Ramadan Exposure In Utero and Child Mortality in Burkina Faso: Analysis of a Population-Based Cohort Including 41,025 Children.

2017

Ramadan exposure in utero can be regarded as a natural experiment with which to study how nutritional conditions in utero influence susceptibility to disease later in life. We analyzed data from rural Burkina Faso on 41,025 children born between 1993 and 2012, of whom 25,093 were born to Muslim mothers. Ramadan exposure was assigned on the basis of overlap between Ramadan dates and gestation, creating 7 exclusive categories. We used proportional hazards regression with difference-in-differences analysis to estimate the association between Ramadan exposure at different gestational ages and mortality among children under 5 years of age. Under-5 mortality was 32 deaths per 1,000 child-years. U…

Gabrysch and van Ewijk Respond to “Detrimental Consequences of Adverse Early-Life Conditions” and “Ramadan, Pregnancy, Nutrition, and Epidemiology”

2018

Covariate-constrained Randomization Routine for Achieving Baseline Balance in Cluster-randomized Trials

2017

In cluster-randomized trials, groups or clusters of individuals, rather than individuals themselves, are randomly allocated to intervention or control. In this article, we describe a new command, ccrand, that implements a covariate-constrained randomization procedure for cluster-randomized trials. It can ensure balance of one or more baseline covariates between trial arms by restriction to allocations that meet specified balance criteria. We provide a brief overview of the theoretical background, describe ccrand and its options, and illustrate it using an example.