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Background/Objectives It has been suggested that the association between shift work and chronic disease is mediated by an increase in obesity. However, investigations of the relationship between shift work and obesity reveal mixed findings. Using a recently developed exposure assessment tool, this study examined the association between shift work and obesity among Canadian women from two studies: a cohort of university alumni, and a population-based study. Methods Self-administered questionnaire data were used from healthy, currently employed females in a population-based study, the Ontario Women’s Diet and Health case-control study (n = 1611 controls), and from a subset of a of university alumni from the Canadian Study of Diet, Lifestyle, and Health (n = 1097) cohort study. Overweight was defined as BMI=25 to

OBJECTIVE: Enhancing maternal and child health are key Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This study examined whether increased utilization of recommended maternal health care (MHC) is associated with factors that improve childrens health; specifically complete immunization and appropriate care for fever and diarrhoea in Ghana. DESIGN: Data from the 1998 2003 and 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys were pooled for a nationally representative sample of 6786 women aged 15-49 years who had a child in the previous 5 years. Children aged 12-23 months were considered fully immunized if they received all eight basic immunizations. Appropriate care for children under-five was receipt of medical treatment for fever or oral rehydration therapy for diarrhoea. The effect of recommended MHC utilization (characterized as poor intermediate or best use) on immunization and appropriate care for fever and diarrhoea was determined through logistic regression with Andersens Behavioural Model guiding co-variate selection. RESULTS: Increased MHC utilization (reference: intermediate MHC use) increased the odds of immunization [poor use: odds ratio (OR) = 0.54 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.42-0.69; best use: OR = 1.29 95% CI: 1.01-1.67] as well as appropriate care for fever (poor use: OR = 0.55 95% CI: 0.35-0.88; best use: OR = 1.72 95% CI: 1.17-2.52) and diarrhoea (poor use: OR = 0.63 95% CI: 0.43-0.93). Survey year and region also predicted each outcome. Other determinants of immunization were maternal education ethnicity religion media exposure wealth and birth weight. Determinants of appropriate care for fever included paternal education media exposure and wealth and for diarrhoea childs age and birth weight. CONCLUSION: This study proposes a linkage between MDGs; initiatives to improve maternal health through promoting increased use of recommended MHC may enhance childrens health-related care. This could be useful for countries with limited resources in achieving MDGs especially in sub-Saharan Africa where under-five mortality is the highest. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (c) The Author 2014; all rights reserved.