UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Pregnancy

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Embrace the Wave
    (2023) Shahramipoor, Hosna; Strom, Justin; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Everything in the universe is made up of waves. "Embrace the Wave" is a journey of self-discovery, in which our own inner waves can resonate with and influence the world around us, dissipate, magnify, and transform.
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    THE PREVALENCE OF MATERNAL SMOKING INTENSITY STATUS IN EARLY AND LATE PREGNANCY AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH EARLY MORBIDITY IN SINGLETON TERM BIRTHS IN THE UNITED STATES, 2016
    (2019) Kondracki, Anthony; Moser Jones, Marian; Thoma, Marie; Public and Community Health; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Relatively little is known about how maternal cigarette smoking influences the health of infants delivered at term. This study was based on the 2016 United States Natality File of live births (N= 3,956,112). The first aim was to examine the prevalence and patterns of smoking in the three months before and during pregnancy and the distribution of smoking intensity in early (1st and 2nd trimester) and late (3rd trimester) pregnancy across race/ethnicity, age, and educational attainment of mothers with all births and with singleton term births (37-41 completed weeks gestation) in the United States in 2016. The second aim was to compare the odds of low birthweight (LBW), low 5-minute Apgar score, and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) transfer/admission in term singletons with changing maternal smoking status in early and late pregnancy indicating a potential prenatal exposure effect. The third aim was to test and identify the role of low birthweight, as a potential mediator, in the association with maternal smoking status and NICU transfer/admission of a newborn delivered at term. The prevalence of smoking in the three months before pregnancy was 9.42% among all mothers and 9.20% among mothers of term singletons, and high intensity smoking was the highest in the first trimester among non-Hispanic White women, 20-24 years of age, and less educated women for all births and for singleton term births. High intensity smoking in early and late pregnancy was associated with a greater risk of LBW (aOR 3.33; 95% CI: 3.23, 3.44), low 5-min Apgar score (aOR 1.46; 95% CI: 0.88, 2.44), and NICU transfer/admission (aOR 1.62; 95% CI: 1.58, 1.67) in term neonates. The odds ratios of the natural direct and natural indirect effects of NICU transfer/admission were aOR 1.52 (95% CI: 1.47, 1.57) vs. aOR 1.07 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.09) and the proportion mediated through LBW (18.3%) indicated partial mediation. This study has important implications for clinical practice, public health policy and research, and it is particularly timely because of an information gap on the health of infants delivered at term with LBW to mothers who continue smoking at high intensity during pregnancy.
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    Examining the Association Between Infertility, Pregnancy Intention, and Postpartum Depression
    (2019) Barber, Gabriela Anita; Steinberg, Julia R; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    While much research has studied postpartum depression (PPD), few studies have examined PPD in women who become pregnant through the use of fertility treatments. The process of experiencing infertility and its treatment may alter the risk of developing PPD. We utilized data from The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS; unweighted N=145,036) to compare PPD symptomatology between women who had unintended pregnancies (an at-risk group for PPD), women who conceived naturally/intentionally, and women who conceived using fertility services. We show that women who used fertility treatments did not differ from women who conceived naturally in regards to PPD. The women who utilized fertility enhancing drugs in comparison to insemination or assisted reproductive technologies had higher depressive symptoms. Therefore, our results suggest that the type of fertility treatment utilized may be important for clinicians to consider when working with these women as they transition into the postpartum period.
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    The Association Between Inadequate Gestational Weight Gain and Infant Death Among U.S. Infants Born 2004-2008
    (2012) Davis, Regina R.; Hofferth, Sandra L.; Shenassa, Edmond; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Infant mortality is of great public health importance and its prevalence is often used as a summary indicator of a population's reproductive health status. Programmatic and policy focus on prematurity and birth weight stems largely from their known relationship to infant mortality and morbidity. A large body of literature exists linking poor gestational weight gain to prematurity and low birth weight, but its association with infant mortality is less well understood. Few nationally representative studies have examined infant death as an important pregnancy outcome of inadequate gestational weight gain and even fewer have explored its psychosocial and demographic correlates.

    As a measure of healthy gestational weight gain, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published guidelines which provide a recommended weight gain for each category of pre-pregnancy Body Mass Index (BMI). Informed by the Biomedical and Biopsychosocial models, this study examined the association between the IOM measure of inadequate gestational weight gain and risk of infant mortality by conducting secondary analyses of the 2005 Birth Cohort Linked Birth-Infant Death Data File (Cohort Linked File) and Phase 5 of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). An analysis of 160,011 women who participated in PRAMS between 2004 and 2008 was used to replicate the IOM guidelines and examine the link between gestational weight gain and risks of infant mortality within four months of birth. The PRAMS dataset was also used to analyze the association between maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, weight gain, and infant death, as well as the influence of maternal stress on gestational weight gain. A separate analysis of 2,046,725 infants in the 2005 cohort linked file was conducted to quantify the risk of infant death associated with inadequate gestational weight gain as well as cause-specific mortality. Results from logistic and proportional hazards regression analyses suggest there is a substantial and significant association between inadequate gestational weight gain and infant death; however weight gain beyond the recommended amount may be protective. Inadequate gestational weight gain was associated with infant death from disorders relating to short gestation, fetal malnutrition, respiratory conditions, and birth defects. Receipt of adequate prenatal care was protective against inadequate gestational weight gain, but a positive association was not found between inadequate gestational weight gain and maternal stress. Implications for public health programs, policy, and future research are presented.