernandez, Pedro Rodrigues, Thozhukat Sathyapalan, Robert F. Storey, Deborah D. Stocken
Summary: This study analyzed the impact of modern glucose-monitoring strategies on glycemic and patient-related outcomes in individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and recent myocardial infarction (MI). The results showed that compared with self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG), intermittently scanned continuous glucose monitoring (isCGM) marginally increased time in range and significantly reduced hypoglycemic exposure in T2D individuals with MI, while equally improving HbA(1c). These findings explain the cost effectiveness of isCGM.
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Chris P. Gale, Deborah Stocken, Suleman Aktaa, Catherine Reynolds, Rachael Gilberts, David Brieger, Kathryn Carruthers, Derek P. Chew, Shaun G. Goodman, Catherine Fernandez, Linda Sharples, Andrew Yan, Keith Fox
Summary: This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of risk stratification using the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) risk score (GRS) for patients with suspected non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome. The results showed that the use of GRS did not improve adherence to guideline recommended management or reduce cardiovascular events at 12 months.
BMJ-BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Sida Chen, Tom Marshall, Christopher Jackson, Jennifer Cooper, Francesca Crowe, Krish Nirantharakumar, Catherine L. Saunders, Paul Kirk, Sylvia Richardson, Duncan Edwards, Simon Griffin, Christopher Yau, Jessica K. Barrett
Summary: Multimorbidity, characterized by the coexistence of multiple chronic conditions, is a rising public health concern. This study utilized electronic primary care records from England to examine the associations between sociodemographic characteristics and the rate of disease progression. The findings indicate strong associations between social deprivation, gender, and age with disease diagnosis, which tend to attenuate with an increase in the number of preexisting conditions.
Letter
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Samer A. M. Nashef, Linda D. Sharples
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CARDIO-THORACIC SURGERY
(2022)
