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Low birthweight in second children after nurse home visiting

Journal of Perinatology volume 38, pages 1610–1619 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

To examine low birthweight and preterm birth of second children born to home-visited first-time mothers.

Subjects

Women were previously recruited for a randomized controlled trial of the home visiting model disseminated as Nurse-Family Partnership. 512 of these women had second children within 18 years of the first child’s birth, and were included in our sample.

Results

The intervention was associated with a lower likelihood of low birthweight for second children (odds ratio: 0.51, 95% CI: 0.27, 0.97), an effect apparent only if the first-born had low birthweight and mediated by close birth spacing. These moderation and mediation patterns were similar in the preterm birth outcome.

Conclusion

A home visiting program provided for first-born children reduced low birthweight for second-born children, if the first-born had low birthweight. This finding implies a broader impact than previously documented, because few studies have included these second children.

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Acknowledgements

YM was supported by the University of Rochester CTSA award number TL1 TR002000 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yale School of Nursing, 400 West Campus Drive, Orange, CT, 06518, USA

    Margaret L. Holland

  2. University of Rochester, School of Nursing, 255 Crittenden Ave, Rochester, NY, 14642, USA

    Susan W. Groth, Joyce A. Smith, Ying Meng & Harriet Kitzman

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Correspondence to Margaret L. Holland.

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Holland, M.L., Groth, S.W., Smith, J.A. et al. Low birthweight in second children after nurse home visiting. J Perinatol 38, 1610–1619 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-018-0222-8

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