Infectious Diseases - Research Publications

Permanent URI for this collection

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Item
    No Preview Available
    Prevalence and risk factors for symptoms of common mental disorders in early and late pregnancy in Vietnamese women: A prospective population-based study
    Fisher, J ; Tran, T ; Tran, TD ; Dwyer, T ; Nguyen, T ; Casey, GJ ; Simpson, JA ; Hanieh, S ; Biggs, B-A (Elsevier, 2013-04-05)
    BACKGROUND: Little is known about the prevalence of and risk factors for common mental disorders (CMD) in pregnant women in low-income countries. The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of and psychosocial risk factors for clinically significant symptoms of CMD in early and late pregnancy in women in rural Viet Nam. METHODS: A population-based sample of women was surveyed in early and late pregnancy. CMD were assessed by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale-Viet Nam Validation and psychosocial risks by study-specific structured interviews. RESULTS: In total 497/523 (97%) eligible women were recruited and 419 (84%) provided complete data. Prevalence of CMD only in early pregnancy was 22.4% (95% CI 18.4-26.4); only in late pregnancy was 10.7% (95% CI 7.8-13.7) and at both assessment waves was 17.4% (95% CI 13.8-21.1). Non-economic and economic coincidental life adversity, intimate partner violence, past pregnancy loss, and childhood abuse were positively associated with persistent antenatal CMD. Older age, having a preference for the baby's sex, and nulli- or primiparity were risk factors for CMD in early pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: Persistent antenatal CMD are prevalent in rural areas of Viet Nam. Psychosocial risk factors play a major role in this significant public health problem.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    The Effect of Intermittent Antenatal Iron Supplementation on Infant Outcomes in Rural Vietnam: A Cluster Randomized Trial
    Hanieh, S ; Ha, T ; Simpson, J ; Casey, G ; Khuong, N ; Thoang, D ; Thuy, T ; Pasricha, S-R ; Tran, T ; Tuan, T ; Dwyer, T ; Fisher, J ; Biggs, B-A (SCIENCEDOMAIN International, 2015)
    Objectives: Intermittent antenatal iron supplementation is an attractive alternative to daily dosing during pregnancy, however the impact of this strategy on infant outcomes remains unclear. We compared the effect of intermittent antenatal iron supplementation with daily iron supplementation on maternal and infant outcomes in rural Vietnam. Methods: This cluster randomised trial was conducted in Ha Nam province, Vietnam. 1,258 pregnant women in 104 communes were assigned to daily iron-folic acid (IFA), twice weekly IFA, or twice weekly multiple micronutrient (MMN) supplementation. Primary outcome was birth weight. Results: There was no difference in birth weights of infants of women receiving twice weekly IFA compared to daily IFA (mean difference [MD] 28 g; 95% CI -22 to 78), or twice weekly MMN compared to daily IFA (MD -36.8 g; 95% CI -82 to 8.2). At 32 wk gestation, maternal ferritin was lower in women receiving twice weekly compared to daily IFA (geometric mean ratio (GMR) 0.73; 95% CI 0.67 to 0.80), and in women receiving twice weekly MMN compared to daily IFA (GMR 0.62; 95% CI 0.57 to 0.68), with no difference in hemoglobin levels. Infants of mothers who received twice weekly IFA had higher cognitive scores at 6 mo of age compared to those who received daily IFA (MD 1.89; 95% CI 0.23 to 3.56). Conclusions: Twice-weekly antenatal IFA supplementation achieved similar mean birthweight, and improved cognitive scores in infants at 6 months of age, compared to daily IFA supplementation, and should be considered for use in settings with low anemia prevalence.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    The Stunting Tool for Early Prevention: development and external validation of a novel tool to predict risk of stunting in children at 3 years of age
    Hanieh, S ; Braat, S ; Simpson, JA ; Tran, TTH ; Tran, TD ; Tran, T ; Fisher, J ; Biggs, B-A (BMJ PUBLISHING GROUP, 2019-11)
    INTRODUCTION: Globally, an estimated 151 million children under 5 years of age still suffer from the adverse effects of stunting. We sought to develop and externally validate an early life predictive model that could be applied in infancy to accurately predict risk of stunting in preschool children. METHODS: We conducted two separate prospective cohort studies in Vietnam that intensively monitored children from early pregnancy until 3 years of age. They included 1168 and 475 live-born infants for model development and validation, respectively. Logistic regression on child stunting at 3 years of age was performed for model development, and the predicted probabilities for stunting were used to evaluate the performance of this model in the validation data set. RESULTS: Stunting prevalence was 16.9% (172 of 1015) in the development data set and 16.4% (70 of 426) in the validation data set. Key predictors included in the final model were paternal and maternal height, maternal weekly weight gain during pregnancy, infant sex, gestational age at birth, and infant weight and length at 6 months of age. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve in the validation data set was 0.85 (95% Confidence Interval, 0.80-0.90). CONCLUSION: This tool applied to infants at 6 months of age provided valid prediction of risk of stunting at 3 years of age using a readily available set of parental and infant measures. Further research is required to examine the impact of preventive measures introduced at 6 months of age on those identified as being at risk of growth faltering at 3 years of age.