Effect of the interaction between high altitude and socioeconomic factors on birth weight in a large sample from South America
Several studies of South American populations showed that altitude is associated with low birth weight and intrauterine growth retardation. Although some of them analyzed the altitude‐birth weight association, only a few assessed the effect of the interaction between altitude and socioeconomic facto...
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Published in | American journal of physical anthropology Vol. 129; no. 2; pp. 305 - 310 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Hoboken
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company
01.02.2006
Wiley-Liss |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Several studies of South American populations showed that altitude is associated with low birth weight and intrauterine growth retardation. Although some of them analyzed the altitude‐birth weight association, only a few assessed the effect of the interaction between altitude and socioeconomic factors on birth weight. The purpose of this research is to evaluate such effects on birth weight, after adjustment for confounding factors. This observational descriptive study includes a sample of 37,022 live‐born infants without congenital anomalies, weighing ≥500 g, from 75 South American maternity hospitals, during 1982–1999. Of the total sample, 1,187 infants were born in two South American cities located at more than 2,000‐m altitude: La Paz, Bolivia (N = 974 at 3,600 m) and Bogota, Colombia (N = 274 at 2,600 m). Among the seven risk factors analyzed, altitude was the main predictor of birth weight (except for gestational age). After adjustment for the other risk factors, birth weight at cities located above 2,000 m showed a decrease of approximately 200 g. When comparing highest and lowest socioeconomic levels, birth weight also showed differences for levels of altitude analyzed (lowland, <2,000 m; middle land, 2,600 m; and highland, 3,600 m). Interaction between both factors showed no effect. High altitude seems to act independent of socioeconomic status in explaining birth weight reduction. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2006. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. |
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Bibliography: | Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica istex:721B3E23DDB54CB31CD39F8D7339AFB14C8285ED Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires ark:/67375/WNG-ZLX7FFFM-M ArticleID:AJPA20274 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 |
ISSN: | 0002-9483 1096-8644 |
DOI: | 10.1002/ajpa.20274 |