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Network meta-analysis, or NMA, is a statistical method that researchers use to combine results from many clinical trials done within a research network. A research network is a group of scientists and doctors from different places, like hospitals and research centers, who do studies together and share data. Researchers can use NMA to compare how well different treatments work for a specific health problem. But current NMA methods don't work well when comparing three or more treatments across many health outcomes.

In this study, the research team developed new NMA methods to compare three or more treatments that bring on labor to start the process of childbirth across many health outcomes using research network data.

The First Baby Study (FBS) was a prospective cohort study designed to investigate the association between mode of delivery at first childbirth (cesarean or vaginal) and subsequent fecundity and fertility over the course of a 3-year follow-up period. Women were enrolled during pregnancy and interviewed by telephone in their third trimester. Enrolled participants were followed-up with and surveyed at 1, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months postpartum. Participants were enrolled in 2009 to 2011 and the last interview was conducted in 2014.

Childbirth is the most common reason for hospital admission in the United States (US) and the timing of admission influences the management and outcomes of labor, including rates of cesarean delivery. Although cesareans are life saving in emergency situations, the current prevalence and variability leads to excess risk for morbidity and mortality as well as higher health care costs in comparison to vaginal deliveries. Delaying hospital admission of women in latent labor is one of the most widely promoted strategies to reduce the likelihood of caesarean birth and its safety is established. Yet, trials of interventions that have aimed to reduce early admissions and the subsequent rates of medical intervention in labor have not succeeded. One proposed explanation is that the evaluated interventions exclusively focused on clinician assessment and diagnosis of active labor in hospital settings. The interventions did not fully account for women's recognition and response to the onset of labor, which is initially negotiated by the laboring women and members of her social network in settings outside the hospital. To develop efficacious strategies to reduce the likelihood of cesarean delivery, a qualitative understanding of why some women present early in labor and others later, and what can be done to promote timely hospital admission among medically low-risk nulliparous women is needed.

Specific Aim I: Determine the decision-making criteria and sequence of decision criteria used by women choosing either to go to the hospital or stay at home in early labor.

Specific Aim II: Determine the degree to which a symptom and labor management taxonomy accurately reflects women's experience with the recognition and response to early labor prior to hospital admission.

This collection provides information on live births in the United States during calendar year 2013. The natality data in these files are a component of the vital statistics collection effort maintained by the federal government. Birth data is limited to births occurring in the United States to United States residents and nonresidents. Births occurring to United States citizens outside of the United States are not included in this data collection.

Dataset 1 contains data on births occurring within the United States, while dataset 2 contains data on births occurring in the United States territories of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The variables include information on prenatal care, receipt of WIC, obstetric procedures, onset of labor, characteristics of labor and delivery, place and time of birth, attendant at birth, method of delivery, source of payment for the delivery, maternal lifestyle and health characteristics, and details about the infant's health characteristics.

Birth and fertility rates and other statistics related to this study can be found in the User Guide, under Detailed Technical Notes.

Demographic variables include the child's sex and month and year of birth, and the parents' ages, races, ethnicities, education levels, as well as the mother's marital and residency status.

The ethnographic fieldwork portion of the project - interviews with women of reproductive age, and when available their partners and mothers - was initiated and completed in 2006. For each of four Italian cities (Padua, Bologna, Cagliari, and Naples) studied ethnographically by trained anthropologists, both a working-class and a middle-class neighborhood were identified. These interviews (349 in number) have been transcribed without identifiers. All interviews have been coded and assigned 'attributes' (or nominative variables, such as gender, civil/religious status of marriage, etc.) using the qualitative data analysis software (NVIVO), and these reside in secure electronic project folders. This large body of qualitative interview data is now complete and ready for use across the international collaborative units. Preliminary research reveals the particular significance of family ties in Italy, the fundamental role played by gender systems, and the specific cultural, socio-economic, and politic contexts in which fertility behavior and parenting are embedded.