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1 Department of Family Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Aurora, Colo
2 Boulder County Department of Public Health, Boulder, Colo
3 Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Aurora, Colo
4 University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colo
5 University of Oklahoma School of Medicine, Oklahoma City, Okla
6 Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Aurora, Colo
7 The Childrens Hospital, Denver, Colo
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Robert Keeley, UCHSC Fitzsimmons, PO Box 6508 Campus Box F-496, Aurora, CO 80045, Robert.Keeley{at}UCHSC.edu
| ABSTRACT |
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METHODS In this prospective cohort study, the mothers report of her and her partners happiness about the pregnancy was measured before 21 weeks gestation on a scale from 1 to10 (1 to 3 unhappy, 4 to 7 ambivalent, or 8 to 10 happy). "Mother reports partner happier" occurred when the mother perceived the fathers happiness score at least 5 points greater than her own. Information on birth weights and maternal sociodemographic, medical, and psychosocial factors were obtained from surveys and medical records.
RESULTS Of 162 live births, 9 were low birth weight (5.6%). Compared with women who reported happiness with the pregnancy, risk for low birth weight was greater when the mother reported partner happier about the pregnancy (relative risk 10.0, 95% confidence interval, 3.132.4). This predictor of birth weight remained significant in multivariate linear regression analyses (coefficient = -472 g, SE = 171 g, P = .007) after adjustment for other known predictors of birth weight.
CONCLUSIONS Maternal report of greater partner happiness about a pregnancy is associated with birth weight and appears to define low- and high-risk subgroups for low birth weight in a low-income population. Further study in larger samples is needed to confirm our findings and to assess whether maternal report of greater partner happiness is itself a modifiable factor or is a marker for other factors that might be modified with targeted interventions.
Key Words: Birth weight infant low birth weight paternal behavior pregnancy, unwanted maternal-fetal relations
| INTRODUCTION |
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A variety of socioeconomic, medical, and psychosocial factors are known to increase the risk of low birth weight,519 but prevention programs aimed at primarily high-risk subgroups have been largely ineffective.2 We chose to study a low-risk subgroup because, although known risk factors are sometimes strongly predictive of poor birth outcomes, most lowbirth-weight infants are born to women without these traditional risk factors.12,20
Maternal intendedness9,18,19 and attitude toward a pregnancy14,19,21,22 may predict low birth weight and birth weight. Most pregnancy intendedness and all attitude studies are based upon retrospective assessments, however, and their clinical relevance is uncertain.14,19,2224 Maternal perceptions of partner intendedness and happiness toward the pregnancy may also represent modifiable predictors of pregnancy outcomes.13,14,19,21,25 Our study goals were to test whether the mothers reports of her own and the fathers happiness about a pregnancy measured before 21 weeks estimated gestational age predict birth weight and the risk of low birth weight.
| METHODS |
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Measures
1995 National Survey for Family Growth
NSFG, a periodic fertility survey, is reliable and valid in both English and Spanish and recommended by the Institute of Medicine30 for assessing a variety of pregnancy-related variables. We selected questions assessing pregnancy planning and intendedness, happiness concerning the pregnancy, the participants perception of her partners intendedness and happiness, and sociodemographic variables.
Personality Assessment Inventory PAI, a self-administered objective test of personality and psychopathology,27,28 is compatible with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder Version IV31 and is valid and reliable in English and Spanish. Anxiety, depressive disorders, drug problems, somatic concerns, and stress levels were obtained from PAI scales.
Variable Definitions
Major Outcome Variables
The major outcomes were birth weight and low birth weight rate. Major predictor variables were maternal happiness and intendedness and relative perceived partner happiness. Each participant was asked to describe, on a scale from 1 to 10, how she felt about her pregnancy at the moment of discovery. The scale was adapted for the fifth administration of the NSFG, with scores 1 to 3 signifying unhappiness, 4 to 7 ambivalence, and 8 to 10 happiness. Each participant also rated her perception of her partners happiness.30,32,33
Eight NSFG questions defined pregnancy planning and intendedness and perceived partners intendedness. Intendedness was dichotomized as unintended-intended, as unwanted-wanted, and as a couples combined unwanted scale (either parent unwanted vs other combinations).30 A couple intendedness scale was derived to reflect agreement between partners.
Relative perceived partner happiness is the mothers estimation of the difference between the parents happiness levels. Recognizing that a 5-point difference is equivalent to a 1-category crossover, such as from unhappy to happy,32 we subdivided the responses into 3 meaningful categories by subtracting the maternal from the perceived partner happiness score to cover the ranges: -9 to -5, -4 to +4, and +5 to +9. The first (-9 to -5) category represents a situation in which the pregnant woman perceives herself happier than her partner about the pregnancy. In the middle category she perceives similar happiness levels concerning the pregnancy, and in the third (+5 to +9) category the mother reports the partner happier.
Potential Confounding Variables Variables that might confound the relationship of interest were assessed from previous publications.520,30 Sociodemographic variables obtained with the NSFG included place of birth, educational attainment, relationship, dominant language, age, education, and race/ ethnicity. Insurance status was obtained from the clinic database.
Medical and physical variables derived from the NSFG and medical records included late entry to prenatal care, adequacy of prenatal care,33 maternal medical problems, parity, maternal weight at enrollment, alcohol and tobacco use during pregnancy, history of previous lowbirth-weight infant, and history of previous spontaneous abortion or demise. Adequacy of prenatal care is stratified into 5 categories from "no care" to "intensive" based upon timing of initiation of prenatal care, estimated gestational age at delivery, and number of clinic visits.33 Smoking was ascertained using survey and chart review because of underreporting of socially undesirable traits.34
We assessed psychosocial variables potentially associated with poor outcomes with the PAI. Somatic concerns, anxiety, depressive disorders, stress, and drug problems were analyzed as continuous and as dichotomous variables using cut points of mild, moderate, and severe elevations.28
Statistical Analyses
We compared study participants having live births with participants experiencing fetal loss and who were lost to follow-up. Continuity-adjusted chi-square tests were used to determine where there was a significant association between low birth weight and each risk factor, then unadjusted risk ratios for low birth weight were computed (Table 1
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| RESULTS |
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The 8 women lost to follow-up did not differ from those with known live births by measures of attitude, intendedness, or other study factors, whereas women experiencing fetal loss were more likely to report somatic complaints and a history of previous fetal loss (P = .04). Of 20 women with medical problems during the pregnancy, most were minor, such as mild anemia, although 4 experienced gestational diabetes.
Language and birthplace were collinear (R = 0.81, P <.001), and we retained language. In univariate analyses, parents married or living together, tobacco abuse, dominant language English, maternal unhappiness or ambivalence about the pregnancy, and mother reports partner happier were significantly associated with low birth weight (Table 1
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In the final multivariate linear regression model with birth weight (grams) as the outcome (Table 2
), dominant language Spanish, moderate to severe anxiety, and maternal medical problems (P = .06) were associated with larger infants. Younger maternal age, history of previous lowbirth-weight infant, low maternal weight at enrollment, and maternal report of greater partner happiness (coeffcient = -472 g, SE = 171 g, P = .007) were associated with decreased birth weight. Although there was a trend toward association with lower birth weight (P = .06), maternal unhappiness or ambivalence was not significant in a multivariate model. There were no associations between maternal planning or intendedness or perceived paternal intendedness and birth outcomes.
This model explained 29% of the variability in birth weight (R2 = 0.29). Potential intermediary factors, including alcohol or tobacco abuse, maternal weight gain, anxiety, depression, drug problems, somatization, and stress,38 did not explain the influence of perceived attitudes on birth weight.
| DISCUSSION |
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Strengths of the present study include the prospective, consecutive design. Generalizability is increased by English- and Spanish-speaking Latina subgroups but is decreased by the low-income study population, as well as by the exclusion of young teenagers, women seeking care late in their pregnancy, and those receiving no prenatal care. Eight patients lost to follow-up could have experienced birth outcomes affecting the results. Maternal and partner reports of the partners intendedness and happiness might not correlate. The small sample size and the low rate of low birth weight preclude adjusted risk ratios, so results require additional confirmation.
Interventions targeted at traditional high-risk groups may have achieved minimal success because the associated causal mechanisms of low birth weight are biological (young teenagers) or intractable and socially mediated (drug addiction or no prenatal care).20 Such interventions have not been targeted at subgroups of low-risk women because of the prohibitive costs and lack of sensitive predictors of poor outcomes. As has been shown in several previous studies, those most likely to benefit from targeted interventions are often not those who access such programs.40,41 If asking a woman about pregnancy attitudes can be shown to be predictive of adverse birth weight outcomes in other populations, and if the attitudinal risk factor is modifiable without causing untoward effects through labeling someone high risk, a strategy of focusing new intervention strategies in low-risk women may be effective.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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Funding support: This work was supported in part by a National Research Service Award, funded by the Bureau of Health Professions (a division of the Health Resources and Services Administration), Grant # 5 T32 HP 10006, and by a grant from the Community Health Research Initiative, Longmont, Colo.
Received for publication August 19, 2002. Revision received May 2, 2003. Accepted for publication May 20, 2003.
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