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Biomedical subjects

M Samphier

Publications and source records attributed to M Samphier.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

Clinical birthweight standards for a total population in the 1980s.

OBJECTIVE: To derive clinical standards for singleton birthweight in a population based on area of residence. DESIGN: Analysis of variables recorded in Aberdeen Maternity and Neonatal Databank, calculating for each birth a standardised birthweight score, taking account of determining factors. SUBJECTS: All singleton live births of 32 to 42 weeks gestation to Aberdeen City District residents from 1979 to 1983. RESULTS: Basic standards of birthweight are presented correcting for gestational age, sex of the baby and parity of the mother. Birthweight is not normally distributed and empirical data are presented rather than smoothed curves. Adjustment for maternal height is straightforward but adjustment for maternal weight must take account of the gestation at which the woman was weighed. A method of calculating the appropriate correction for height and weight is described in detail. CONCLUSION: Birthweight is not normally distributed at each week of gestation. Standardisation for parity, gestation and sex of the baby is essential, but adjustment for maternal size is complex.

Birth Weight↗

Does the use of oral contraception depress DZ twinning rates?

Data based on total births from a geographically defined population with zygosity determined from blood samples and placentation and with data on the use of oral contraceptives routinely collected in early pregnancy showed no association between oral contraceptive use prior to pregnancy in either MZ or DZ twinning. Three mutually exclusive control groups of singletons were used to take account of age, parity and secular trends.

Birth Rate↗

Artefact explanations of inequalities in health: an assessment of the evidence.

Artefact explanations seek to account for inequalities in health as a construct of the measurement process. The Black Report believed that the artefact explanation was relatively unimportant in accounting for the persistence of class inequalities in health. This paper reviews the evidence on artefact explanations of class differentials in specific-cause and all-cause mortality data, and also of differentials by occupation, by geography, and by gender. It is concluded that the role of artefact explanations in mortality differentials is larger, more pervasive, and more complex than Black and his colleagues believed.

Female↗

Debendox revisited.

Two further studies re-examine the findings by Golding et al. (1983) in Oxford that mothers of children born with oral clefts had been more frequently prescribed Debendox (Bendectin) than had the mothers of matched controls. In Cardiff, 86 283 total births between 1965 and 1979 included 139 infants with oral clefts. Detailed information was obtained about 93 of these infants and matched controls. The relative risk of the birth of an infant with an oral cleft to women prescribed Debendox within 69 days of the first day of their last menstrual period was 0.64 (95% confidence limits 0.12-3.34). No increased effect was found amongst women who smoked. In Aberdeen, 17 640 livebirths between 1976 and 1979 included 31 children with oral clefts. Compared with the non-exposed group the risk of a birth of an infant with an oral cleft to a woman prescribed Debendox in early pregnancy was 0.37 (95% confidence limits 0.09-1.47). These results do not confirm the previous findings in Oxford of a possible association between exposure to Debendox in early pregnancy and the occurrence of oral clefts in the child.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗

Preterm deliveries in twin pregnancies in Aberdeen.

The incidence of preterm delivery was 28.2% of all twin deliveries. Preterm delivery was common in monozygotic twins due to a high incidence of spontaneous rupture of the membranes. In addition, preterm delivery was associated more often with boy rather than girl infants.

Female↗

The Aberdeen Obstetric Data Bank.

An obstetric-neonatal-gynecological data bank has been developed for the Aberdeen District in Scotland and is now fully computerized. Within it, a twin register including over 550 pairs of known placentation and zygosity has developed.

Data Collection↗