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Biomedical subjects

E Roman

Publications and source records attributed to E Roman.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

Alcohol consumption and outcome of pregnancy.

In a prospective study 1256 pregnant women at their first antenatal visit were asked if they drank alcohol every day, occasionally, or not at all, both at that time and before the diagnosis of pregnancy. There were no significant differences, among the three alcohol groups, in the proportions having miscarriages, perinatal deaths, congenital anomalies, or premature births. Women who reported drinking every day before pregnancy was diagnosed had heavier babies than those who did not drink at all, but there were no differences in mean birth weight according to alcohol use at the first antenatal visit. There were statistically significant differences among the three groups in important background characteristics, such as social class, age, smoking, and marital status. When adjustment was made for these factors, both occasional and daily consumption of alcohol before pregnancy appeared to have significantly positive effects on birth weight. These results illustrate the difficulty of evaluating the effects of alcohol in observational studies, and imply a need for caution in attributing either negative or positive effects of alcohol on the outcome of pregnancy.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗

Outcome of pregnancies following the use of oral contraceptives.

The use of oral contraception by women doctors on the Medical Register for England and Wales in 1975 was studied and related to the outcome of their pregnancies. Nearly two thirds had used oral contraception at some time, but less than one third of their pregnancies had followed its use. Users tended to be younger at the time of the survey and to smoke in pregnancy more often. After allowing for these associations a poor outcome was just slightly more common in pregnancies occurring after OC use, particularly in conceptions occurring within a month or after a year of cessation. In contrast conceptions occurring in the 2nd or 3rd month after cessation had an unusually favourable outcome. It therefore seems likely that at least some of this weak association between oral contraception and poor outcome may be explained by factors that determine the length of time it takes to conceive. Overall it seems that any real risk to pregnancies conceived after cessation of oral contraception must be very small and outweighed by the undoubted advantages of its use.

Adult↗

Birth weight before and after a spontaneous abortion.

A survey of pregnancies occurring in 3502 women doctors provided an opportunity to examine the relationship between early fetal loss and birth weight. This was found to be complex. The most important observations were that the mean birth weight of babies preceding a spontaneous fetal loss was lower than that of livebirths preceding another livebirth, and that in the subgroup of women with repeated early losses, mean birth weight fell with increasing pregnancy order. In contrast, mean birth weight of the first livebirth following a single spontaneous abortion was higher, though not significantly, than that of livebirths in the first pregnancy.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗

[Electroencephalographic problems in newborn infants].

The authors present the results of electroencephalographic examinations performed at random in a group of 100 newborn "risk infants". Ordinary electroencephalograms were compared with those obtained by long-time polygraphic recording. It was found that ordinary electroencephalography was quite acceptable for the basic diagnosis of neurological diseases. The number of pathological curves on the electroencephalograms after the polygraphic recording was not greater than on ordinary encephalograms.

Birth Injuries↗

Fetal loss, gravidity, and pregnancy order.

An investigation of the reproductive history of 3068 women doctors showed that the risk of fetal loss at a given pregnancy order varied with their gravidity--that is, the total number of pregnancies that has occurred before the survey. Fetal loss rates in even the first pregnancy varied with eventual gravidity in a J-shaped manner. They fell from 12.4% in women with only one pregnancy at the time of the study, to 5.7% in women with two, and then increased steadily to 36.8% in those with six pregnancies. This variation in risk remained when allowance was made for the incomplete nature of some of the reproductive histories. When gravidity was held constant, fetal loss rates decreased with each successive pregnancy. This finding conflicts with previous suggestions that the risk of fetal loss increase with pregnancy order and age.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗

A comparison of standardized and proportional mortality ratios.

Proportional mortality analyses are traditionally considered to be unreliable because they lack information on persons at risk. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) are often used in preference to proportional mortality ratios ( PMRs ) even when the denominator or numerator of rates is known to be biased. Examination of data from 30 randomly selected occupational units described by the U.K. Office of Population Censuses and Surveys ( OPCS ) revealed, however, that age-standardized cause-specific SMRs and PMRs have an almost constant relationship: the ratio of the cause-specific PMR closely approximating the all-cause SMR of the group under consideration. Hence, a PMR above 100 almost always indicates that the corresponding cause-specific SMR is greater than the all-cause SMR (and vice versa). Furthermore, approximately 70 per cent of conditions with significantly high PMRs above 200 have corresponding SMRs which are also significantly high. When cautiously interpreted, the PRM may, therefore, be a useful indicator of an increased frequency of disease in a particular occupational or other group.

England↗