Protocol for establishing an infant feeding database linkable with population-based administrative data: a prospective cohort study in Manitoba, Canada.

Introduction: Breast feeding is associated with many health benefits for mothers and infants. But despite extensive public health efforts to promote breast feeding, many mothers do not achieve their own breastfeeding goals; and, inequities in breastfeeding rates persist between high and low-income mother-infant dyads. Developing targeted programme to support breastfeeding dyads and reduce inequities between mothers of different socioeconomic status are a priority for public health practitioners and health policy decision-makers; however, many jurisdictions lack the timely and comprehensive population-level data on infant-feeding practices required to monitor trends in breastfeeding initiation and duration.

Evaluation of a newborn screen for predicting out-of-home placement.

A newborn screen designed to predict family risk was examined to: (a) determine whether all families with newborns were screened; (b) evaluate its predictive validity for identifying risk of out-of-home placement, as a proxy for maltreatment; (c) determine which items were most predictive of out-of-home placement. All infants born in Manitoba, Canada from 2000 to 2002 were followed until March 31, 2004 (N = 40,886) by linking four population-based data sets: (a) newborn screening data on biological, psychological, and social risks; (b) population registry data on demographics; (c) hospital discharge data on newborn birth records; (d) data on children entering out-of-home care. Of the study population, 18.