Childbirth News and Research

Latest Childbirth News and Research

Intermittent auscultation outperforms more modern methods at reducing cesarean sections

Intermittent auscultation, in which the baby’s heartbeat is monitored using a sonic aid or Doppler probe, outperforms more modern methods at reducing the number of emergency caesarean sections in labour, according to a new study led by researchers from the University of Warwick.

7 Apr 2021

Taking progestogens during high-risk pregnancy could reduce preterm birth

Taking progestogens - steroid hormones - during pregnancy could reduce the risk of preterm birth in high-risk single baby pregnancies, research has shown.

31 Mar 2021

Adverse childhood experiences linked to adolescents' delinquent behaviors

About 61% of Americans have had at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE), experts' formal term for a traumatic childhood event.

30 Mar 2021

Undocumented pregnant women in Finland receive inadequate prenatal care, study shows

Undocumented women in Finland access pregnancy care later than others. Yet, screening of infectious diseases at the early stages of pregnancy would be particularly important to these women, a new study carried out in Helsinki, Finland, shows.

18 Mar 2021

COVID-19 has increased stress levels in the U.S pregnant women

COVID-19 has created new problems for pregnant women in the United States, a group that already faced the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world even before the pandemic.

17 Mar 2021

Lifestyle intervention program helped reduce stress in low-income mothers

Overweight low-income mothers of young kids ate fewer fast-food meals and high-fat snacks after participating in a study - not because researchers told them what not to eat, but because the lifestyle intervention being evaluated helped lower the moms' stress, research suggests.

12 Mar 2021

Unbalanced progesterone may cause preterm or prolonged labor in some pregnant women

New research by the National Institutes of Health found that unbalanced progesterone signals may cause some pregnant women to experience preterm labor or prolonged labor.

11 Mar 2021

African American women have greater risk of stroke, death during pregnancy and childbirth

African American women have a significantly increased risk of stroke and death during pregnancy and childbirth or in the period right after birth, compared to the risk of stroke among white women, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2021.

11 Mar 2021

Pregnant women in Japan had higher levels of anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic

Pregnant women in Japan who responded to an online survey early in the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated higher levels of anxiety compared to women undergoing fertility treatments and to pregnant women in Iran.

11 Mar 2021

Uppsala Health Summit to focus on behavioral changes, antimicrobial resistance

Antimicrobial resistance is an urgent global threat to human and animal health. This year's Uppsala Health Summit, which will take place online on 15-18 March, will discuss how behaviour change across various sectors of society can slow down this worrying trend.

10 Mar 2021

Maternal diet may enhance immune systems of premature infants, study shows

Medical researchers have long understood that a pregnant mother's diet has a profound impact on her developing fetus's immune system and that babies -- especially those born prematurely -- who are fed breast milk have a more robust ability to fight disease, suggesting that even after childbirth, a mother's diet matters.

25 Feb 2021

Psychological variables account for anxiety and depression among pregnant women during COVID-19

Women who gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic report having felt greater stress in the delivery process, and rate lower the quality of care received.

17 Feb 2021

New strategy to optimize the efficacy of neuropeptides for therapeutic applications

Dimerization (Note: combination of two identical or different molecules) of the human neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin can produce new types of bioactive molecules.

10 Feb 2021

Study shows the impact of paid maternity leave on maternal health

A study of women who were new mothers in the late 1970s found that those who were given longer, paid maternity leave lived healthier lives as they entered middle age.

9 Feb 2021

Novel dural puncture-sealing device decreases cerebrospinal fluid leakage

These leaks could be the cause of strong headaches that can last weeks, delaying recovery following an intervention with this anesthetic technique or making it more difficult for the mother to care for her child following childbirth with an epidural.

6 Feb 2021

Light pollution can increase the likelihood of preterm births

In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers discovered that light pollution leads to more than just wasted energy and washed-out starlight--it can increase the likelihood of a preterm birth by almost 13%.

28 Jan 2021

Pregnancy complications can increase long-term mortality risks

A research team from the CHUM Research Centre (CRCHUM) has shown that women who have had serious complications during pregnancy are twice as likely to die up to three decades later.

27 Jan 2021

Women need to be educated about the warning signs and symptoms of preeclampsia

Each year, thousands of women and their babies die or get very sick from preeclampsia, a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that occurs during pregnancy and occasionally during the first few weeks following childbirth. High blood pressure during pregnancy is one of the warning signs.

26 Jan 2021

Essential coaching for mothers during COVID-19

Pregnancy and childbirth are especially high-risk periods for mental ill-health. The mobile health program called Essential Coaching for Every Mother (ECEM) was designed to meet the needs of mothers during this critical time, but its introduction was delayed because of the onset of the pandemic.

19 Jan 2021

New clinical practice guidelines on diagnosis, management of von Willebrand Disease

The American Society of Hematology (ASH), the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH), National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF), and World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) have developed joint clinical practice guidelines on the diagnosis and management of von Willebrand Disease (VWD), the world's most common inherited bleeding disorder. The guidelines were published today in Blood Advances.

13 Jan 2021