Trimester-specific rate of gestational weight loss or gain and birth size: differences by prepregnancy BMI.

Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the effects of trimester-specific gestational weight gain (GWG) on small and large (compared with appropriate) for gestational age (i.e., SGA, LGA, and AGA) by prepregnancy BMI classifications.

Maternal obesity and childhood asthma risk: Exploring mediating pathways.

Background: Growing evidence for the effect of maternal obesity on childhood asthma motivates investigation of mediating pathways.

Objective: To investigate if childhood body mass index (BMI), gestational weight gain (GWG) and preterm birth mediate the association of maternal obesity on childhood asthma risk.

Methods: We used electronic medical records from mother-child pairs enrolled in Kaiser Permanente Northern California integrated healthcare system.

State- and county-level income inequality and infant mortality in the USA in 2010: a cohort study.

Objectives: We examined the relationship between income inequality and the risk for infant/neonatal mortality at the state and county level and tested possible mediators of this relationship.

Methods: We first linked state and county Gini coefficients to US Vital Statistics 2010 Cohort Linked Birth and Infant Death records (n = 3,954,325). We then fit multilevel models to test whether income inequality was associated with infant/neonatal mortality.

Acute associations between PM and ozone concentrations and asthma exacerbations among patients with and without allergic comorbidities.

Acute effects of outdoor air pollution on asthma exacerbations may vary by asthma phenotype (allergic vs nonallergic). Associations of ambient PM and ozone concentrations with acute asthma visits (office, urgent, emergency, and hospitalization) were investigated using electronic medical records. International Classification of Disease codes were used to identify asthmatics, and classify them based on the presence or absence of an allergic comorbidity in their medical records.

State-level income inequality and mortality among infants born in the United States 2007-2010: A Cohort Study.

Background: United States state-level income inequality is positively associated with infant mortality in ecological studies. We exploit spatiotemporal variations in a large dataset containing individual-level data to conduct a cohort study and to investigate whether current income inequality and increases in income inequality are associated with infant and neonatal mortality risk over the period of the 2007-2010 Great Recession in the United States.

Methods: We used data on 16,145,716 infants and their mothers from the 2007-2010 United States Statistics Linked Infant Birth and Death Records.

Differential relationship between state-level minimum wage and infant mortality risk among US infants born to white and black mothers.

Background: Compared to other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations, US infant mortality rates (IMRs) are particularly high. These differences are partially driven by racial disparities, with non-Hispanic black having IMRs that are twice those of non-Hispanic white. Income inequality (the gap between rich and poor) is associated with infant mortality.