ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses associations of pregnancy, labor, and delivery variables with minimal brain dysfunction (MBD) symptoms. Most of the variables from these periods that were originally screened were unrelated to MBD symptoms in the detailed analysis within race-sex-institution groups. The mothers of more than 20% of the children in the MBD cohort reportedly had fever during their pregnancy. The chapter shows pregnancy characteristics of the mothers of affected children included more cigarette smoking, more hospitalizations, more low hematocrit readings, and more diabetes. Prenatal clinic visits were scheduled every month during the first seven months of pregnancy, every two weeks during the eighth month, and every week thereafter. Vaginal bleeding during pregnancy was reported by the mothers of more than 11,000 children in the MBD cohort. Diagnosis of toxemia of pregnancy, a condition traditionally thought to be manifested by high blood pressure, proteinuria, and edema, was the subject of a major NINCDS Collaborative Perinatal Project investigation by Friedman and Neff.
