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Background: Exposure during pregnancy to household air pollution caused by the burning of solid biomass fuel is associated with adverse health outcomes, including low birth weight. Whether the replacement of a biomass cookstove with a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cookstove would result in an increase in birth weight is unclear.
Methods: We performed a randomized, controlled trial involving pregnant women (18 to <35 years of age and at 9 to <20 weeks' gestation as confirmed on ultrasonography) in Guatemala, India, Peru, and Rwanda. The women were assigned in a 1:1 ratio to use a free LPG cookstove and fuel (intervention group) or to continue using a biomass cookstove (control group). Birth weight, one of four prespecified primary outcomes, was the primary outcome for this report; data for the other three outcomes are not yet available. Birth weight was measured within 24 hours after birth. In addition, 24-hour personal exposures to fine particulate matter (particles with a diameter of ≤2.5 μm [PM]), black carbon, and carbon monoxide were measured at baseline and twice during pregnancy.
Results: A total of 3200 women underwent randomization; 1593 were assigned to the intervention group, and 1607 to the control group. Uptake of the intervention was nearly complete, with traditional biomass cookstoves being used at a median rate of less than 1 day per month. After randomization, the median 24-hour personal exposure to fine particulate matter was 23.9 μg per cubic meter in the intervention group and 70.7 μg per cubic meter in the control group. Among 3061 live births, a valid birth weight was available for 94.9% of the infants born to women in the intervention group and for 92.7% of infants born to those in the control group. The mean (±SD) birth weight was 2921±474.3 g in the intervention group and 2898±467.9 g in the control group, for an adjusted mean difference of 19.6 g (95% confidence interval, -10.1 to 49.2).
Conclusions: The birth weight of infants did not differ significantly between those born to women who used LPG cookstoves and those born to women who used biomass cookstoves. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; HAPIN ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02944682.).
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2206734 | DOI Listing |
JAMA Pediatr
September 2025
Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Importance: Neonatal intensive care has advanced over recent decades, yet premature birth remains associated with increased neonatal mortality and morbidity.
Objective: To describe health service use, morbidity, and medication needs up to age 5 years in a contemporary cohort of children born preterm.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This population-based cohort study was conducted in British Columbia (BC), Canada, using health service and pharmacy data linked using provincial administrative databases.
JAMA Pediatr
September 2025
Department of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Importance: For the first time in nearly 2 decades, the US infant mortality rate has increased, coinciding with a rise in overdose-related deaths as a leading cause of pregnancy-associated mortality in some states. Prematurity and low birth weight-often linked to opioid use in pregnancy-are major contributors.
Objective: To assess the health and economic impact of perinatal opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment on maternal and postpartum health, infant health in the first year of life, and infant long-term health.
J Assist Reprod Genet
September 2025
Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
Transl Anim Sci
May 2025
Carthage Veterinary Service Ltd., Carthage, IL 62321, USA.
Soybean meal (SBM) contains many bioactive compounds, such as isoflavones, which possess anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties that may provide nutritional intervention to pigs infected with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSv). The disease results in abortions, stillborn piglets, and overall impairs reproductive success in sows. Today, there are no data available on feeding SBM to sows infected with PRRSv to mitigate the negative impacts of PRRSv on sow and litter performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiomed Hub
July 2025
Division of Cardiovascular Research, School of Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
Introduction: Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) participate in different biological processes, including fetal hypoxia. In this work, we aimed to evaluate the existence of a miRNA differential expression profile in maternal blood of pregnancies affected with late-onset fetal growth restriction (LO-FGR).
Methods: In a prospective study, a group of 35 fetuses were evaluated with Doppler ultrasound after 36 weeks.