Victoria Hall Moran

Closeness and separation in neonatal intensive care

In this paper, we highlight the need for acknowledging the importance and impact of both physical and emotional closeness between the preterm infant and parent in the neonatal intensive care unit. Physical closeness refers to being spatially close and emotional closeness to parental feelings of being emotionally connected to the infant (experiencing feelings of love, warmth and affection). Through consideration of the literature in this area, we outline some of the reasons why physical closeness and emotional closeness are crucial to the physical, emotional and social well‐being of both the infant and the parent. These include positive effects on infant brain development, parent psychological well‐being and on the parent–infant relationship. The influence of the neonatal unit environment and culture on physical and emotional closeness is also discussed.

The Relationship between Zinc Intake and Serum/Plasma Zinc Concentration in Children: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis

Recommendations for zinc intake during childhood vary widely across Europe. The EURRECA project attempts to consolidate the basis for the definition of micronutrient requirements, taking into account relationships among intake, status and health outcomes, in order to harmonise these recommendations. Data on zinc intake and biomarkers of zinc status reported in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) can provide estimates of dose-response relationships which may be used for underpinning zinc reference values. This systematic review included all RCTs of apparently healthy children aged 1–17 years published by February 2010 which provided data on zinc intake and biomarkers of zinc status. An intake-status regression coefficient () was calculated for each individual study and calculated the overall pooled and SE () using random effects meta-analysis on a double log scale. The pooled dose-response relationship between zinc intake and zinc status indicated that a doubling of the zinc intake increased the serum/plasma zinc status by 9%. This evidence can be utilised, together with currently used balance studies and repletion/depletion studies, when setting zinc recommendations as a basis for nutrition policies.

The relationship between zinc intake and serum/plasma zinc concentration in pregnant and lactating women: A systematic review with dose-response meta-analyses

Recommendations for zinc intake during pregnancy and lactation vary widely across Europe. Using data on zinc intake and biomarkers of zinc status reported in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies can provide estimates of dose-response relationships that may be used for underpinning zinc reference values. This systematic review included all RCTs, prospective cohort studies, nested case-control studies and cross-sectional studies in healthy pregnant and lactating populations published by February 2010 which provided data on zinc intake and biomarkers of zinc status. An intake-status regression coefficient (βˆ) was calculated for each individual study and calculated the overall pooled βˆ and SE (βˆ) using random effects meta-analysis on a double log scale. The pooled dose-response relationship between zinc intake and zinc status found that a doubling of zinc intake was associated with an increase in serum/plasma zinc status by 3% in pregnant women and by 1% in lactating women. These modest associations are likely to reflect the low-moderate zinc bioavailability dietary patterns and the widespread use of other micronutrients in the populations included in this review, physiologic adjustments of zinc homeostasis, insensitivity of serum/plasma zinc as a biomarker of zinc status, and wide heterogeneity between study results which reflect real uncertainty in the current evidence base. Although this review provides useful information for dietary zinc requirements in populations vulnerable to zinc deficiency, it also highlights a need for further studies in pregnant and lactating women with different dietary patterns in order to provide useful complementary evidence that can be utilized when setting zinc recommendations as a basis for nutrition policies in Europe.

Incentives to promote breastfeeding: a systematic review

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Few women in industrialized countries achieve the World Health Organization’s recommendation to breastfeed exclusively for 6 months. Governments are increasingly seeking new interventions to address this problem, including the use of incentives. The goal of this study was to assess the evidence regarding the effectiveness of incentive interventions, delivered within or outside of health care settings, to individuals and/or their families seeking to increase and sustain breastfeeding in the first 6 months after birth. METHODS: Searches of electronic databases, reference lists, and grey literature were conducted to identify relevant reports of published, unpublished, and ongoing studies. All study designs published in English, which met our definition of incentives and that were from a developed country, were eligible for inclusion. Abstract and full-text article review with sequential data extraction were conducted by 2 independent authors. RESULTS: Sixteen full reports were included in the review. The majority evaluated multicomponent interventions of varying frequency, intensity, and duration. Incentives involved providing access to breast pumps, gifts, vouchers, money, food packages, and help with household tasks, but little consensus in findings was revealed. The lack of high-quality, randomized controlled trials identified by this review and the multicomponent nature of the interventions prohibited meta-analysis. CONCLUSIONS: This review found that the overall effect of providing incentives for breastfeeding compared with no incentives is unclear due to study heterogeneity and the variation in study quality. Further evidence on breastfeeding incentives offered to women is required to understand the possible effects of these interventions.

Scaling up breastfeeding programmes in a complex adaptive world.

The 2016 Breastfeeding Lancet Series continues to provide unequivocal evidence regarding the numerous benefits that optimal breastfeeding practices offer to children and women worldwide and the major savings that improving these practices can have as a result of their major public health benefits. Unfortunately, this knowledge remains underutilized as there has been little progress scaling up effective breastfeeding programmes globally. Improving the uptake and scaling up of effective national breastfeeding programmes that are potent enough to improve exclusive breastfeeding duration should be a top priority for all countries. Complex analysis systems longitudinal research is needed to understand how best to empower decision makers to achieve this goal through well-validated participatory decision-making tools to help their countries assess baseline needs, including costs, as well as progress with their scaling-up efforts. Sound systems thinking frameworks and scaling-up models are now available to guide and research prospectively future scaling-up efforts that can be replicated, with proper adaptations, across countries.

Nutritional requirements during lactation. Towards European alignment of reference values: the EURRECA network.

There is considerable variation in reference values for micronutrient intake during lactation across Europe. The European Micronutrients Recommendations Aligned project aims to harmonize dietary recommendations throughout Europe. Recommended nutrient intakes during lactation are based on limited data and are often extrapolated from known secretion of the nutrient in milk with adjustments for bioavailability, so that differences between values can be partly ascribed to differences in methodological approaches and how these approaches were applied. Few studies have considered the impact of lactation on the mothers nutritional status. Rather, focus has been placed on the influence of maternal nutritional status on the composition of her breast milk. Most common nutritional deficits in breast milk are the result of maternal deficiencies of the water-soluble vitamins, thiamine, riboflavin and vitamins B6 and B12. Other than maternal vitamin A status, which to some extent is reflected in breast milk, concentrations of fat-soluble vitamins and most minerals in breast milk are less affected by maternal status. Factors relating to suboptimal maternal nutritional status during lactation include maternal age, diet and lifestyle factors and spacing of consecutive births. Recent research is providing new knowledge on the micronutrient requirements of lactating women. Identifying needs for research and improving understanding of the differences in values that have been derived by various committees and groups across Europe will enhance transparency and facilitate the application of dietary recommendations in policy-making decision and their translation into recommendations for lactating women. Given the wide variation in breastfeeding practices across Europe, making nutritional recommendations for lactating women is complex and challenging. Thus, it is crucial to first examine the cultural practices within and across European populations and to assess its relevance before making recommendations.

The development andvalidation of the Breastfeeding Support Skills Tool (BeSST)

Objective to develop and validate a reliable tool which will effectively assess clinical skills in relation to breast feeding. Design the development of the tool followed progressive stages, generating a pool of questionnaire items and then subjecting them to a series of rigorous tests of reliability and validity, in order to produce a tested tool. Setting the North of England. Participants the following groups were recruited for the validation process: 32 breast-feeding experts; 31 working midwives with no specific expertise in breast feeding; and 22 first-year pre-registration student midwives with little or no professional experience in this area. Measures the tool consisted of video footage and a pen and paper questionnaire withboth open and closed questions which were then scored numerically. Results the final validated tool consisted of video footage and 30 items (20 open and 10 closed). All open items showed high inter-rater reliability (κ≥0.6). All items produced a good spread of scores and were able to distinguish significantly between level of expertise ( P Conclusions the Breastfeeding Support Skills Tool developed has demonstrated reliability and validity.

The push me, pull you of financial incentives and health inequalities: a mixed methods study investigating smoking cessation in pregnancy and breastfeeding

Abstract Background Financial incentives are increasingly considered to address socially patterned behaviours like smoking in pregnancy and breastfeeding. We investigated their mechanisms of action in relation to health inequalities to inform incentive intervention design. Methods The evidence syntheses we undertook were incentive effectiveness, delivery processes, barriers and facilitators to smoking cessation in pregnancy and also breastfeeding; and incentives for lifestyle behaviours. We searched Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library (all sections), MIDIRS, ASSIA, and the Trials Register of Promoting Health Interventions for studies published in English between Jan 1, 1990, and March 31, 2012, using a range of natural language, MeSH, and other index terms. Surveys were done with 1144 respondents from the general public and with 497 maternity and early-years health professionals. Qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted with pregnant women, recent mothers, and partners in three UK settings (n=88); and with 53 service providers, 24 experts and decision makers, and 63 conference attendees. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted with 320 female current or ex-smokers. Findings Systematic reviews raised concerns about the reach of incentives, particularly to marginalised groups. Baseline characteristics for people who were eligible, approached, and recruited to studies were under-reported. Sample sizes were mostly small. Surveys revealed mixed acceptability. Less educated, white British, and women general public respondents disagreed (odds ratios [OR] 0·5≤OR Interpretation Financial incentives can help some women, but whether they will address inequalities is unclear because of concerns about reach and resistance to being pushed and pulled. Funding The project was funded by the Health Technology Assessment programme (10/31/02) and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment . The Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates funds the Nursing Midwifery and Allied Health Professional Research Unit, University of Stirling; and the Health Services Research Unit and the Health Economics Research Unit, University of Aberdeen.

Effect of zinc intake on serum/plasma zinc status in infants: a meta-analysis

A systematic review and meta-analysis of available randomised controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted to evaluate the effect of zinc (Zn) intake on serum/plasma Zn status in infants. Out of 5500 studies identified through electronic searches and reference lists, 13 RCTs were selected after applying the exclusion/inclusion criteria. The influence of Zn intake on serum/plasma Zn concentration was considered in the overall meta-analysis. Other variables were also taken into account as possible effect modifiers: doses of Zn intake, intervention duration, nutritional status and risk of bias. The pooled β of status was 0.09 [confidence interval (CI) 0.05 to 0.12]. However, a substantial heterogeneity was present in the analyses (I(2) = 98%; P = 0.00001). When we performed a meta-regression, the effect of Zn intake on serum/plasma Zn status changed depending on the duration of the intervention, the dose of supplementation and the nutritional situation (P ANCOVA = 0.054; <0.001 and <0.007, respectively). After stratifying the sample according to the effect modifiers, the results by duration of intervention showed a positive effect when Zn intake was provided during medium and long periods of time (4-20 weeks and >20 weeks). A positive effect was also seen when doses ranged from 8.1 to 12 mg day(-1). In all cases, the pooled β showed high evidence of heterogeneity. Zn supplementation increases serum/plasma Zn status in infants, although high evidence of heterogeneity was found. Further standardised research is urgently needed to reach evidence-based conclusions to clarify the role of Zn supplementation upon infant serum/plasma Zn status, particularly in Europe.

Effect of Zinc Intake on Mental and Motor Development in Infants: A Meta-Analysis

A systematic review and meta-analysis of available randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted to evaluate the effect of zinc (Zn) intake on mental and motor development in infants. Out of 5500 studies identified through electronic searches and reference lists, 5 RCTs were selected after applying the exclusion/inclusion criteria. The influence of Zn intake on mental and motor development was considered in the overall meta-analysis. Other variables were also taken into account as possible effect modifiers: doses of Zn intake, intervention duration, nutritional situation, and risk of bias. Indices of mental and motor development assessed were the Mental Development Index (MDI) and Psychomotor Development Index (PDI). Additionally we carried out a sensitivity analysis. The pooled β was -0.01 (95 %CI -0.02, 0) for MDI and 0 (95 %CI -0.03, 0.02) for PDI, with a substantial heterogeneity in both analyses. When we performed a meta-regression, the effect of Zn supplementation on MDI changed depending on the dose of supplementation. Regarding PDI, there was a differential effect of Zn intake depending on intervention duration, dose of supplementation, nutritional situation, and risk of bias. Zn supplementation showed a negative, weak and significant effect on PDI score in those studies with a length of 4 to 20 weeks (β= -0.05; CI 95 % -0.06 to -0.04). In conclusion, no association was found between Zn intake and mental and motor development in infants. Further standardized research is urgently needed to clarify the role of Zn supplementation upon infant mental and motor development, particularly in Europe.