PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Lisa M Bodnar

Publications and source records attributed to Lisa M Bodnar.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Periconceptional multivitamin use reduces the risk of preeclampsia.

The objective was to assess the independent effect of regular periconceptional multivitamin use on the risk of preeclampsia. Pregnant women (n=1,835) enrolled in the Pregnancy Exposures and Preeclampsia Prevention Study (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1997-2001) at less than 16 weeks' gestation were asked whether they regularly used multivitamins or prenatal vitamins in the past 6 months. Women were classified as users or nonusers. The unadjusted prevalence of preeclampsia was 4.4% in nonusers and 3.8% in users. After adjustment for race/ethnicity, marital status, parity, prepregnancy physical activity, and income in a multiple logistic regression model, regular use of multivitamins was associated with a 45% reduction in preeclampsia risk compared with nonuse (odds ratio (OR)=0.55, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.32, 0.95). Prepregnancy overweight modified this effect. After confounder adjustment, lean multivitamin users had a 71% reduction in preeclampsia risk compared with lean nonusers (OR=0.29, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.65). In contrast, there was no relation between multivitamin use and preeclampsia among overweight women (OR=1.08, 95% CI: 0.52, 2.25). A sensitivity analysis for unmeasured confounding by fruit and vegetable intake supported these conclusions. If confirmed by others, these results suggest that regular use of a multivitamin supplement in the periconceptional period may help to prevent preeclampsia, particularly among lean women.

Adolescent↗

Prepregnancy body mass index, vaginal inflammation, and the racial disparity in preterm birth.

The authors sought to quantify the overall and race/ethnic-specific relations between prepregnancy body mass index and both preterm birth and vaginal inflammation. Data from a cohort of 11,392 women who enrolled in the multicenter Vaginal Infections and Prematurity Study (1984-1989) at 23-26 weeks' gestation were used. Compared with a prepregnancy body mass index of 22, a body mass index of 16 increased the risk of preterm birth by 90% (odds ratio = 1.9, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.5, 2.6), and a body mass index of 18 increased the risk by 40% (odds ratio = 1.4, 95% CI: 1.2, 1.7). Ethnicity substantially modified the magnitude of the body mass index effect and the shape of the preterm birth risk curve, with underweight having a greater impact on preterm birth among Blacks and Hispanics than among Whites. Low body mass index increased the risk of a high level of neutrophils (> 5 per oil immersion field) and a high vaginal pH measurement (> or = 5.0) among Black women; for a body mass index of 16 versus 22, the odds ratio = 1.7 (95% CI: 1.1, 2.6). Compared with Black women with a body mass index of 22, Blacks with a body mass index of 16 had a 1.7-fold increased risk for a high level of neutrophils and a high vaginal pH measurement, while those with a body mass index of 18 had a 1.3-fold increased risk.

Adolescent↗

Uric acid concentrations in early pregnancy among preeclamptic women with gestational hyperuricemia at delivery.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated changes in serum uric acid across pregnancy in women with gestational hyperuricemia at delivery, with and without preeclampsia, compared with normal pregnant and women with preeclampsia without gestational hyperuricemia. STUDY DESIGN: This was a nested case-control study of 116 controls, 27 women with preeclampsia with predelivery hyperuricemia, 37 women with preeclampsia without predelivery hyperuricemia, and 35 women with gestational hypertension with hyperuricemia at delivery but without proteinuria. Serum uric acid and creatinine was measured across pregnancy. RESULTS: Women with predelivery hyperuricemia, with and without preeclampsia, had increased uric acid concentrations across pregnancy compared with controls, after 25 weeks' gestation compared with women with preeclampsia without predelivery hyperuricemia. Adjusting for differences in glomerular filtration by serum creatinine accounted for part but not all of the increase in serum uric acid among women with preeclampsia and predelivery hyperuricemia. CONCLUSIONS: Among women with hyperuricemia at delivery, elevations in uric acid occur early. Multiple mechanisms may contribute to increased uric acid including changes in renal function.

Adult↗

Seasonal variation in gestational blood pressure.

OBJECTIVE: To assess seasonal variability in antenatal blood pressure (BP). METHODS: We studied 1919 pregnant women who contributed 21,119 antenatal BP measurements. RESULTS: BP peaked in winter and reached a nadir in summer. After confounder adjustment, systolic BP was 1.0 to 1.7 mm Hg higher January to May, 0.6 mm Hg higher in September and October, and 0.8 mm Hg higher in November and December compared with August. After stratifying by overweight status, BP showed strong seasonal variability among lean women, whereas there were no seasonal trends among overweight women. CONCLUSION: Environmental factors may regulate gestational BP and may be relevant to seasonality of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

Adolescent↗

Inflammation and triglycerides partially mediate the effect of prepregnancy body mass index on the risk of preeclampsia.

The objective of this study was to quantify the mediating role of inflammation and triglycerides in the association between prepregnancy body mass index (weight (kg)/height (m)2) and preeclampsia. The authors conducted a nested case-control study of 55 preeclamptic women and 165 pregnant controls from the Pregnancy Exposures and Preeclampsia Prevention Study (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1997-2001). Serum samples collected at < or = 20 weeks' gestation were analyzed for levels of C-reactive protein and triglycerides. The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) from a multivariable conditional logistic regression model assessing the total effect of body mass index on preeclampsia risk was compared with the AOR from the same model after results were controlled for C-reactive protein, triglycerides, and confounding factors (direct-effects model). The percentage of the total effect that was mediated through inflammation and triglycerides was calculated as 100 - [ln(direct-effects AOR)/ln(total-effects AOR)]. In the total-effects model, 4- and 8-unit increases in body mass index were associated with 1.7-fold (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3, 2.3) and 2.9-fold (95% CI: 1.6, 5.2) increases in preeclampsia risk, whereas in the direct-effects model, these AORs were 1.4 (95% CI: 1.0, 1.9) and 2.0 (95% CI: 1.0, 3.8), respectively. Inflammation was a more important mediator than triglycerides. These findings suggest that approximately one third of the total effect of body mass index on preeclampsia risk is mediated through inflammation and triglyceride levels.

Adult↗

Uric acid is as important as proteinuria in identifying fetal risk in women with gestational hypertension.

Gestational hypertension is differentiated into higher and lower risk by the presence or absence of proteinuria. We asked if hyperuricemia, a common finding in pregnancy hypertension, might also be an indicator of increased risk. We examined fetal outcome data from 972 pregnancies collected from 1997 to 2002 in a nested case-control study. Participants were nulliparous with no known medical complications. The frequency of preterm birth, the duration of pregnancy, frequency of small-for-gestational-age infants, and birth weight centile were determined for pregnancies assigned to 8 categories by the presence or absence of combinations of hypertension, hyperuricemia, and proteinuria. In women with gestational hypertension, hyperuricemia was associated with shorter gestations and smaller birth weight centiles and increased risk of preterm birth and small-for-gestational-age infants. Hyperuricemia increased the risk of these outcomes in the presence or absence of proteinuria. Risk was also increased in a small group of women with hyperuricemia and proteinuria without hypertension. Women with only hypertension and hyperuricemia have similar or greater risk as women with only hypertension and proteinuria. Those with hypertension, proteinuria, and hyperuricemia have greater risk than those with hypertension and proteinuria alone. The risk of these outcomes increased with increasing uric acid. Hyperuricemia is at least as effective as proteinuria at identifying gestational hypertensive pregnancies at increased risk. Uric acid should be reexamined for clinical and research utility.

Adult↗

Nutrition and depression: implications for improving mental health among childbearing-aged women.

Adequate nutrition is needed for countless aspects of brain functioning. Poor diet quality, ubiquitous in the United States, may be a modifiable risk factor for depression. The objective was to review and synthesize the current knowledge of the role of nutrition in depression, and address implications for childbearing-aged women. Poor omega-3 fatty acid status increases the risk of depression. Fish oil and folic acid supplements each have been used to treat depression successfully. Folate deficiency reduces the response to antidepressants. Deficiencies of folate, vitamin B12, iron, zinc, and selenium tend to be more common among depressed than nondepressed persons. Dietary antioxidants have not been studied rigorously in relation to depression. Childbearing-aged women are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of poor nutrition on mood because pregnancy and lactation are major nutritional stressors to the body. The depletion of nutrient reserves throughout pregnancy and a lack of recovery postpartum may increase a woman's risk of depression. Prospective research studies are needed to clarify the role of nutrition in the pathophysiology of depression among childbearing-aged women. Greater attention to nutritional factors in mental health is warranted given that nutrition interventions can be inexpensive, safe, easy to administer, and generally acceptable to patients.

Adult↗

Soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 is increased in preeclampsia but not in normotensive pregnancies with small-for-gestational-age neonates: relationship to circulating placental growth factor.

CONTEXT: An excess of the soluble receptor, fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1) may contribute to maternal vascular dysfunction in women with preeclampsia by binding and thereby reducing concentrations of free vascular endothelial growth factor and placental growth factor (PlGF) in the circulation. The putative stimulus for increased sFlt-1 during preeclampsia, placental hypoxia due to poor perfusion, is common to both preeclampsia and idiopathic intrauterine growth restriction. However, the latter condition occurs without maternal vascular disease. OBJECTIVE: We asked whether, as with preeclampsia, sFlt-1 is increased and free PlGF is decreased in villous placenta and maternal serum of normotensive women with small-for-gestational-age (SGA) neonates. STUDY DESIGN: This was a case-control study using banked samples. Groups of women with SGA neonates (birth weight centile < 10th) and women with preeclampsia were matched to separate sets of normal pregnancy controls based on gestational age at blood sampling (serum) or gestational age at delivery (placenta). RESULTS: sFlt-1 levels were higher in preeclamptics than controls (serum, P < 0.0001; placental protein, P = 0.03; placental mRNA, P = 0.007) but not increased in SGA pregnancies. PlGF was lower in both preeclampsia (serum, P < 0.0001; placental protein, P = 0.05) and SGA (serum, P = 0.0008; placental protein, P = 0.03) compared with their controls. PlGF in preeclampsia and SGA groups did not differ. CONCLUSIONS: These data are consistent with a role for sFlt-1 in the maternal manifestations of preeclampsia. In contrast to preeclampsia, sFlt-1 does not appear to contribute substantially to decreased circulating free PlGF in SGA pregnancies in the absence of a maternal syndrome.

Adult↗

Have we forgotten the significance of postpartum iron deficiency?

The postpartum period is conventionally thought to be the time of lowest iron deficiency risk because iron status is expected to improve dramatically after delivery. Nonetheless, recent studies have reported a high prevalence of postpartum iron deficiency and anemia among ethnically diverse low-income populations in the United States. In light of the recent emergence of this problem in the medical literature, we discuss updated findings on postpartum iron deficiency, including its prevalence, functional consequences, risk factors, and recommended primary and secondary prevention strategies. The productivity and cognitive gains made possible by improving iron nutriture support intervention. We therefore conclude that postpartum iron deficiency warrants greater attention and higher quality care.

Affect↗

The risk of preeclampsia rises with increasing prepregnancy body mass index.

PURPOSE: To explore the dose-dependent relation between prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and the risk of preeclampsia after adjusting for measured confounders. METHODS: We studied 1179 primiparous women who enrolled at < 16 weeks' gestation into a prospective cohort study of the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. Multivariable logistic regression was used to quantify the independent effect of prepregnancy BMI on the risk of preeclampsia after adjusting for race and smoking status. BMI was specified as a restricted quadratic spline. RESULTS: Preeclampsia risk rose strikingly from a BMI of 15 to 30 kg/m(2). Compared with women with a BMI of 21, the adjusted risk of preeclampsia doubled at a BMI of 26 (odds ratio 2.1 [95% confidence interval, 1.4, 3.4]), and nearly tripled at a BMI of 30 (2.9 [1.6, 5.3]). Women with a BMI of 17 had a 57% reduction in preeclampsia risk compared with women with a BMI of 21 (0.43 [0.25, 0.76]), and a BMI of 19 was associated with a 33% reduction in risk (0.66 [0.50, 0.87]). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that preeclampsia risk rises through most of the BMI distribution. The dramatic elevation in overweight prevalence in the United States may increase preeclampsia incidence in the future.

Adolescent↗

Marginal structural models for analyzing causal effects of time-dependent treatments: an application in perinatal epidemiology.

Marginal structural models (MSMs) are causal models designed to adjust for time-dependent confounding in observational studies of time-varying treatments. MSMs are powerful tools for assessing causality with complicated, longitudinal data sets but have not been widely used by practitioners. The objective of this paper is to illustrate the fitting of an MSM for the causal effect of iron supplement use during pregnancy (time-varying treatment) on odds of anemia at delivery in the presence of time-dependent confounding. Data from pregnant women enrolled in the Iron Supplementation Study (Raleigh, North Carolina, 1997-1999) were used. The authors highlight complexities of MSMs and key issues epidemiologists should recognize before and while undertaking an analysis with these methods and show how such methods can be readily interpreted in existing software packages, including SAS and Stata. The authors emphasize that if a data set with rich information on confounders is available, MSMs can be used straightforwardly to make robust inferences about causal effects of time-dependent treatments/exposures in epidemiologic research.

Adult↗

High prepregnancy BMI increases the risk of postpartum anemia.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the independent effect of prepregnancy BMI on the risk of postpartum anemia. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Pregnant women from North Carolina who enrolled in the Iron Supplementation Study at their first prenatal visit at <20 weeks gestation and who delivered a live infant were followed to the postpartum visit (n = 439). BMI had a curvilinear relation in the logit of postpartum anemia; therefore, a restricted quadratic spline with three knots at the inflection points was used to specify BMI. Multiple log binomial regression was used to quantify the relation between prepregnancy BMI and postpartum anemia after adjusting for maternal ethnicity/race, education, smoking, initial hemoglobin concentration, and prenatal iron supplementation. RESULTS: Prevalence of postpartum anemia was 19.1%. After adjusting for confounders, we found that risk of postpartum anemia was similar for women with BMI values from 17 to 24 compared with women with a BMI of 20. Adjusted relative risk increased as BMI increased from 24 to 38. Women with a BMI of 28 had approximately 1.8 times the postpartum anemia risk of a woman with a BMI of 20 (95% confidence interval 1.3, 2.5), and obese women with a BMI of 36 had approximately 2.8 times the risk (95% confidence interval 1.7, 4.7). DISCUSSION: These data suggest that high prepregnancy BMI substantially increases the risk of postpartum anemia. Postpartum anemia screening and iron supplementation of overweight and obese women may be warranted.

Adult↗

Predictors of pregnancy and postpartum haemoglobin concentrations in low-income women.

OBJECTIVE: Pregnancy and postpartum iron status is of great public health importance, yet few studies have examined predictors of haemoglobin (Hb) concentration during this time. We identified predictors of Hb from 24 weeks' gestation until delivery and from 4 to 25 weeks postpartum. DESIGN: Blood was drawn as many as four times during care: at the initial visit, at 24-29 weeks' gestation, at delivery and postpartum. A longitudinal, multivariable linear regression model was used to predict Hb concentration. SETTING: A public health clinic in Raleigh, North Carolina. SUBJECTS: n=520 women who participated in the Iron Supplementation Study. RESULTS: Hb concentration at the previous blood draw, short stature, non-Hispanic white ethnicity/race, >12 years of education and smoking were positive predictors of pregnancy and postpartum Hb concentrations. Iron supplement use was a positive predictor, while inadequate weight gain and severe nausea/vomiting were negative predictors of gestational Hb. A high infant birth weight and postpartum haemorrhage were negative predictors of postpartum Hb. Pre-pregnancy body mass index had a slight positive relationship with gestational Hb, but had a strong negative relationship with postpartum Hb. The longitudinal model also confirmed the typical pattern of gestational Hb concentration. As the number of weeks between the initial visit and the 24- to 29-week visit increased, Hb at 24-29 weeks' gestation decreased. As gestational age increased from 24 weeks until delivery, Hb concentration increased as well. CONCLUSIONS: The predictors identified here could be used in clinical settings to target high-risk women for intervention.

Adult↗

Nutrient involvement in preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific condition that increases maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. It is diagnosed by new-onset increased blood pressure and proteinuria during gestation; for many years these markers were the sole targets for study. More recently, increased attention to the multisystemic nature of the syndrome with involvement of almost all organs, activation of coagulation and increased sensitivity to pressor agents has expanded understanding of the disorder. The epidemiology of preeclampsia, being more common in poor women, long ago suggested that nutrients might be involved in the disorder. Numerous conflicting hypotheses were advanced but the testing of these hypotheses has either been done poorly or not at all. Review of the available data indicates very few studies that provide useful insights. In many studies the syndrome is poorly defined and in most studies nutritional data (questionnaires or biomarkers) are obtained on women with the clinical syndrome. In overtly preeclamptic women it is impossible to decipher cause from effect. Nonetheless, current concepts of the genesis of preeclampsia that include endothelial dysfunction, inflammatory activation, oxidative stress and predisposing maternal factors provide targets for well-designed nutritional investigation. In this review the current concepts of the pathogenesis of preeclampsia are reviewed and available data are assessed in light of these concepts. Targets for nutritional investigation based on the current knowledge of pathophysiology are suggested.

Blood Pressure↗