Maternal nutritional status mediates the association between maternal age and birth outcomes.
2020
Young maternal age during pregnancy is linked with adverse birth outcomes. This study
examined the role of maternal nutritional status in the association between maternal
age and small for gestational age (SGA) delivery and birth length. We used data from a
birth cohort study in Ethiopia, involving women who were 15–24 years of age and their
newborns. A mediation analysis was fitted in a sample of 1,422 mother infant dyads for
whom data on birth length were available, and 777 dyads for whom gestational age
and birth weight was measured. We used commands, medeff for the mediation analysis
and medsens for sensitivity analysis in STATA 14. Maternal nutritional status, measured
by mid-upper arm circumference, mediated 21% of the association between maternal
age and birth length and 14% of the association with SGA delivery. The average direct
effect (ADE) of maternal age on birth length was (β = 0.45, 95% CI [0.17, 0.99]) and the
average causal mediated effect (ACME) was (β = 0.12, 95% CI [0.02, 0.15]). We also
found an ADE (β = 0.31, 95% CI [0.09, 0.47]) and an ACME of (β = 0.05, 95% CI [0.003,
0.205]) of maternal age on SGA delivery. The sensitivity analysis suggests an
unmeasured confounder with a positive correlation of 0.15 and 0.20 between the
mediator and the outcome could explain the observed ACME for birth length and SGA,
respectively. We cannot make strong causal assertions as the findings suggest the
mediator partly explained the total effect of maternal age on both outcomes
Keywords:
- Correction
- Source
- Cite
- Save
- Machine Reading By IdeaReader
30
References
2
Citations
NaN
KQI