Emily R. Smith, Anuraj H. Shankar, Lee Wu, Said Aboud et al.
BACKGROUND: Micronutrient deficiencies are common among women in low-income and middle-income countries. Data from randomised trials suggest that maternal multiple micronutrient supplementation decreases the risk of low birthweight and potentially improves other infant health outcomes. However, hete...
Keith P. West, Abu Ahmed Shamim, Sucheta Mehra, Alain Labrique et al.
<h3>Importance</h3> Maternal micronutrient deficiencies may adversely affect fetal and infant health, yet there is insufficient evidence of effects on these outcomes to guide antenatal micronutrient supplementation in South Asia. <h3>Objective</h3> To assess effects of antenatal multiple micronutrie...
Keith P. West, Parul Christian, Alain Labrique, Mahbubur Rashid et al.
CONTEXT: Maternal vitamin A deficiency is a public health concern in the developing world. Its prevention may improve maternal and infant survival. OBJECTIVE: To assess efficacy of maternal vitamin A or beta carotene supplementation in reducing pregnancy-related and infant mortality. DESIGN, SETTING...
Kerry Schulze, Sucheta Mehra, Saijuddin Shaikh, Hasmot Ali et al.
BACKGROUND: Antenatal multiple micronutrient (MM) supplementation improves birth outcomes relative to iron-folic acid (IFA) in developing countries, but limited data exist on its impact on pregnancy micronutrient status. OBJECTIVE: We assessed the efficacy of a daily MM (15 nutrients) compared with ...
Andrew Mertens, Jade Benjamin‐Chung, John M. Colford, Jeremy Coyle et al.
. Interventions such as nutritional supplementation during pregnancy and the postnatal period could help prevent growth faltering, but programmatic action has been insufficient to eliminate the high burden of stunting and wasting in low- and middle-income countries. Identification of age windows and...
Jade Benjamin‐Chung, Andrew Mertens, John M. Colford, Alan Hubbard et al.
. Stunting, a form of linear growth faltering, increases the risk of illness, impaired cognitive development and mortality. Global stunting estimates rely on cross-sectional surveys, which cannot provide direct information about the timing of onset or persistence of growth faltering-a key considerat...
Muzi Na, Sucheta Mehra, Parul Christian, Hasmot Ali et al.
Background Household food insecurity (HFI) can lead to a poor diet and malnutrition. Yet, little is known about the extent to which maternal diet covaries with food insecurity during pregnancy and lactation. Objective Longitudinal associations between HFI and maternal dietary diversity from early pr...
Rebecca D. Merrill, Abu Ahmed Shamim, Hasmot Ali, Nusrat Jahan et al.
Women of reproductive age are at a high risk of iron deficiency, often as a result of diets low in bioavailable iron. In some settings, the iron content of domestic groundwater sources is high, yet its contribution to iron intake and status has not been examined. In a rural Bangladeshi population of...
Rebecca D. Merrill, Abu Ahmed Shamim, Hasmot Ali, Alain Labrique et al.
Iron deficiency was absent in a recent population assessment of rural Bangladeshi women exhibiting anemia (57%), suggesting other causes of low hemoglobin. We assessed the relative influence on anemia of thalassemia, groundwater arsenic and iron, and diet among women of reproductive age living in ru...
Michael Clifton Tran, Alain Labrique, Sucheta Mehra, Hasmot Ali et al.
BACKGROUND: We had a unique opportunity to examine demographic determinants of household mobile phone ownership in rural Bangladesh using socioeconomic data collected as part of a multiyear longitudinal cohort study of married women of reproductive age. OBJECTIVES: This paper explores how the demogr...
Youngji Jo, Kelsey Alland, Hasmot Ali, Sucheta Mehra et al.
BACKGROUND: Measurement of antenatal care (ANC) service coverage is often limited to the number of contacts or type of providers, reflecting a gap in the assessment of quality as well as cost estimations and health impact. The study aims to determine service subcomponents and provider and patient co...
Shegufta Shefa Sikder, Alain Labrique, Abu Ahmed Shamim, Hasmot Ali et al.
BACKGROUND: In rural Bangladesh, more than 75% of all births occur at home in the absence of skilled birth attendants. Population-based data are lacking on the burden and risk factors for obstetric complications in settings with low rates of institutional delivery. We sought to describe the prevalen...
Abu Ahmed Shamim, Kerry Schulze, Rebecca D. Merrill, Alamgir Kabir et al.
Background Tocopherols were discovered for their role in animal reproduction, but little is known about the contribution of deficiencies of vitamin E to human pregnancy loss. Objective We sought to determine whether higher first-trimester concentrations of α-tocopherol and γ-tocopherol were associat...
Rebecca K. Campbell, Kerry Schulze, Saijuddin Shaikh, Sucheta Mehra et al.
OBJECTIVES: Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) may inhibit growth and development in low- and middle-income countries, but available assessment methodologies limit its study. In rural Bangladesh, we measured EED using the widely used lactulose mannitol ratio (L:M) test and a panel of intestinal...
Jasmine M Blake, Eric Rubenstein, Peng-Chou Tsai, Hafizur Rahman et al.
Low- and middle-income countries often have limited resources, underdeveloped health systems and scarce knowledge of autism spectrum disorder. The objectives of this preliminary study were to develop and adapt intervention materials and to train a native clinician to implement a community-based pare...