In light of the evidence in this literature review then it is of great import that monitoring of the health of pregnant women is vital in reference to LBW infants not only in the sense of present terms but as well to lifelong health considerations for the LBW infant which is probably why stated further is: "Given the relative neglect that mothers and newborns have suffered, their centrality to the Millennium Development Goals, and the cost-effectiveness of maternal and newborn health interventions, a greater emphasis on safe motherhood and newborn health is clearly needed within many health sectors." (JHPIEGO, 2003)
Literature Review
Stated in the publication "Shaping Policy for Maternal and Newborn Health: A Compendium of Case Studies (2003) is that: "The health of a newborn is inextricably linked to the health of the mother; the majority of newborn deaths are caused by the poor health of the mother during pregnancy, or by the poor care she and her newborn receive during and immediately after childbirth." (JHPIEGO, 2003) Bohn, et al. (2004) reports the conduction of a study that makes an examination of the influence of socioeconomic factors such as "status, education, ethnicity, and age" in the area of spousal abuse or "intimate partner abuse" before/during/after pregnancy.
The design in this study was through "respective correlational analysis. Data was collected at post-partum maternity meetings with 1.004 women of six different ethnicities with the measure being the commonplaceness of partner abuse and violence. Results were reported as "15.9% reported physical abuse by their partner and 5.2% reported abuse during the course of pregnancy." Findings in the study state that "decreased income, not having a high school education and ethnicity were significantly related to current abuse as well as abuse during the course of the pregnancy performed through use of bivariate analyses. Furthermore, the findings in this study point toward the abuse of women who are disadvantaged as being more prevalent than in those who are not considered to be disadvantaged. There is a great lack of information of a comprehensive nature on the relationship that exists between domestic abuse, both physical and emotional violence, and pregnancy outcomes. This study was a systematic review of available literature in examination of the evidence in relation to the connection between physical and emotional type abuse and outcomes in pregnancy. In this case study 296 articles were located, case reports and articles that did not satisfy the study inclusion criteria were removed from the study and results were stated finding that: "Overall, adverse pregnancy outcomes, including low birth weight, maternal mortality and infant mortality are significantly more likely among abused than non-abused" individuals. (Salihu, 2004)
The study reported by Salihu (2004) informs of the fact that pregnant mothers who suffered abuse were more likely to suffer "kidney infections, gain less weight during pregnancy, and are more likely to undergo operation delivery." Further stated is that: "Fetal morbidity, such as low birth weight, pre-term delivery, and small size for gestational age are more frequent among abused expectant mothers than those who are not abused. Abused mothers of the black race are three to four times more likely to suffer death, as are white abused mothers.
This study concluded that violence by an intimate partner is many times an event that is 'life-threatening' both to the fetus and the mother. Implications are stated that for further research based on the fact that 'the heightened level of fetal -- maternal morbidity and mortality as well as providing justification for further and routine systemic screening for the abuse present during pregnancy. (Salihu, 2004)
In a separate study that was conducted by University Texas School of Public health the cross-sectional study investigates the associations between physical violence and/or emotional abuse and the pregnancy outcomes including the factors of low birth weight, pre-term delivery as well as perinatal death."(Coker, 2004) 755 women who had reported a live birth or late fetal death were surveyed. Of those 14.7% gave indication that an intimate partner was violent or abusive to them while they were in the course of pregnancy equaling 274 of 1862 pregnancies. Findings were that abuse during pregnancy was associated in a significant way with increased risks of perinatal death among live births with low birth-weight both term and pre-term. Finally that frequency of abuse being accelerated was associated with perinatal death and...
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