Association of Maternal Risk Factors in Infancy with Reproductive Outcomes in Young Adult Years: A Multi-National Study Using Synthetic Birth Cohorts

Qingfeng Li, Johns Hopkins University
Neff Walker

This study assesses the relationship between maternal factors (age, birth order and birth interval) for children age 0-4 with their reproductive outcomes (low birth weight, infant/child mortality) as experienced when young female adults. Using Demographic and Health Surveys over 15-20 years for 20 developing countries, we construct synthetic birth cohorts for female children in the earliest survey and relate health measures then to their young adult experiences with adverse pregnancy outcomes at the time of the last survey. The analytic approach capitalizes on multiple cross-sectional rounds of large-scale national population surveys constructing 96 birth cohorts for ages 0 to 4 and linking early life measures with those at ages 15 to 25. The analysis is able to show young adult mother cohorts having increased risk of small birth-sized infants and infant and child loss in association to young maternal age, high parity and short birth interval conditions in infancy.