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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Jose Lacal, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University of Miami, 1116 Rialto Drive, APHA 2006, Boynton Beach, FL 33436, (954) 553-1984, j.lacal@umiami.edu

Economic, social, physical, as well as emotional factors across a woman's lifespan have a direct impact on her offspring's quality of life. By the time an infant is born, he already inherited an assortment of physical and emotional burdens directly related to the way his mother lived her life, and those burdens are transferred across generations (“Maternal Mortgage”). This paper outlines a trans-generational predictive model to measure the impact that maternal mortgages bring on children, and the social consequences of burdening children with such cross-generational inherited loads. Shortcomings in the availability and quality of Maternal and Child Health services can be used as proxies to predict the health and social well-being of the next generation. The odds that a US resident female will become pregnant at least once in her lifetime are around 205%, given an estimated Total Fertility Rate of 2.05 for 2005. Thus, given that pre-conceptional health care can improve outcomes, that the early phases of conception are crucial for the fetus's development, that any delay in ascertaining pregnancy status could lead to a late start in taking nutritional measures, and that over 50% of pregnancies are unexpected, all females (regardless of age) must be offered pre-conceptional services almost from birth in order to minimize negative impacts on their children. This paper's goal is to encourage a national dialogue on the consequences of failing to account for this trans-generational burden.

Learning Objectives: At the end of the presentation, participants will be able to

• Articulate how social, economic, environmental, nutritional, educational and other conditions in the life of a female have a clear and discernible impact on the health and well-being of an infant and later in life.;
• Construct a graphical representation of those impacts that includes relevant theories and research linking conditions to consequences.; and
• Develop the ability to conduct a public discussion on the long-term social and economic impact of failing to address those pre-conception conditions.

Keywords: Maternal Health, Children's Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? Yes

Organization	Clinical/Research Area	Type of Relationship
Motorola	Telecommunications	Employment (includes retainer), Other (please describe) and The company is paying for my MPH.

Any company-sponsored training?	Yes
Did the company pay your travel and lodging?	Yes
Were you provide you with slides as part of the training sessions?	No
Did you receive an honorarium or consulting fee for participating in the training?	No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?	No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Recorded presentation