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Birth Weight, Birth Length, and Gestational Age as Indicators of Favorable Fetal Growth Conditions in a US Sample
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 4, p e0153800 (2016)
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2016.
-
Abstract
- The “fetal origins” hypothesis suggests that fetal conditions not only affect birth characteristics such as birth weight and gestational age, but also have lifelong health implications. Despite widespread interest in this hypothesis, few methodological advances have been proposed to improve the measurement and modeling of fetal conditions. A Statistics in Medicine paper by Bollen, Noble, and Adair examined favorable fetal growth conditions (FFGC) as a latent variable. Their study of Filipino children from Cebu provided evidence consistent with treating FFGC as a latent variable that largely mediates the effects of mother’s characteristics on birth weight, birth length, and gestational age. This innovative method may have widespread utility, but only if the model applies equally well across diverse settings. Our study assesses whether the FFGC model of Cebu replicates and generalizes to a very different population of children from North Carolina (N = 705) and Pennsylvania (N = 494). Using a series of structural equation models, we find that key features of the Cebu analysis replicate and generalize while we also highlight differences between these studies. Our results support treating fetal conditions as a latent variable when researchers test the fetal origins hypothesis. In addition to contributing to the substantive literature on measuring fetal conditions, we also discuss the meaning and challenges involved in replicating prior research.
- Subjects :
- Gerontology
Physiology
Maternal Health
Test Statistics
lcsh:Medicine
010501 environmental sciences
Chi Square Tests
01 natural sciences
Fetal Development
Families
Mathematical and Statistical Techniques
0302 clinical medicine
Pregnancy
Medicine and Health Sciences
Birth Weight
Ethnicities
Medicine
030212 general & internal medicine
lcsh:Science
Children
African Americans
education.field_of_study
Multidisciplinary
Smoking
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Gestational age
3. Good health
Physiological Parameters
Physical Sciences
Female
Infants
Statistics (Mathematics)
Research Article
Adult
Birth weight
Population
Mothers
Gestational Age
Latent variable
Research and Analysis Methods
Models, Biological
Structural equation modeling
Young Adult
03 medical and health sciences
Chi-square test
Humans
Statistical Methods
education
Statistical Hypothesis Testing
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Fetus
business.industry
lcsh:R
Body Weight
Infant, Newborn
Biology and Life Sciences
Infant
Delivery, Obstetric
medicine.disease
United States
Age Groups
People and Places
Birth
Women's Health
lcsh:Q
Population Groupings
business
Mathematics
Demography
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 11
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLOS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....51e842240b230b2c2e00515224cda999