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Research priorities for care of preterm or low birth weight infants: Health policy
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Research priorities for care of preterm or low birth weight infants: Health policy

Gary L. Darmstadt, Nafisa Hamoud Al Jaifi, Shabina Ariff, Rajiv Bahl, Mats Blennow, Vanessa Cavallera, Doris Chou, Roger Chou, Liz Comrie-Thomson, Karen Edmond, …
EClinicalMedicine, Vol.63, 102126
2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102126
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Research priorities for care of preterm or low birth weight infants - Health policy219.44 kBDownloadView
Published (Version of Record)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0,  Open Access

Abstract

Research priorities Prioritisation Newborn health Preterm infant Low birth weight Neonatal mortality
Research priorities for preterm or low birth weight (LBW) infants were advanced in 2012, and other research priority-setting exercises since then have included more limited, context-specific research priorities pertaining to preterm infants. While developing new World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for care of preterm or LBW infants, we conducted a complementary research prioritisation exercise. A diverse, globally representative guideline development group (GDG) of experts – all authors of this paper along with WHO steering group for preterm-LBW guidelines – was assembled by the WHO to examine evidence and consider a variety of factors in intervention effectiveness and implementation, leading to 25 new recommendations and one good practice statement for care of preterm or LBW infants. The GDG generated research questions (RQs) based on contributions to improvements in care and outcomes of preterm or LBW infants, public health impacts, answerability, knowledge gaps, feasibility of implementation, and promotion of equity, and then ranked the RQs based on their likelihood to further change or influence the WHO guidelines for the care of preterm or LBW infants in the future. Thirty-six priority RQs were identified, 32 (89%) of which focused on aspects of intervention effectiveness, and the remaining four addressed implementation (" how ") questions. Of the top 12 RQs, seven focused on further advancing new recommendations – such as family involvement and support in caring for preterm or LBW infants, emollient therapy, probiotics, immediate KMC for critically ill newborns, and home visits for post-discharge follow-up of preterm or LBW infants – and three RQs addressed issues of feeding (breastmilk promotion, milk banks, individualized feeding). RQs prioritised here will be critical for optimising the effectiveness and delivery of new WHO recommendations for care of preterm or LBW infants. The RQs encompass unanswered research priorities for preterm or LBW infants from prior prioritisation exercises which were conducted using Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) methodology.

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

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4 File views/ downloads
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6 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Citation topics
1 Clinical & Life Sciences
1.156 Healthcare Policy
1.156.381 Maternal Health Equity
Web Of Science research areas
Health Care Sciences & Services
Health Policy & Services
ESI research areas
Social Sciences, general
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