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Low birth weight is one of the leading factors for infant morbidity and mortality. To a large extent affect, various maternal risk factors are associated with pregnancy outcomes by increasing odds of delivering an infant with low birth weight. Despite this association, understanding the maternal risk factors affecting term low birth weight has been a challenging task. To date, limited studies have been conducted in India that exert independent magnitude of these effects on term low birth weight. The aim of this review is to examine the current knowledge of maternal risk factors that contribute to term low birth weight in the Indian population. In order to identify the potentially relevant articles, an extensive literature search was conducted using PubMed, Goggle Scholar and IndMed databases (1993 - Dec 2020). Our results indicate that maternal age, educational status, socio-economic status, ethnicity, parity, pre-pregnancy weight, maternal stature, maternal body mass index, obstetric history, maternal anaemia, gestational weight gain, short pregnancy outcome, hypertension during pregnancy, infection, antepartum haemorrhage, tobacco consumption, maternal occupation, maternal psychological stress, alcohol consumption, antenatal care and mid-upper arm circumference have all independent effects on term low birth weight in the Indian population. Further, we argue that exploration for various other dimensions of maternal factors and underlying pathways can be useful for a better understanding of how it exerts independent association on term low birth weight in the Indian sub-continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution is a growing public health concern in developing countries and poses a huge epidemiological burden. Despite the growing awareness of ill effects of air pollution, the evidence linking air pollution and health effects is sparse. This requires environmental exposure scientist and public health researchers to work more cohesively to generate evidence on health impacts of air pollution in developing countries for policy advocacy. In the Global Environmental and Occupational Health (GEOHealth) Program, we aim to build exposure assessment model to estimate ambient air pollution exposure at a very fine resolution which can be linked with health outcomes leveraging well-phenotyped cohorts which have information on geolocation of households of study participants. We aim to address how air pollution interacts with meteorological and weather parameters and other aspects of the urban environment, occupational classification, and socioeconomic status, to affect cardiometabolic risk factors and disease outcomes. This will help us generate evidence for cardiovascular health impacts of ambient air pollution in India needed for necessary policy advocacy. The other exploratory aims are to explore mediatory role of the epigenetic mechanisms (DNA methylation) and vitamin D exposure in determining the association between air pollution exposure and cardiovascular health outcomes. Other components of the GEOHealth program include building capacity and strengthening the skills of public health researchers in India through variety of training programs and international collaborations. This will help generate research capacity to address environmental and occupational health research questions in India. The expertise that we bring together in GEOHealth hub are public health, clinical epidemiology, environmental exposure science, statistical modeling, and policy advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Eclampsia is a potentially fatal disorder in pregnant women and remains an important cause of maternal and perinatal child morbidity and death worldwide. We aimed to assess the prevalence of and risk factors for convulsions (not occurring from fever) during pregnancy in Indian women. Convulsion is a key symptom suggestive of eclampsia. Methods: Cross-sectional data from India's third National Family Health Survey, conducted during 2005-2006 were used. Self-reported information on convulsions during pregnancy was obtained from 39,657 women aged 15-49 years who had a live birth in the 5 years preceding the survey. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to explore risk factors for convulsion inpregnancy. Results: Overall, 1 in 10 women reported having convulsions in their most recent pregnancy. The prevalence was significantly higher in women living in rural areas compared with those living in urban areas (11.3% vs. 7.4%; P<0.0001), with marked state and geographic variation. The odds of convulsions were significantly higher in women with a twin pregnancy [odds ratio (OR) 2.12; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.45-3.11], a previously terminated pregnancy (OR 1.32; 95% CI 1.20-1.45), diabetes (OR 1.37; 95% CI 0.99-1.89), or asthma (OR 1.85; 95% CI 1.35-2.54), in women who were alerted to pregnancy complications (OR 2.78; 95% CI 2.50-3.08), in Sikh women (OR 1.73; 95% CI 1.28-2.33), in women in a low social group (OR 1.40; 95% CI 1.25-1.58), and in women residing in central India (OR 1.51; 95% CI 1.31-1.74) or eastern India (OR 1.33; 95% CI 1.14-1.54) with reference to their counterparts. Conclusion: Our findings from a large population-based nationally representative sample of Indian women indicate a high prevalence of convulsions, a symptom suggestive of eclampsia, and its association with several maternal, lifestyle risk factors and sociodemographic characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]