Methodological Considerations for Preterm Birth Research
Complications from preterm birth are a leading cause of infant mortality, with long-term implications for morbidity and quality of life of preterm infants. There are many important risk factors for preterm births however in this article, we focus on the maternal infection etiological pathway, given...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Global Women's Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2021.821064/full |
| _version_ | 1798035873418182656 |
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| author | Thokozile R. Malaba Marie-Louise Newell Marie-Louise Newell Landon Myer Landon Myer Vundli Ramokolo Vundli Ramokolo |
| author_facet | Thokozile R. Malaba Marie-Louise Newell Marie-Louise Newell Landon Myer Landon Myer Vundli Ramokolo Vundli Ramokolo |
| author_sort | Thokozile R. Malaba |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Complications from preterm birth are a leading cause of infant mortality, with long-term implications for morbidity and quality of life of preterm infants. There are many important risk factors for preterm births however in this article, we focus on the maternal infection etiological pathway, given its significance in low-to-middle income countries. In high preterm birth settings such as sub-Saharan Africa, maternal HIV infection and antiretroviral therapy (ART) use have been associated with an increased risk of preterm births. Consequently, we highlight methodological considerations related to selection and measurement bias in preterm birth research. We further illustrate the potential impact of these biases in studies investigating the relationship between HIV/ART and preterm births. We also briefly discuss issues related to population-level estimations based on routinely collected clinical or civil registration data. We conclude by emphasizing the importance of strengthening of antenatal care services to improve quality of population data as well as optimizing current and future study designs, by taking into account the important methodological considerations described in this article. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:04:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-eb96d784691f487ea166b0c1f3af1bff |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-5059 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:04:19Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Global Women's Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-eb96d784691f487ea166b0c1f3af1bff2022-12-22T04:03:23ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Global Women's Health2673-50592022-01-01210.3389/fgwh.2021.821064821064Methodological Considerations for Preterm Birth ResearchThokozile R. Malaba0Marie-Louise Newell1Marie-Louise Newell2Landon Myer3Landon Myer4Vundli Ramokolo5Vundli Ramokolo6Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South AfricaSchool of Human Development and Health, University of Southampton, Southampton, United KingdomSchool of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South AfricaDivision of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South AfricaCentre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South AfricaHIV Prevention Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South AfricaGertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, United StatesComplications from preterm birth are a leading cause of infant mortality, with long-term implications for morbidity and quality of life of preterm infants. There are many important risk factors for preterm births however in this article, we focus on the maternal infection etiological pathway, given its significance in low-to-middle income countries. In high preterm birth settings such as sub-Saharan Africa, maternal HIV infection and antiretroviral therapy (ART) use have been associated with an increased risk of preterm births. Consequently, we highlight methodological considerations related to selection and measurement bias in preterm birth research. We further illustrate the potential impact of these biases in studies investigating the relationship between HIV/ART and preterm births. We also briefly discuss issues related to population-level estimations based on routinely collected clinical or civil registration data. We conclude by emphasizing the importance of strengthening of antenatal care services to improve quality of population data as well as optimizing current and future study designs, by taking into account the important methodological considerations described in this article.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2021.821064/fullpreterm birth (PTB)low middle income countries (LMICs)bias (epidemiology)methodologymaternal infectionsHIV |
| spellingShingle | Thokozile R. Malaba Marie-Louise Newell Marie-Louise Newell Landon Myer Landon Myer Vundli Ramokolo Vundli Ramokolo Methodological Considerations for Preterm Birth Research Frontiers in Global Women's Health preterm birth (PTB) low middle income countries (LMICs) bias (epidemiology) methodology maternal infections HIV |
| title | Methodological Considerations for Preterm Birth Research |
| title_full | Methodological Considerations for Preterm Birth Research |
| title_fullStr | Methodological Considerations for Preterm Birth Research |
| title_full_unstemmed | Methodological Considerations for Preterm Birth Research |
| title_short | Methodological Considerations for Preterm Birth Research |
| title_sort | methodological considerations for preterm birth research |
| topic | preterm birth (PTB) low middle income countries (LMICs) bias (epidemiology) methodology maternal infections HIV |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2021.821064/full |
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