Marcelo L. Urquia
Marcelo L. Urquia is a Research Scientist at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and Associate Professor at the Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba. He obtained a bachelor in anthropology at the University of Buenos Aires, a master in public health at the National University of Lanus, Argentina, and received a MSc and a PhD (2009) degree in epidemiology at the University of Toronto.Dr. Urquia is also affiliated with the Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. He currently holds a Canada Research Chair in Applied Population Health
How does family history affect the risk of preterm birth?
Women born preterm are known to be at higher risk of themselves giving birth preterm, but the role of family history on this risk factor is not understood. A new study in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth has addressed this using a sibling design to study the risk of giving birth preterm in women with sisters born preterm. In this blog post, the lead author of the study answers some questions about this study.
What made you look at a sibling design to study associations between maternal and offspring preterm birth?
Compared to term infants, preterm infants, especially those born earliest, are more likely to experience a myriad of health-related problems, from neurodevelopmental problems in childhood to cardiovascular and metabolic disorders later in life. The etiology of preterm birth is multifactorial, complex and not well understood. One poorly understood factor is the intergenerational recurrence of preterm birth. Several studies have consistently shown that women born preterm are more likely to have preterm babies. Based on this evidence, it has been recommended to include maternal birth status in risk assessment when planning pregnancy care for individual women.
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