[MA 2024 19] Beyond pregnancy: how pregnancy course and perinatal management shape human capital potential

Amsterdam UMC, location AMC, Department of Medical Informatics

Proposed by: Anita Ravelli [a.c.j.ravelli@amsterdamumc.nl]

Introduction

It is a firmly established fact that pregnancy and pregnancy disorders have a long-term impact on offspring health and development. Pregnancy course, pregnancy disorders and their management have emerging and potentially large impact on human capital. Detrimental effects on perinatal health and developmental outcomes in children can translate into lower educational attainment, lower economic contribution and shorter working life span later in life. However, the scarce body of evidence to investigate perinatal factors beyond the direct perinatal period from a life course perspective mostly report associations, and sound evidence on causality in scarce. Moreover, most studies focus on the impact on the individual child, and the societal impact is not always considered - of particular relevance in commonly occurring factors with relatively small effect sizes. In this study, we aim to increase the understanding of the impact of pregnancy course and perinatal management on human capital development, providing a basis for (research on) evidence-based prevention strategies with life-long impact.

Description of the SRP Project/Problem

We aim to conduct a data-linkage study, linking perinatal data (Perined) to data on human capital (Statistics Netherlands) in three domains: education & development, work & income and healthcare use. We will use quasi-experimental techniques to estimate the (causal) impact of pregnancy course and perinatal management on human capital development.

This project is a collaboration with experts from the economic and econometrics department. For this project, we are looking for a motivated master student with interest in more complex statistical analyses, including causal inference. Prior domain knowledge is preferable but not mandatory as long as the student is willing to develop its skills and knowledge on this topic.

Key objectives:

- To estimate the impact of pregnancy course, including pregnancy disorders and other pregnancy characteristics, on human capital potential.

- To estimate the causal effect of managing strategies, including labour induction, on human capital development.

Expected results:

To be able to answer the research questions, the student will perform data-linkage and perform analyses in the safe research environment of Statistic Netherlands. Within the scope of the project and with our support, the student will be encouraged to formulate its own specific and answerable research question(s), and to design a methological/statistical approach to answer this/these question(s). The student will perform a range of statistical analyses, including descriptive analyses and traditional regression analyses, but also analytical approaches that facilitate causal inference, such as a difference in difference analysis. The student will write a report in the form of a scientific article based on the results of the analysis. The intended result of the SRP is a (publishable) scientific article.

Time period, please tick at least 1 time period

X November – June

Contact

Anita Ravelli (a.c.j.ravelli@amsterdamumc.nl)

Renée Burger (r.j.burger@amsterdamumc.nl)