Background: During pregnancy, especially during the third trimester, multiple sclerosis (MS) disease activity is reduced. It is not known which factors mediate this disease amelioration.
Objective: To study whether the frequency of two important T-cell subsets, T-helper 17 (Th17) and regulatory T-cells (Treg), is altered in relation to pregnancy-induced MS disease amelioration.
Background: Shorter duration of breastfeeding in infancy has been suggested to be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Early cardiovascular adaptations due to breastfeeding may explain these associations.
Aim: To investigate whether breastfeeding affects left cardiac structures and blood pressure development in early childhood.
Pre-eclampsia remains a leading cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. It is a pregnancy-specific disease characterised by de-novo development of concurrent hypertension and proteinuria, sometimes progressing into a multiorgan cluster of varying clinical features. Poor early placentation is especially associated with early onset disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol
August 2010
Objective: The objective of this study was to assess ethnic and socio-economic differences in the uptake of maternal age-based prenatal diagnostic testing for Down's syndrome by amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling.
Study Design: The study population consisted of 12,340 women aged 36 years or over, who lived in a geographically defined region in the Southwest of The Netherlands and who gave birth to a live born infant in the period 2000-2004. Data were obtained from the Department of Clinical Genetics Erasmus MC and Statistics Netherlands.
Context: Thyroid hormones are essential for neurodevelopment from early pregnancy onward. Yet population-based data on the association between maternal thyroid function in early pregnancy and children's cognitive development are sparse.
Objective: Our objective was to study associations of maternal hypothyroxinemia and of early pregnancy maternal TSH and free T(4)(FT(4)) levels across the entire range with cognitive functioning in early childhood.
Aim: To examine the incidence of paroxysmal epileptic and non-epileptic disorders and the associated prenatal and perinatal factors that might predict them in the first year of life in a population-based cohort.
Method: This study was embedded in the Generation R Study, a population-based prospective cohort study from early fetal life onwards. Information about the occurrence of paroxysmal events, defined as suddenly occurring episodes with an altered consciousness, altered behaviour, involuntary movements, altered muscle tone, and/or a changed breathing pattern, was collected by questionnaires at the ages of 2, 6, and 12 months.
Background: Women of low socio-economic status (SES) give birth to lighter babies. It is unknown from which moment during pregnancy socio-economic differences in fetal weight can be observed, whether low SES equally affects different fetal-growth components, or what the effect of low SES is after taking into account mediating factors.
Methods: In 3545 pregnant women participating in the Generation R Study, we studied the association of maternal educational level (high, mid-high, mid-low and low) as a measure of SES with fetal weight, head circumference, abdominal circumference and femur length.
Background: Cannabis is commonly used among pregnant women. It is unclear whether cannabis exposure causes hemodynamic modifications in the fetus, like tobacco does.
Aims: This study aims to ascertain fetal blood redistribution due to intrauterine cannabis exposure.
Objective: To assess causes, trends, and substandard care in indirect maternal mortality in the Netherlands.
Design: Confidential enquiry into causes of maternal death.
Setting: Nationwide in the Netherlands.
Background: Caffeine is a widely used and accepted pharmacologically active substance. The effect of caffeine intake during pregnancy on fetal growth and development is still unclear.
Objective: We examined the associations of maternal caffeine intake, on the basis of coffee and tea consumption, with fetal growth characteristics measured in each trimester of pregnancy and the risks of adverse birth outcomes.
Background: Excessive alcohol consumption during pregnancy has adverse effects on fetal growth and development. Less consistent associations have been shown for the associations of light-to-moderate maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy with health outcomes in the offspring. Therefore, we examined the associations of light-to-moderate maternal alcohol consumption with various fetal growth characteristics measured in different periods of pregnancy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo identify genetic variants associated with birth weight, we meta-analyzed six genome-wide association (GWA) studies (n = 10,623 Europeans from pregnancy/birth cohorts) and followed up two lead signals in 13 replication studies (n = 27,591). rs900400 near LEKR1 and CCNL1 (P = 2 x 10(-35)) and rs9883204 in ADCY5 (P = 7 x 10(-15)) were robustly associated with birth weight. Correlated SNPs in ADCY5 were recently implicated in regulation of glucose levels and susceptibility to type 2 diabetes, providing evidence that the well-described association between lower birth weight and subsequent type 2 diabetes has a genetic component, distinct from the proposed role of programming by maternal nutrition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Glucocorticoids have an important role in early growth and development. Glucocorticoid receptor gene polymorphisms have been identified that contribute to the variability in glucocorticoid sensitivity. We examined whether these glucocorticoid receptor gene polymorphisms are associated with growth in fetal and early postnatal life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The objective of this study was to examine the associations between insulin gene variable number of tandem repeats (INS VNTR) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) gene promoter region polymorphisms with body composition in early childhood.
Methods: This study was embedded in an ongoing prospective cohort study. Growth in early childhood (body mass index, total subcutaneous fat mass and waist-hip ratio) was assessed at birth and at the ages of 6 weeks and 24 months.
Objective: In this study, we assessed the validity of maternally self-reported history of preeclampsia.
Study Design And Setting: This study was embedded in the Generation R Study, a population-based prospective cohort study. Data were obtained from prenatal questionnaires and one questionnaire obtained 2 months postpartum from the mother.
Fertil Steril
November 2010
Objective: To investigate associations between preconception dietary patterns and IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes validated by biomarkers of the homocysteine pathway.
Design: Observational prospective study.
Setting: A tertiary referral fertility clinic at the Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Several studies found that maternal symptoms of anxiety or depression are related to functioning and development of the offspring. Within a population-based study of 2,724 children, we investigated the effect of maternal anxiety or depression on infant neuromotor development. Symptoms of anxiety and depression were measured during pregnancy and after giving birth; infant neuromotor development was assessed by trained research nurses during a home visit at the age of 3 months.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrob Agents Chemother
May 2010
The study presented here was performed to determine the pharmacokinetics of intravenously administered clindamycin in pregnant women. Seven pregnant women treated with clindamycin were recruited. Maternal blood and arterial and venous umbilical cord blood samples were obtained.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: Adverse environmental exposures lead to developmental adaptations in fetal life. The influences of maternal physical characteristics and lifestyle habits on first-trimester fetal adaptations and the postnatal consequences are not known.
Objective: To determine the risk factors and outcomes associated with first-trimester growth restriction.
Objective: To establish how different methods of estimating gestational age (GA) affect reliability of first-trimester screening for Down syndrome.
Methods: Retrospective single-center study of 100 women with a viable singleton pregnancy, who had first-trimester screening. We calculated multiples of the median (MoM) for maternal-serum free beta human chorionic gonadotropin (free beta-hCG) and pregnancy associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A), derived from either last menstrual period (LMP) or ultrasound-dating scans.
Background: The effects of ambient air pollution on pregnancy outcomes are under debate. Previous studies have used different air pollution exposure assessment methods. The considerable traffic-related intra-urban spatial variation needs to be considered in exposure assessment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWorking conditions are amongst the exogenous factors that can lead to pregnancy complications. Attention within preconceptual care to the working conditions experienced by women who plan to become pregnant can change this, by influencing exposure to harmful working conditions. Until now, relatively little attention has been given to working conditions within preconceptual care, and the subject is often not discussed in daily midwifery practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: This study explored the relationships of employment status, type of unemployment and number of weekly working hours, with a wide range of pregnancy outcomes.
Methods: Information on employment characteristics and pregnancy outcomes was available for 6111 pregnant women enrolled in a population-based cohort study in the Netherlands.
Results: After adjustment for confounders, there were no statistically significant differences in risks of pregnancy complications between employed and unemployed women.
Objective: to determine differences in antenatal care use between the native population and different ethnic minority groups in the Netherlands.
Design: the Generation R Study is a multi-ethnic population-based prospective cohort study.
Setting: seven midwife practices participating in the Generation R Study conducted in the city of Rotterdam.
Background: Countries worldwide recommend women planning pregnancy to use daily 400 microg of synthetic folic acid in the periconceptional period to prevent birth defects in children. The underlying mechanisms of this preventive effect are not clear, however, epigenetic modulation of growth processes by folic acid is hypothesized. Here, we investigated whether periconceptional maternal folic acid use and markers of global DNA methylation potential (S-adenosylmethionine and S-adenosylhomocysteine blood levels) in mothers and children affect methylation of the insulin-like growth factor 2 gene differentially methylation region (IGF2 DMR) in the child.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF© LitMetric 2025. All rights reserved.