Childbirth News and Research

Latest Childbirth News and Research

Embarrassing symptoms prevent women from seeking treatment for pelvic floor disorders

Nearly 25% of women live with treatable conditions known as pelvic floor disorders, but there is one main reason why the vast majority of them will not seek treatment: they are too embarrassed to talk about it.

20 Nov 2019

Antibiotics face an existential crisis

Antibiotics are facing an existential crisis less than a century after their introduction. The bacteria-fighting drugs are becoming less effective as a result of their overuse in both humans and animals.

18 Nov 2019

UIC and IDPH receive $9.5 million grant to improve maternal outcomes in Illinois

A $9.5 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration will help the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Illinois Department of Public Health improve maternal outcomes in Illinois.

18 Nov 2019

Acute kidney injury on the rise in hospitalized pregnant women

A study presented at ASN Kidney Week 2019 (November 5 to November 10) shows that the rate of acute kidney injury (AKI) is rising among US women who are hospitalized in pregnancy. The highest risk is in pregnant diabetic women. Women who suffer acute damage to the kidney while pregnant have 260 times the risk of death while in hospital compared to other pregnant women, at 2.6% vs 0.01%. Both mother and baby are at risk of increased illness and death if the woman has kidney injury during pregnancy.

11 Nov 2019

APHA adopts 14 new public health policy statements at 2019 Annual Meeting

The American Public Health Association's Governing Council adopted 14 new policy statements at its 2019 Annual Meeting and Expo in Philadelphia today, covering topics such as environmental justice, drinking water safety and attacks on health workers.

6 Nov 2019

Bortezomib drug helps re-balance disrupted muscle growth, prevent contractures

When children experience brachial plexus injury at birth, or are born with cerebral palsy, some of the most disabling problems that follow are muscle contractures, or tightness of muscles, that severely restrict limb function.

29 Oct 2019

Study shows significant decrease in use of antidepressants by pregnant women

A pregnancy is not always a happy event and as many as 10-15 per cent of pregnant women in Denmark have depressive symptoms. Despite years of critical focus on the side effects of antidepressants in the healthcare system, consumption of antidepressants by pregnant women actually increased drastically during the period 1997 to 2011.

29 Oct 2019

Gut microbiome is a reality in fetal life also

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation shows that in both mice and humans, the fetal gut has its own microbiome, which is probably derived straight from the maternal organism.

24 Oct 2019

Researchers analyze trends in episiotomy use among vaginal deliveries

In Canada, the rate of episiotomy during childbirth has declined in recent years, but when it comes to births assisted by forceps or vacuum, this downward trend warrants a closer look, suggests new UBC research.

21 Oct 2019

Pregnant women with anemia more likely to need blood transfusions after cesarean delivery

Pregnant women with anemia are twice as likely to need blood transfusions after a cesarean delivery, as those without the condition, according to a study being presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY 2019 annual meeting.

21 Oct 2019

Episiotomy during childbirth may help reduce severe perineal tears among forceps and vacuum deliveries

The use of episiotomy during childbirth has declined in Canada, although its benefit in births assisted by forceps or vacuum merits reconsideration of this practice, according to a large study published in CMAJ.

21 Oct 2019

Women being mistreated during childbirth in Ghana, Guinea, Myanmar and Nigeria

A new study led by the World Health Organization (WHO), published in The Lancet on October 9, 2019, reveals that women in four poorer countries are at risk of being ill-treated if they visit hospitals or other medical facilities for childbirth.

10 Oct 2019

Severe vomiting in early pregnancy linked to increased autism risk

A new study published in the American Journal of Perinatology shows a 53% increased risk of autism spectrum disorder in children born to women who had excessively severe nausea and vomiting in pregnancy.

3 Oct 2019

Formula costs the earth: support breastfeeding instead, says new study

At last, the pendulum has swung back to accepting breastfeeding as the norm in infant feeding. Interestingly, this has come about not because of recognition of its natural role in infant care, but because of the revelation of how much it costs the earth to produce “unnecessary formula” for babies and young children, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal.

3 Oct 2019

Prehistoric baby bottles: evidence animal milk fed to prehistoric babies

A new study shows that infants in Bronze and Iron Age communities were fed milk using feeding vessels of clay. This report, appearing on September 25, 2019, in the journal Nature, shows the important place that animal milk has played in human food for thousands of years.

26 Sep 2019

Love hormone oxytocin linked to hypersexuality

Sex addiction or hypersexual disorder is a behavior characterized by an excessive preoccupation with sexual fantasies, behaviors, or urges that are hard to control, causing negative effects on one’s health and relationships.

25 Sep 2019

Study uncovers epigenetic origins for hypersexual disorder

A new study has shown that epigenetic changes lead to overactivity of the hormone oxytocin, and this is a key element in hypersexual disorder.

24 Sep 2019

Researchers develop world's first blood incubator using laser technology

Researchers from BioPRIA, based at Australia's Monash University, together with industry partner Haemokinesis, have developed the world's first blood incubator using laser technology.

20 Sep 2019

Spending on transitional housing for youth in foster care can help prevent homelessness, incarceration

State spending on transitional housing supports for youth "aging out" of foster care can make a big difference in preventing homelessness, incarceration, substance abuse and early childbirth, according to a new study by social work researchers at Case Western Reserve University.

19 Sep 2019

Gut bacterial changes influence lupus treatment results in pregnancy

The course of pregnancy, like that of true love, doesn’t always run smooth when you have lupus, correctly called systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This autoimmune disease is an occasionally violent, occasionally subdued, chronic inflammation that constantly smolders within multiple tissues in the body.

16 Sep 2019