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Biomedical subjects

B Zuckerman

Publications and source records attributed to B Zuckerman.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

The Denver Developmental Screening Test: how good is its predictive validity?

Five studies assessing the predictive validity of the Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST) were evaluated and the results were pooled. Only one study demonstrated good compliance with the authors' methodological standards, but the results were similar to the over-all pooled results. The pooled data indicated that for children over three years of age: (1) the DDST is specific (94 per cent of the children with a good outcome were categorized as normal); (2) the DDST is not sensitive (it did not identify 80 per cent of the children who later had a poor outcome); and (3) a child with a poor outcome was 14 times more likely to have an abnormal or questionable DDST result than a normal one. These data suggest that a child with an abnormal DDST is likely to have a poor school outcome and that many children with school-related problems who might benefit from early intervention are not identified by the DDST.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1989

Drug use among adolescent mothers: profile of risk.

Adolescent pregnancy and adolescent drug use are important clinical and public health problems. Yet, few studies have systematically investigated the patterns of substance use among pregnant and parenting adolescents. Because adverse outcomes are not found uniformly for all adolescent mothers, use of illicit drugs may be a key factor in determining which mothers and their infants will have poor outcomes. In this study, the patterns of drug use are described and differences in the demographic and psychosocial profile among 253 pregnant adolescents are investigated. Results obtained from interviews and urine assay for marijuana and cocaine indicate that lifetime use was 84% for alcohol, 62% for marijuana, and 23% for cocaine, whereas use in the past year was 40% for marijuana and 17% for cocaine. Compared with nonusers, pregnant adolescent drug users were more likely to be North American black, have a history of elective abortion and venereal disease, report more negative life events and violence during pregnancy, and receive more support from the father of the baby who was more likely to use marijuana and cocaine (P less than .01). Furthermore, according to logistic regression analysis results after controlling for age and ethnicity, adolescents who used illicit substances in the past year were three times more likely to have a male partner who used marijuana or cocaine and were two times more likely to have a history of venereal disease compared with nonusers. The findings suggest that drug use, whether as a mechanism or a marker, is associated with social and medical characteristics that are likely to contribute to negative outcomes among adolescent mothers and their infants.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Risk of sudden infant death syndrome among infants with in utero exposure to cocaine.

To determine whether the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) among infants exposed to cocaine in utero may be elevated, we assessed the risk for SIDS in a large, well-described, prospective cohort of infants whose mothers had or had not used cocaine during pregnancy. Of 996 women consecutively enrolled while registering for prenatal care, 175 used cocaine during pregnancy. Only one infant of the mothers who used cocaine died of SIDS, a risk of 5.6 in 1000, compared with four infants among the 821 nonexposed infants, a risk of 4.9 in 1000. The relative risk for SIDS among infants whose mothers used cocaine during pregnancy compared with those whose mothers did not use cocaine was 1.17 (95% confidence interval 0.13, 10.43), suggesting that there is no increased risk of SIDS among infants exposed in utero to cocaine.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Stomachaches and headaches in a community sample of preschool children.

The epidemiology of recurrent stomachache and headache was studied in a community sample of 308 preschool children, most of whom were white. When the children were 3 years old, interviews with their mothers indicated that 3% had recurrent headaches and 9% had recurrent stomachaches. Children with recurrent stomachaches were more likely than those without recurrent stomachaches to have mothers who were emotionally depressed (P less than .01), had marital problems (P less than .05), and perceived their own health as poor (P less than .05). When maternal poor health was controlled, depression was still associated with their children having stomachaches (P less than .05). Prospectively collected data demonstrate that children with recurrent stomachaches did not have bowel difficulties when they were infants. Other psychosocial stresses and demographic factors were not associated with stomachaches. The only variable associated with recurrent headache was maternal depression. Children with recurrent headaches or stomachaches were more likely to have behavior problems, as measured by the Behavior Screening Questionnaire, than were children without these symptoms. The analysis presents new data on these common symptoms of childhood.

Abdomen↗
PubMed1987

Sleep problems in early childhood: continuities, predictive factors, and behavioral correlates.

A longitudinal study, based on interviews with 308 middle-class, preponderantly white mothers, provided an opportunity to evaluate the continuity, predictive factors, and behavioral correlates of sleep problems in young children. When their children were 8 months old, 10% of the mothers reported that their babies woke three or more times per night, 8% reported that the babies took an hour or more to settle after waking, 5% complained that their own sleep was severely disrupted by the child, and 18% reported at least one of these problems. At 3 years of age, 29% of the children had difficulty getting to bed and/or falling asleep or staying asleep. Of children with a sleep problem at 8 months of age, 41% still had a problem at 3 years of age, whereas only 26% of children without a problem at 8 months of age had a problem at 3 years of age (P less than .001). Among children with sleep problems at 8 months of age, mothers' depressed feelings were the only measured demographic or psychosocial factor associated with persistent sleep problems (P = .02). A separate analysis indicated that these depressed feelings did not appear to be a consequence of the child's sleep problem. Future studies should evaluate how maternal depression interacts with other factors to result in persistent sleep problems. Children with persistent sleep problems were more likely to have behavior problems, especially tantrums (P less than .02) and behavior management problems (P less than .01), than were children without persistent sleep problems (P less than .02).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Maternal marijuana use and neonatal outcome: uncertainty posed by self-reports.

To assess the validity of self-reported marijuana use during pregnancy, this study randomly allocated pregnant women into a group who were told their urine would be tested for marijuana, alcohol, and other drugs and another group not so tested. Women told they would be tested reported more marijuana use during pregnancy than did untested women. Moreover, urine assays identified more women who used marijuana during pregnancy than were willing to admit it in the interview even after being told their urine would be tested. No differences in reported drinking or cigarette smoking during pregnancy were found between tested and untested women.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Alcohol consumption by pregnant women.

Demographic and behavioral characteristics, including use of alcohol, were investigated among 1711 women registering for prenatal care at Boston City Hospital. During personal interviews, 9% reported drinking heavily, 37% moderately, and 53% rarely or not at all. The women who drank heavily differed from the rest of the pregnant population on several traits, including age, education, use of cigarettes, marijuana and other drugs, parity, and association with others who drank heavily. Multiple regression analysis revealed that these traits had little predictive power for whether a woman was a heavy drinker. A systematic drinking history remains the most practical method in identifying problem drinkers.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Patterns of alcohol consumption and fetal development.

Effects of heavy, moderate, and rare alcohol consumption on fetal development were analyzed in a prospective study of 469 mother-infant pairs. Differential effects of heavy drinking in early and late gestation were evaluated by separate analysis of neonates born to women who reduced consumption before the third trimester. Using chi 2 analysis, multiple regression, and matched sets, statistically significant associations (P less than .01) were observed between sustained heavy drinking and both intrauterine growth retardation and congenital anomalies. These associations were independent of eight other risk factors. No differences were observed between offspring of rare and moderate drinkers. Infants born to women who reduced heavy drinking did not differ in growth from offspring of rare and moderate drinkers but demonstrated a higher frequency of abnormalities. Sustained heavy drinking represents a major risk; reduction in midpregnancy can benefit the newborn. Identification and therapy of heavy drinking are important components of prenatal care.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗
PubMed1983

Neonatal outcome: is adolescent pregnancy a risk factor?

It has been widely reported that adolescent mothers are more likely to experience poor pregnancy outcome, especially low-birth-weight and/or premature infants. Recent data suggest that this poor outcome may be attributed to confounding health and social characteristics of adolescent mothers. A study of maternal health and neonatal development at Boston City Hospital provided an opportunity to assess whether adolescent mothers deliver infants with poorer outcomes at birth than nonadolescents independent of numerous social and health differences between adolescent and nonadolescent mothers. A total of 275 infants of primiparous adolescents (aged 13 to 18 years) were compared at birth with 423 infants of primiparous nonadolescents. Size at birth, length of gestation, Apgar scores, and birth trauma were examined. The only statistically significant difference between the two groups was that adolescent mothers delivered infants whose mean weight was 94 g less (P less than .03) than infants of nonadolescent mothers. Multiple and logistic regression analyses demonstrated that several health and social factors, but not adolescent status, were independently associated with the measures of adverse infant outcome. A subsequent regression analysis demonstrated similarly that being a younger adolescent (16 years and younger) did not independently predict low birth weight at delivery or other measured adverse neonatal outcomes. These data support the view that health and social factors are more important to poor fetal outcome among primiparous mothers than adolescent status. Some of the health factors are amenable to clinical intervention.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Another myth: reduced hospital visiting by inner-city mothers.

Hospitalization of young children produces stress that can be reduced by the presence of a parent. Inner-city parents, however, are generally believed to visit the hospital less often than more affluent parents. At Boston City Hospital pediatric nursing and medical staff (N = 60) were surveyed to obtain their impressions of maternal visiting and its determinants; then 80/94 consecutive admissions of children less than age 5 years were surveyed to record the mothers' actual visiting times. Each mother was interviewed to determine sociodemographic status, her perception of her child's behavior, and her perception about visiting. The staff believed that few mothers (20%) would visit more than 4 h/d, but the study showed that nearly three times this many mothers did visit more than 4 h/d. The median visit length was five hours, and 20% of the mothers roomed-in at least once. Contrary to staff expectations, neither job nor child care responsibilities were related to visit length. Mothers who thought visits helped their children visited longer (10.6 v 5.3 hours, P less than .001). Contrary to staff beliefs, most inner-city mothers successfully overcame external and emotional barriers to visiting their hospitalized children. Staff input and an educational effort might facilitate longer visits by the one third of mothers who did not recognize the importance of their visiting their children.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1982

Maternal cigarette smoking, psychoactive substance use, and infant Apgar scores.

A study of 1,709 mother/child pairs at Boston City Hospital examined whether maternal cigarette smoking, drinking, or the use of other psychoactive substances was associated with low infant Apgar scores. The potential confounding effects of other labor and delivery risks were controlled in the analysis. In contrast to previous reports, univariate and stepwise multiple regression analyses did not identify a significant negative association between cigarette smoking and 1- or 5-minute Apgar scores. None of the substance use variables was significantly associated with low infant Apgar scores at 1 and 5 minutes. Other labor and delivery risks, such as short length of gestation, abnormal delivery presentation, placental abnormalities, nuchal cord, and exposure to general anesthesia during delivery, were associated with low Apgar scores.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Bendectin and fetal development. A study of Boston City Hospital.

As part of a prospective study investigating maternal characteristics and habits during pregnancy and their impact on fetal development, 1,690 mother/infant pairs were studied. Of the mothers, 375 reported using Bendectin during pregnancy. Multivariate analyses examining birth weight, length, head circumference, gestational age, and congenital malformations as dependent variables demonstrated no associations between Bendectin exposure and adverse fetal outcome.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗