Prenatal Hemoglobin Concentration and Long-Term Child Neurocognitive Development.

Anemia in pregnancy, defined by a hemoglobin level (Hb) of less than 110 g/L, contributes to infant mortality and morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa. Maternal Hb changes physiologically and pathologically during pregnancy. However, the impact of these changes on long-term child neurocognitive function is unknown.

Is Neurodevelopmental Assessment in Early Childhood Predictive of Performance Assessed Later in Childhood and Adolescence in Sub-Saharan Africa? A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Background: Most neurodevelopmental tests used to assess child development in sub-Saharan Africa were developed in western or high-income countries, raising the question of their usefulness with African children.

Objective: This systematic review identified and synthesized key findings from studies measuring development in children in Sub-Saharan Africa in early childhood and again at school age, to assess neurocognitive associations longitudinally from infancy through middle childhood.

Methods: The study was based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses method, selecting articles referenced in the PubMed, PsycInfo, and Embase databases using the following inclusion criteria: published between 2000 and 2022, written in French or English, and presenting results dealing with the objective assessment of child's neurodevelopment.

The Impact of Maternal Depression and Parent-Child Interactions on Risk of Parasitic Infections in Early Childhood: A Prospective Cohort in Benin.

Objectives: Maternal depression occurs in 13-20% of women from low-income countries, which is associated with negative child health outcomes, including diarrheal disease. However, few studies have investigated its impact on child risk of infectious disease. We studied the impacts of maternal depressive symptoms and parent-child interactions, independently, on the risk of Plasmodium falciparum malaria and soil-transmitted helminth infection in Beninese children.

The Effects of Malaria in Pregnancy on Neurocognitive Development in Children at 1 and 6 Years of Age in Benin: A Prospective Mother-Child Cohort.

Background: Malaria in pregnancy (MiP) contributes significantly to infant mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa and has consequences on survivors, such as preterm birth and low birth weight. However, its impact on long-term neurocognitive development in children remains unknown.

Methods: Our prospective cohort included pregnant women and their live-born singletons from the Malaria in Pregnancy Preventive Alternative Drugs clinical trial.

Pre-conception serum ferritin concentrations are associated with metal concentrations in blood during pregnancy: A cohort study in Benin.

Background: Iron deficiency is a common nutritional deficiency that impacts maternal health and fetal development and is also associated with increased uptake of toxic metals. Women in sub-Saharan Africa are highly exposed to both iron deficiency and metals in the environment. As research on the developmental origins of health and disease increasingly shows impacts of pre-conception maternal health on pregnancy and fetal health, these environmental exposures are of concern.

Soil-transmitted helminth infection in pregnancy and long-term child neurocognitive and behavioral development: A prospective mother-child cohort in Benin.

Background: An estimated 30% of women in Sub-Saharan Africa suffer from soil-transmitted helminth infection during pregnancy (SHIP), which has been shown to increase risk of pre-term birth, low birth weight, and maternal anemia. A previous study in Benin found that SHIP was associated with impaired cognitive and gross motor development scores in 635 one-year-old children. The objective of the present study was to follow children prospectively to investigate whether the association between SHIP and child neurocognitive and behavioral development persisted at age six.

[Formula: see text]Neurodevelopmental assessment at one year of age predicts neuropsychological performance at six years in a cohort of West African Children.

Rural children from Benin, west Africa were evaluated with the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) at one year of age and then at six years with the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC-II), the visual computerized Tests of Variables of Attention (TOVA), and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test (BOT-2) of motor proficiency (N = 568). Although both the MSEL and KABC-II were available to the assessors in French, instructions to the mother/child were in local language of Fon. Mothers were evaluated with the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS), Caldwell HOME Scale, educational level and literacy, and a Socio-Economic Scale - also in their local language (Fon).

Comparison of growth models to describe growth from birth to 6 years in a Beninese cohort of children with repeated measurements.

Objective: To select a growth model that best describes individual growth trajectories of children and to present some growth characteristics of this population.

Settings: Participants were selected from a prospective cohort conducted in three health centres (Allada, Sekou and Attogon) in a semirural region of Benin, sub-Saharan Africa.

Participants: Children aged 0 to 6 years were recruited in a cohort study with at least two valid height and weight measurements included (n=961).

Association of Chorioamnionitis with Cerebral Palsy at Two Years after Spontaneous Very Preterm Birth: The EPIPAGE-2 Cohort Study.

Objective: To assess whether chorioamnionitis is associated with cerebral palsy (CP) or death at 2 years' corrected age in infants born before 32 weeks of gestation after spontaneous birth.

Study Design: EPIPAGE-2 is a national, prospective, population-based cohort study of children born preterm in France in 2011; recruitment periods varied by gestational age. This analysis includes infants born alive after preterm labor or preterm premature rupture of membranes from 24 to 31 weeks of gestation.

Relationship between Stunting, Wasting, Underweight and Geophagy and Cognitive Function of Children.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between anthropometric characteristics and both geophagy and cognitive function of children.

Study Design: The study prospectively followed singleton children whose mothers participated in the MiPPAD clinical trial in Allada, Benin, from birth to age 12 months. Anthropometric measurements were taken at birth and 9 and 12 months.

Blood lead level in infants and subsequent risk of malaria: A prospective cohort study in Benin, Sub-Saharan Africa.

Lead and malaria both present significant health risks to children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Previous studies have shown that high blood lead levels in children act as a protective factor against subsequent malaria incidence. The main objective of this study was to investigate associations between blood lead level and malaria outcomes prospectively in Beninese children from 12 to 24 months of age.

Specialist health care services use in a European cohort of infants born very preterm.

Aim: Children born very preterm require additional specialist care because of the health and developmental risks associated with preterm birth, but information on their health service use is sparse. We sought to describe the use of specialist services by children born very preterm in Europe.

Method: We analysed data from the multi-regional, population-based Effective Perinatal Intensive Care in Europe (EPICE) cohort of births before 32 weeks' gestation in 11 European countries.

Neurodevelopmental outcomes in HIV-infected and uninfected African children.

Objective: HIV infection is associated with cognitive impairments, but outcomes are poorly explored in children starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) early or in those exposed but uninfected.

Design: Nested cross-sectional evaluation of the neurocognitive and behavioural outcomes of HIV-infected, HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) and HIV-unexposed (HUU) Cameroonian children at age 4-9 years prospectively followed.

Methods: Cognitive development was assessed in 127 HIV-infected, 101 HEU, 110 HUU children using the KABC-II, neurologic dysfunction using the Touwen examination and behavioural difficulties using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).

Toxics (Pb, Cd) and trace elements (Zn, Cu, Mn) in women during pregnancy and at delivery, South Benin, 2014-2015.

During pregnancy, fetal development can be hindered by maternal exposure to toxic elements and abnormal concentrations of trace elements. Few data are available in African countries. Our goal was to assess the body burden of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) in pregnant women in Benin.

Consequences of prenatal geophagy for maternal prenatal health, risk of childhood geophagy and child psychomotor development.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between prenatal geophagy, maternal prenatal haematological indices, malaria, helminth infections and cognitive and motor development among offspring.

Methods: At least a year after delivery, 552 of 863 HIV-negative mothers with singleton births who completed a clinical trial comparing the efficacy of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and mefloquine during pregnancy in Allada, Benin, responded to a nutrition questionnaire including their geophagous habits during pregnancy. During the clinical trial, helminth infection, malaria, haemoglobin and ferritin concentrations were assessed at 1st and 2nd antenatal care visits (ANV) and at delivery.

Hunting, Sale, and Consumption of Bushmeat Killed by Lead-Based Ammunition in Benin.

Human consumption of animal meat killed by lead ammunition has been reported as a risk factor for elevated blood lead levels. However, little is known about how meat killed by lead ammunition is hunted, prepared, sold, and consumed. We explored the process from hunting to consumption within communities in Benin from the perspective of preventive measures.

Neurocognitive testing in West African children 3-6 years of age: Challenges and implications for data analyses.

Objective: When testing African children with developmental and cognitive standardized tests from high-income countries (HIC), investigators are uncertain as to whether to apply the HIC norms for these tests when standardizing a child's raw-score performance on the basis of age. The present study compared the construct validity of both raw and HIC-based standardized scores for the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) and the Kaufman Assessment Battery in Children - 2nd edition (KABC-II) for Beninese children in a rural setting from three to six years of age.

Methods: Seventy-four children 3-4 yrs of age were assessed with the MSEL, and 61 eligible older children (5-6 yrs of age) were assessed with the KABC-II.

Cohort profile: effect of malaria in early pregnancy on fetal growth in Benin (RECIPAL preconceptional cohort).

Purpose: REtard de Croissance Intra-uterin et PALudisme (RECIPAL) is an original preconceptional cohort designed to assess the consequences of malaria during the first trimester of pregnancy, which is a poorly investigated period in Africa and during which malaria may be detrimental to the fetus.

Participants: For this purpose, a total of 1214 women of reproductive age living in Sô-Ava and Akassato districts (south Benin) were followed up monthly from June 2014 to December 2016 until 411 of them became pregnant. A large range of health determinants was collected both before and during pregnancy from the first weeks of gestation to delivery.

Neurodevelopmental outcome at 2 years for preterm children born at 22 to 34 weeks' gestation in France in 2011: EPIPAGE-2 cohort study.

 To describe neurodevelopmental outcomes at 2 years corrected age for children born alive at 22-26, 27-31, and 32-34 weeks' gestation in 2011, and to evaluate changes since 1997. Population based cohort studies, EPIPAGE and EPIPAGE-2. France.

Prenatal Iron Deficiency, Neonatal Ferritin, and Infant Cognitive Function.

Objective: To investigate the impact of prenatal maternal iron deficiency (ID) on cord blood serum ferritin (CBSF) concentration and infant cognitive and motor development.

Methods: Our prospective cohort study included 636 mother-singleton child pairs from 828 eligible pregnant women who were enrolled during their first antenatal care (ANC) visit in Allada, Benin, into a clinical trial comparing the efficacy of mefloquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. Venous blood samples of women were assessed for ferritin and hemoglobin concentrations at the first and second ANC visits (occurring at least 1-month apart) and at delivery.

Iron and malaria: a dangerous liaison?

Malaria increases the burden of anemia in low-income countries, where, according to 2012 data from the World Health Organization, 40% of children are anemic. Moreover, iron is a cofactor for Plasmodium falciparum development, raising fears that iron supplementation might be harmful in patients with P. falciparum infection.