Plasma Alpha‐Linolenic and Linoleic Acids in Early Pregnancy are Associated with Birth Outcomes in Rural Malawi
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Background Several studies suggest that low circulating levels of long‐chain omega‐3 fatty acids are associated with poor birth outcomes, however results are mixed possibly because the majority of studies have been conducted in high‐income settings. Objective To determine whether fatty acid status during pregnancy is associated with birth outcomes in Malawian women. Methods We performed a nested cohort study (n=315) of pregnant women ≤ 20 wk gestation enrolled in a large randomized controlled trial in rural Malawi. We measured plasma fatty acids (wt%) at enrollment and at 36 wk gestation. Specific fatty acids of interest included the omega‐3 fatty acids, alpha‐linolenic acid (ALA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA); and the omega‐6 fatty acids, linoleic acid (LA) and arachidonic acid (AA). Study nurses recorded birth size, and duration of gestation was estimated by baseline ultrasound. Linear regression and logistic regression models were used to examine the association between plasma fatty acids and birth outcomes. Results In adjusted analyses, higher plasma ALA at ≤ 20 wk gestation was associated with a longer duration of gestation (β: 0.34 d/0.1%, SE: 0.22, p=0.03), greater birth weight (β: 16 g/0.1%, SE: 6.4, p=0.01), and greater head‐circumference‐for‐age z‐score (β: 0.03 SD/0.1%, SE: 0.01, p=0.04). Above median plasma ALA at ≤ 20 wk gestation was associated with a lower risk of newborn stunting (RR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.30, 0.94, p=0.03) versus below median. Plasma ALA at 36 wk gestation was not associated with any birth outcome. Higher LA at ≤ 20 wk gestation was associated with greater weight‐for‐age (WAZ), and higher LA at 36 wk gestation with greater WAZ and head‐circumference‐for‐age z‐score. AA and DHA levels were not associated with any birth outcome. Conclusion Higher plasma ALA and LA in early pregnancy were associated with better birth outcomes, however their longer‐chain metabolites AA and DHA were not. Support or Funding Information Funding was provided by a grant to UC Davis by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".