Prevalence of antidepressant use and unmedicated depression in pregnant New Zealand women.

Background: Throughout pregnancy, women are at an increased risk of depression, with prevalence estimates between 6.5% and 18%. Global prevalence of antenatal antidepressant use is considerably lower at 3%.

Caesarean section delivery and childhood obesity: evidence from the growing up in New Zealand cohort.

Background: Epidemiological studies have reported conflicting results in the association between Caesarean section (CS) birth and childhood obesity. Many of these studies had small sample sizes, were unable to distinguish between elective/planned and emergency CS, and did not adjust for the key confounder maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI). We investigated the association between CS delivery, particularly elective/planned and childhood obesity, using the Growing Up in New Zealand prospective longitudinal cohort study.

Association between caesarean section delivery and obesity in childhood: a longitudinal cohort study in Ireland.

Objectives: To investigate the association between caesarean section (CS) birth and body fat percentage (BF%), body mass index (BMI) and being overweight or obese in early childhood.

Design: Prospective longitudinal cohort study.

Setting: Babies After Screening for Pregnancy Endpoints: Evaluating the Longitudinal Impact on Neurological and Nutritional Endpoints cohort.

Effects of folic acid food fortification scenarios on the folate intake of a multi-ethnic pregnant population.

Objective: To simulate effects of different scenarios of folic acid fortification of food on dietary folate equivalents (DFE) intake in an ethnically diverse sample of pregnant women.

Design: A forty-four-item FFQ was used to evaluate dietary intake of the population. DFE intakes were estimated for different scenarios of food fortification with folic acid: (i) voluntary fortification; (ii) increased voluntary fortification; (iii) simulated bread mandatory fortification; and (iv) simulated grains-and-rice mandatory fortification.

Determinants of folic acid supplement use outside national recommendations for pregnant women: results from the Growing Up in New Zealand cohort study.

Objective: To evaluate the sociodemographic and lifestyle factors associated with insufficient and excessive use of folic acid supplements (FAS) among pregnant women.

Design: A pregnancy cohort to which multinomial logistic regression models were applied to identify factors associated with duration and dose of FAS use.

Setting: The Growing Up in New Zealand child study, which enrolled pregnant women whose children were born in 2009-2010.

Pre-school nutrition-related behaviours at home and early childhood education services: findings from the Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal study.

Objective: Pre-school nutrition-related behaviours influence diet and development of lifelong eating habits. We examined the prevalence and congruence of recommended nutrition-related behaviours (RNB) in home and early childhood education (ECE) services, exploring differences by child and ECE characteristics.

Design: Telephone interviews with mothers.

Ethnic disparities in infectious disease hospitalisations in the first year of life in New Zealand.

Aim: Infectious disease (ID) hospitalisation rates are increasing in New Zealand (NZ), especially in pre-school children, and Māori and Pacific people. We aimed to identify risk factors for ID hospitalisation in infancy within a birth cohort of NZ children, and to identify differences in risk factors between ethnic groups.

Methods: We investigated an established cohort of 6846 NZ children, born in 2009-2010, with linkage to a national data set of hospitalisations.