Maternal stressors and social support as risks for delivering babies with structural birth defects.

ABSTRACT:

Background

We examined the association of maternal stressful life events and social support with risks of birth defects using National Birth Defects Prevention Study data, a population-based case-control study.

Methods

We examined seven stressful life events and three social support questions applicable to the periconceptional period, among mothers of 552 cases with neural tube defects (NTDs), 413 cleft palate (CP), 797 cleft lip ± cleft palate (CLP), 189 d-transposition of the great arteries (dTGA), 311 tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), and 2974 non-malformed controls. A stressful life events index equalled the sum of 'yes' responses to the seven questions. Social support questions were also summed to form an index. Data were analyzed using logistic regression to estimate odds rat

SUBMITTER: Carmichael SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4057295 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature