Imprint of preterm birth with very low birth weight on optic disc OCT in adulthood-A two-country birth cohort study.

Purpose: To determine the pattern, degree and prevalence of optic disc optical coherence tomography (OCT) alterations in adults born preterm with very low birth weight (VLBW; birth weight < 1500 g).

Methods: Optic disc OCT was assessed in 98 VLBW participants and 139 term-born controls from birth cohorts in Finland and Norway at the mean age of 36 years. The participants had not been treated for retinopathy of prematurity and had no diagnosed brain abnormality.

Maternal psychological distress and temperament traits in children from infancy to late childhood.

Background: Maternal psychological distress during pregnancy is associated with infant temperament. Whether associations persist into late childhood, whether maternal distress is associated with temperament change from infancy to late childhood, whether associations are independent of maternal concurrent distress, and whether maternal distress has sensitive exposure periods on child temperament remain unclear.

Methods: Our study includes mother-child dyads from Finnish, prospective Prediction and Prevention of Preeclampsia and Intrauterine Growth Restriction study.

Childhood Developmental Milestones and Risk of Adult Cerebrovascular Disease: The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966.

Introduction: To the best of our knowledge, no previous studies have examined the relationship between childhood developmental milestones and risk of adulthood cerebrovascular disease (CeVD). We studied whether the risk of adult CeVD is associated with delayed attainment of motor and language milestones.

Methods: Within the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, a total of 11,688 persons were followed from birth to either death, moving abroad or 54 years of age.

Sensitivity of the familial high-risk approach for the prediction of future psychosis: a total population study.

Children who have a parent with a psychotic disorder present an increased risk of developing psychosis. It is unclear to date, however, what proportion of all psychosis cases in the population are captured by a familial high-risk for psychosis (FHR-P) approach. This is essential information for prevention research and health service planning, as it tells us the total proportion of psychosis cases that this high-risk approach would prevent if an effective intervention were developed.

Romantic and sexual relationships of young adults born very preterm: An individual participant data meta-analysis.

Aim: To compare romantic and sexual relationships between adults born very preterm (VP; <32 weeks of gestation) or with very low birth weight (VLBW; <1500 g) and at term, and to evaluate potential biological and environmental explanatory factors among VP/VLBW participants.

Methods: This individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis included longitudinal studies assessing romantic and sexual relationships in adults (mean sample age ≥ 18 years) born VP/VLBW compared with term-born controls. Following PRISMA-IPD guidelines, 11 of the 13 identified cohorts provided IPD from 1606 VP/VLBW adults and 1659 term-born controls.

A Finnish nationwide register-based study shows a further 50% decline in already low child mortality.

Aim: Child mortality declined significantly in Finland in 1969-2004. We investigated whether the already low mortality rate could still decline from 2005 to 2020.

Methods: This was a nationwide register-based study.

Maternal Antenatal Depression Is Associated With Metabolic Alterations That Predict Birth Outcomes and Child Neurodevelopment and Mental Health.

Background: Evidence regarding metabolic alterations associated with maternal antenatal depression (AD) is limited, and their role as potential biomarkers that improve the prediction of AD and adverse childbirth, neurodevelopmental, and mental health outcomes remains unexplored.

Methods: In a cohort of 331 mother-child dyads, we studied associations between AD (a history of medical register diagnoses and/or a Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale score during pregnancy ≥ 20) and 95 metabolic measures analyzed 3 times during pregnancy. We tested whether the AD-related metabolic measures increased variance explained in AD over its risk factors and in childbirth, neurodevelopmental, and mental health outcomes over AD.

Association between risk of infant death and birth-weight z scores according to gestational age: A nationwide study using the Finnish Medical Birth Register.

Objective: To investigate the association between infant mortality and birth weight using estimated fetal weight (EFW) versus birth-weight charts, by gestational age (GA).

Methods: This nationwide population-based study used data from the Finnish Medical Birth Register from 2006 to 2016 on non-malformed singleton live births at 24-41 weeks of gestation (N = 563 630). The outcome was death in the first year of life.

Fetal cord plasma herpesviruses and preeclampsia: an observational cohort study.

A previous study suggested that fetal inheritance of chromosomally integrated human herpesvirus 6 (ici-HHV6) is associated with the hypertensive pregnancy disorder preeclampsia (PE). We aimed to study this question utilizing cord plasma samples (n = 1276) of the Finnish Genetics of Preeclampsia Consortium (FINNPEC) cohort: 539 from a pregnancy with PE and 737 without. We studied these samples and 30 placentas from PE pregnancies by a multiplex qPCR for the DNAs of all nine human herpesviruses.

Physical Activity, Fitness, and Cardiac Autonomic Function among Adults Born Postterm.

Recent studies have suggested that adverse outcomes of postterm birth (≥42 completed weeks of gestation), including increased cardiometabolic risk factors, impaired glucose metabolism, and obesity, may extend into adulthood. We studied interconnected determinants of cardiovascular health, including physical activity (based on accelerometry for two weeks), muscular strength (handgrip strength), cardiorespiratory fitness (4-min step test), and cardiac autonomic function (heart rate recovery, heart rate variability, and baroreflex sensitivity) among 46-year-old adults from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort (NFBC) born postterm (n = 805) and at term (n = 2,645). Adults born postterm undertook vigorous-intensity physical activity 2.

Epigenetic signature of very low birth weight in young adult life.

Background: Globally, one in ten babies is born preterm (<37 weeks), and 1-2% preterm at very low birth weight (VLBW, <1500 g). As adults, they are at increased risk for a plethora of health conditions, e.g.

Overweight in Adolescence and Young Adulthood in Association With Adult Cerebrovascular Disease: The NFBC1966 Study.

Background: Risk factors for cerebrovascular disease in adulthood are well known. However, research on individuals' risk factors throughout their life span has been limited. This prospective cohort study aims to determine the effect of body mass index (BMI) and its changes in adolescence and young adulthood on early onset cerebrovascular disease.

Foveal thickness and its association with visual acuity in adults born preterm with very low birth weight: A two-country birth cohort study.

Purpose: To explore foveal and parafoveal thickness in adults born preterm with very low birth weight (VLBW) and its association with best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and gestational age (GA) compared to adults born at term.

Methods: In a joint study of the Helsinki Study of Very Low Birth Weight Adults (Finland) and the NTNU Low Birth Weight Life study (Norway), 106 VLBW and 143 term-born controls were examined with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography and BCVA at age 31-43 years. Thickness of retinal layers was segmented in the foveal and parafoveal areas of the macula.

Serum hydroxysteroid (17beta) dehydrogenase 1 concentration in pregnant women correlates with pregnancy-associated plasma protein A but does not serve as an independent marker for preeclampsia†.

Hydroxysteroid (17beta) dehydrogenase 1 (HSD17B1) is a steroid synthetic enzyme expressed in ovarian granulosa cells and placental syncytiotrophoblasts. Here, HSD17B1 serum concentration was measured with a validated immunoassay during pregnancy at three time points (12-14, 18-20 and 26-28 weeks of gestation). The concentration increased 2.

Accelerometer-Measured Physical Activity, Fitness and Indicators of Cardiometabolic Risk among Rural Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study at 15-Year Follow-up of the MINIMat Cohort.

Background: Little is known about the relationship of physical activity (PA) and fitness with cardiometabolic risk among rural adolescents in low- and middle-income countries. Thus, we examined the associations of PA and fitness with selected cardiometabolic indicators along with potential gender-based differences in a birth cohort of rural adolescents from southeast Bangladesh.

Methods: We utilized data from the 15-year follow-up of Maternal and Infant Nutrition Interventions in Matlab (MINIMat) cohort (n = 2253).

Gestational age at birth and type 1 diabetes in childhood and young adulthood: a nationwide register study in Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Aims/hypothesis: Children and adults born preterm have an increased risk of type 1 diabetes. However, there is limited information on risk patterns across the full range of gestational ages, especially after extremely preterm birth (23-27 weeks of gestation). We investigated the risk of type 1 diabetes in childhood and young adulthood across the full range of length of gestation at birth.

Neonatal outcomes according to different glucose threshold values in gestational diabetes: a register-based study.

Background: Mild hyperglycaemia is associated with increased birth weight but association with other neonatal outcomes is controversial. We aimed to study neonatal outcomes in untreated mild hyperglycaemia using different oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) thresholds.

Methods: This register-based study included all (n = 4,939) singleton pregnant women participating a 75 g 2-h OGTT in six delivery hospitals in Finland in 2009.

Lifestyle-related factors in late midlife as predictors of frailty from late midlife into old age: a longitudinal birth cohort study.

Background: Few studies have examined longitudinal changes in lifestyle-related factors and frailty.

Methods: We examined the association between individual lifestyle factors (exercise, diet, sleep, alcohol, smoking and body composition), their sum at baseline, their change over the 17-year follow-up and the rate of change in frailty index values using linear mixed models in a cohort of 2,000 participants aged 57-69 years at baseline.

Results: A higher number of healthy lifestyle-related factors at baseline was associated with lower levels of frailty but not with its rate of change from late midlife into old age.

Problems in peer relationships and low engagement in romantic relationships in preterm born adolescents: effects of maternal warmth in early childhood.

This study examined whether maternal warmth in early childhood moderates the association between preterm birth and problems in peer relationships and low engagement in romantic relationships in adolescence. We studied 9193 individuals from the Millennium Cohort Study in the United Kingdom, 99 (1.1%) of whom were born very preterm (VPT; < 32 weeks of gestation) and 629 (6.

Motor abilities in adults born with very low birthweight: A study of two birth cohorts from Finland and Norway.

Aim: To compare overall, fine, and gross motor abilities in adults born preterm with very low birthweight (VLBW) and a control group of term-born individuals.

Method: In a joint assessment of the Helsinki Study of Very Low Birth Weight Adults and NTNU Low Birth Weight in a Lifetime Perspective study, data were collected with harmonized methods for 118 adults born preterm (gestational age < 37 weeks) with VLBW (≤1500 g) and 147 control individuals. The primary outcome was overall motor abilities; secondary outcomes were fine and gross motor abilities.