Publications by authors named "Hrefna K Gudmundsdottir"

Article Synopsis
  • This study investigates the impact of nicotine exposure during pregnancy, particularly from smokeless tobacco (snus) and cigarettes, on infant lung function in a cohort of 1,163 infants measured at 3 months old.
  • Results show that 10.3% of infants were exposed to nicotine in utero, with those exposed having a higher risk of lower lung function, indicated by an odds ratio of 1.63.
  • The findings suggest both smoking and snus use during pregnancy can adversely affect infant respiratory health, and this effect is not significantly different between male and female infants.
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Background: Largely unexplored, we investigated if lower lung function, impaired skin barrier function by transepidermal water loss (TEWL), eczema, and filaggrin (FLG) mutations in infancy were associated with asthma in early childhood.

Methods: From the factorially designed randomized controlled intervention study PreventADALL, we evaluated 1337/2394 children from all randomization groups with information on asthma at age 3 years, and at age 3 months either lung function, TEWL, eczema, and/or FLG mutations. Lower lung function was defined as the time to peak tidal expiratory flow to expiratory time (t /t ) <0.

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Background: Birth by caesarean section (CS) is associated with development of allergic diseases, but its role in the development of atopic dermatitis (AD) is less convincing.

Objective: Our primary aim was to determine if birth mode was associated with AD in 3-year-olds and secondarily to determine if birth mode was associated with early onset and/or persistent AD in the first 3 years of life.

Methods: We included 2129 mother-child pairs from the Scandinavian population-based prospective PreventADALL cohort with information on birth mode including vaginal birth, either traditional (81.

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Background: Reduced lung function at birth has evident antenatal origins and is associated with an increased risk of wheezing and asthma later in life. Little is known about whether blood flow in the fetal pulmonary artery, may impact postnatal lung function.

Objective: Our primary aim was to investigate the potential associations between fetal Doppler blood flow velocity measures in the fetal branch pulmonary artery, and infant lung function by tidal flow-volume (TFV) loops at three months of age in a low-risk population.

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Background: We aimed to investigate the relationship between fetal third trimester lung volume (LV), thoracic circumference (TC), fetal weight, as well as fetal thoracic and weight growth, and early infant lung function.

Methods: Fetal LV, TC and estimated weight were measured with ultrasound at 30 gestational weeks in 257 fetuses from the general population-based prospective cohort study Preventing Atopic Dermatitis and ALLergies in Children (PreventADALL). Fetal thoracic growth rate and weight increase were calculated using TC and estimated fetal weight measured by ultrasound during pregnancy, and TC and birthweight of the newborn.

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Background: The relationship between the skin barrier- and lung function in infancy is largely unexplored. We aimed to explore if reduced skin barrier function by high transepidermal water loss (TEWL), or manifestations of eczema or Filaggrin (FLG) mutations, were associated with lower lung function in three-month-old infants. Methods: From the population-based PreventADALL cohort, 899 infants with lung function measurements and information on either TEWL, eczema at three months of age and/or FLG mutations were included.

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Background And Aim: Physical activity (PA) in pregnancy is important for maternal and possibly offspring health. To study the early origins of lung function we aimed to determine whether PA in the first half of pregnancy is associated with lung function in healthy 3-month-old infants.

Methods: From the general population-based Preventing Atopic Dermatitis and Allergies in Children birth cohort recruiting infants antenatally in Norway and Sweden, all 812 infants (48.

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Background: Tidal flow-volume (TFV) loops are commonly recorded in infants during sleep, due to the more regular breathing patterns compared to the awake state. Standardised deselection of loops outside pre-specified ranges are based on periods of regular breathing, while criteria and available software for visual evaluation of TFV loops are lacking. We aimed to determine the reliability of standardised criteria for manual selection of infant TFV loops.

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Background: Infant lung function can be assessed with tidal flow-volume (TFV) loops. While TFV loops can be measured in both awake and sleeping infants, the influence of arousal state in early infancy is not established. The aim of the present study was to determine whether TFV loop parameters in healthy infants differed while awake compared to the sleeping state at 3 months of age.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the relationship between fetal thoracic circumference (TC) during mid-pregnancy and lung function in infants, aiming to understand how fetal growth may influence respiratory health later in life.
  • - Involving 851 infants from a Scandinavian cohort, the research analyzed tidal flow-volume measurements and adjusted TC for general fetal size indicators like head, abdominal circumference, and femur length, while considering maternal factors.
  • - Results indicated that mid-pregnancy fetal TC relative to head or abdominal size did not correlate with infant lung function, although a weak inverse relationship was found when TC was adjusted for femur length.
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Background: Primary prevention of food allergy by early introduction of allergenic foods seems promising. We aimed to determine whether early food introduction or the application of regular skin emollients in infants from a general population reduced the risk of food allergy.

Methods: This 2 × 2 factorial, cluster-randomised trial was done at Oslo University Hospital and Østfold Hospital Trust, Oslo, Norway, and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.

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Objective: Research on early origins of lung disease suggests the need for studying the relationships of thoracic and lung size with fetal size and pulmonary circulation. The primary aim of this study is therefore to explore the associations between fetal thoracic circumference, lung volume, and fetal size. We also aim to assess if lung volume and thoracic circumference are associated with fetal pulmonary artery blood flow velocity measures.

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Background: More knowledge about sensitization patterns in early infancy, including impact of molecular allergology, is needed to help predict future allergy development more accurately.

Objective: We aimed to determine the prevalence and patterns of allergic sensitization at 3 months of age, and explore possible associated factors.

Methods: From the Scandinavian antenatally recruited PreventADALL mother-child cohort, we included 1110 3-month infants with available serum.

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Background: Physical activity during pregnancy is important for maternal and offspring health. Optimal conditions during pregnancy may help reduce the burden of noncommunicable diseases. National and international guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of physical activity of at least moderate intensity per week.

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Aim: We aimed to determine the prevalence of and factors associated with maternal use of nicotine products in relation to breastfeeding.

Methods: Nicotine use 3 months postpartum was determined in the Scandinavian PreventADALL mother-child birth cohort study recruiting 1837 women from 2014 to 2016. Electronic questionnaires at 18 weeks pregnancy and 3 months postpartum provided information on snus use, smoking or other nicotine use, infant feeding and socio-economic factors.

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Background: Skin emollients applied during early infancy could prevent atopic dermatitis, and early complementary food introduction might reduce food allergy in high-risk infants. The study aimed to determine if either regular skin emollients applied from 2 weeks of age, or early complementary feeding introduced between 12 and 16 weeks of age, reduced development of atopic dermatitis by age 12 months in the general infant population.

Methods: This population-based 2×2 factorial, randomised clinical trial was done at Oslo University Hospital and Østfold Hospital Trust, Oslo, Norway; and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.

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Background: Dry skin is associated with increased transepidermal water loss (TEWL), which has been found to precede atopic dermatitis (AD) in childhood.

Objective: We aimed to identify parental, prenatal, and perinatal predictive factors of dry skin, high TEWL, and AD at 3 months of age, and to determine if dry skin or high TEWL at 3 months can predict AD at 6 months.

Methods: From the Preventing Atopic Dermatitis and Allergies in children prospective birth cohort study, we included 1150 mother-child pairs.

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In young women, the use of snus increases in parallel with decreasing smoking rates but the  use in pregnancy is unclear. Our aims were to determine the prevalence of snus use, smoking and other nicotine-containing product use during pregnancy, and to identify predictors for snus use in pregnancy. Prevalence was determined for 2528 women in Norway and Sweden based on the Preventing Atopic Dermatitis and ALLergies (PreventADALL) study, a population-based, mother-child birth cohort.

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Aim: The FloRight system provides novel non-invasive infant spirometry based on electromagnetic inductance plethysmography. We investigated the consistency of repeated measurements carried out in a Norwegian neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) using the system and how well these were tolerated.

Methods: Tidal flow-volume loops were obtained from 10 preterm infants at discharge, 10 stable growing preterm infants weighing about 1500 g and 10 term-born infants.

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