Birth Weight, Birth Length, and Gestational Age as Indicators of Favorable Fetal Growth Conditions in a US Sample.

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

SUBMITTER: Camerota M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4838247 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature