The infant health effects of starting universal child benefits in pregnancy: Evidence from England and Wales

Child benefits are typically paid from birth. This paper asks whether starting universal child benefits in pregnancy leads to improvements in infant health. Leveraging administrative birth registry and hospital microdata from England and Wales, I study the effects of the Health in Pregnancy Grant, a universal conditional cash transfer equivalent to three months of child benefit (190 GBP) as a lump sum to pregnant mothers from 2009 to 2011. I exploit quasi-experimental variation in eligibility with a regression discontinuity design in the date of birth of the baby. I find that the policy increased birth weight by 8–12 grams on average, reduced low birth weight ($<$2500 g) by 3-6 percent and decreased prematurity by 9–11 percent. Younger mothers, particularly those living in deprived areas, benefit the most. I present evidence that the mechanisms are unlikely to be antenatal care, nutrition or smoking, with reductions in stress remaining a possible explanation.     

Effectiveness of the 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine against radiographic pneumonia among children in rural Bangladesh: A case-control study

BackgroundPneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) effectiveness against radiographic pneumonia in South Asia is unknown. Bangladesh introduced PCV10 in 2015 using a three dose primary series (3 + 0). We sought to measure PCV10 effectiveness for two or more vaccine doses on radiographic pneumonia among vaccine-eligible children in rural Bangladesh.MethodsWe conducted a matched case-control study over two years from 2015 to 2017 using clinic and community controls in three subdistricts of Sylhet, Bangladesh. Cases were vaccine eligible 3–35 month olds at Upazila Health Complex outpatient clinics with World Health Organization-defined radiographic primary endpoint pneumonia (radiographic pneumonia). Clinic controls were matched to cases within a one week time window by age, sex, and clinic and had an illness unlikely to be Streptococcus pneumoniae; community controls were healthy and similarly matched within a one week time window by age and sex, and distance from the clinic. We estimated adjusted vaccine effectiveness (aVE) using conditional logistic regression.ResultsWe matched 1262 cases with 2707 clinic and 2461 community controls. Overall, aVE using clinic controls was 21.4% (95% confidence interval, −0.2%, 38.4%) for ≥2 PCV10 doses and among 3–11 month olds was 47.3% (10.5%, 69.0%) for three doses. aVE increased with higher numbers of doses in clinic control sets (p = 0.007). In contrast, aVE using community controls was 7.6% (95% confidence interval, −22.2%, 30.0%) for ≥2 doses. We found vaccine introduction in the study area faster and less variable than expected with 75% coverage on average, which reduced power. Information bias may also have affected community controls.ConclusionsClinic control analyses show PCV10 prevented radiographic pneumonia in Bangladesh, especially among younger children receiving three doses. While both analyses were underpowered, community control enrollment – compared to clinic controls – was more difficult in a complex, pluralistic healthcare system. Future studies in comparable settings may consider alternative study designs.     

Resurgence of pertussis in Taiwan during 2009–2015 and its impact on infants

Background/purposePertussis incidence markedly decreased due to universal vaccination, but outbreaks had been noted worldwide in recent decade. This study was conducted to know the epidemiology of pertussis and its impact on infants in Taiwan.MethodsEpidemiologic parameters for confirmed pertussis cases were collected from the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control. The incidence of each age group over years was calculated using population data. We also did retrospective reviews of laboratory-confirmed pertussis cases in NTUH to analyze clinical characteristics and disease severity.ResultsA total of 668 confirmed pertussis cases were obtained from the Taiwan CDC open database between 2003 and 2017. There was higher incidence during the period 2009–2015, with a mean incidence of 0.27 cases per 100,000 population, about 2-fold increase compared with mean incidence of 0.12 cases per 100,000 population during the period 2003–2008. Infants accounted for the highest proportion of all cases (49.8%), with mean incidence of 16.1 cases per 100,000 people per year during 2009–2015, and a trend of increase was found from 2003 to 2015. In NTUH, a total of 17 laboratory-confirmed pertussis cases were diagnosed during 2012–2016, and 14 cases were young infants. Among them, 9 infants had been admitted to intensive care unit and 2 infant needed invasive ventilator support.ConclusionThere was a resurgence of pertussis during 2009–2015 and it had significant impact on infants. Young infants with pertussis may be severe and need intensive care, so preventive strategy may be advocated for them.     

枸橼酸咖啡因与氨茶碱对早产儿不同时相血糖值的影响比较

目的观察并比较枸橼酸咖啡因及氨茶碱对早产儿不同时相血糖的影响程度。方法选择新生儿监护室诊断为原发性呼吸暂停的出生胎龄＜34周的早产儿172例，采用随机数字表法分为咖啡因组与氨茶碱组各86例。比较两组早产儿用药前及用药后15、30min、1、1.5、2、4、6、12、12.5、24.5、36.5和48h血糖的变化。结果两组早产儿用药后除6、12和48h血糖值比较差异均无统计学意义（均P＞0.05），其他用药后时相比较差异均有统计学意义（均P＜0.05）。咖啡因组早产儿用药后30min血糖值上升，至1h达峰值，后逐渐回落；用药后30min、1、1.5、2及24.5h血糖值与用药前比较差异均有统计学意义（均P＜0.05）。氨茶碱组早产儿用药后血糖值上升，30min达峰值，后逐渐回落；用药后15、30min、1、1.5、2、4、6、12.5、24.5、36.5h血糖值与用药前比较差异均有统计学意义（均P＜0.05）。结论枸橼酸咖啡因可引起早产儿血糖升高，但升高幅度较氨茶碱小、持续时间也较短。     

Immunogenicity of the hepatitis A vaccine 20 years after infant immunization

To determine the duration of immunity provided by the Hepatitis A vaccination (HepA), we evaluated a cohort of participants in Alaska 20 years after being immunized as infants. At recruitment, participants received two doses of inactivated HepA vaccine on one of three schedules. We conducted hepatitis A antibody (anti-HAV) testing for participants at the 20-year time-point. Seventy-five of the original 183 participants (41%) were available for follow-up. The overall anti-HAV geometric mean concentration was 29.9 mIU/mL (95% CI 22.4 mIU/mL, 39.7 mIU/mL) and 50 participants (68%) remained seropositive (titer ≥ 20 mIU/mL). Using a fractional polynomial model, the predicted percent seropositive at 25 years was 55.3%, 49.8% at 30 years and 45.7% at 35 years, suggesting that the percent sero-positive could drop below 50% earlier than previously expected. Further research is necessary to understand if protection continues after seropositivity diminishes or if a HepA booster dose may become necessary.     

Real-time motion monitoring improves functional MRI data quality in infants

Imaging the infant brain with MRI has improved our understanding of early neurodevelopment. However, head motion during MRI acquisition is detrimental to both functional and structural MRI scan quality. Though infants are typically scanned while asleep, they commonly exhibit motion during scanning causing data loss. Our group has shown that providing MRI technicians with real-time motion estimates via Framewise Integrated Real-Time MRI Monitoring (FIRMM) software helps obtain high-quality, low motion fMRI data. By estimating head motion in real time and displaying motion metrics to the MR technician during an fMRI scan, FIRMM can improve scanning efficiency. Here, we compared average framewise displacement (FD), a proxy for head motion, and the amount of usable fMRI data (FD ≤ 0.2 mm) in infants scanned with (n = 407) and without FIRMM (n = 295). Using a mixed-effects model, we found that the addition of FIRMM to current state-of-the-art infant scanning protocols significantly increased the amount of usable fMRI data acquired per infant, demonstrating its value for research and clinical infant neuroimaging.