The impact of IOM recommendations on gestational weight gain among US women: An analysis of birth records during 2011-2019.

The prevailing guidelines of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of United States on gestational weight gain (GWG) are based on women's prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) categories. Previous research has shown that the guidelines issued in 1990 and revised in 2009 had no effect. We investigate the effectiveness of new guidelines issued in 2009 analyzing the records of all singleton births in the U.

Adversity in Infancy and Childhood Cognitive Development: Evidence From Four Developing Countries.

We investigated whether adverse experiences at age 1 (AE-1) affect the level of and change in cognition during childhood using harmonized data from four developing countries. Data included children born in 2001/2002 and were followed longitudinally in 2006/2007 and in 2009/2010 by Young Lives study in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam. Childhood cognition was measured using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) at ages 5 (PPVT-5) and 8 (PPVT-8).

Effects of Purchase Restrictions on Smoking During Pregnancy: An Analysis of U.S. Birth Records.

Introduction: In December 2019, the minimum legal sales age (MLSA) for tobacco products in the United States was raised from 18 to 21 years as a measure of preventing smoking initiation. Smoking during pregnancy, which causes maternal, fetal, and infant morbidity and mortality, is a major public health concern. We first study the effects of purchase restrictions on smoking during different stages of pregnancy covering the entire United States and using the records of all live births during 2014-2018 by birthing people aged 18-21 years.

SYSTEMATICALLY MISCLASSIFIED BINARY DEPENDENT VARIABLES.

When a binary dependent variable is misclassified, that is, recorded in the category other than where it really belongs, probit and logit estimates are biased and inconsistent. In some cases the probability of misclassification may vary systematically with covariates, and thus be endogenous. In this paper we develop an estimation approach that corrects for endogenous misclassification, validate our approach using a simulation study, and apply it to the analysis of a treatment program designed to improve family dynamics.

The Pot Calling the Kettle Black? A Comparison of Measures of Current Tobacco Use.

Researchers often use the discrepancy between self-reported and biochemically assessed active smoking status to argue that self-reported smoking status is not reliable, ignoring the limitations of biochemically assessed measures and treating it as the gold standard in their comparisons. Here, we employ econometric techniques to compare the accuracy of self-reported and biochemically assessed current tobacco use, taking into account measurement errors with both methods. Our approach allows estimating and comparing the sensitivity and specificity of each measure without directly observing true smoking status.