Childbirth News and Research

Latest Childbirth News and Research

University of Illinois at Chicago opens three health care simulation centers

This fall, the University of Illinois at Chicago celebrates the opening of three health care simulation centers.

15 Sep 2019

New model for vaginal microbiome transplantation

Bacterial vaginosis is a condition affecting thousands of women worldwide, and is associated not only with vaginal symptoms but with pregnancy-related complications including preterm labor and stillbirth. Now researchers have come up with an effective way to replace the unhealthy vaginal microflora with a ready-to-use microbiome – called a vaginal microbiome transplantation (VMT).

11 Sep 2019

Study finds upward trend in number of pregnant women with high blood pressure

The number of women with high blood pressure when they become pregnant or who have it diagnosed during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy has spiked in the United States over the last four decades, especially among black women, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Hypertension.

9 Sep 2019

Resilience exerts a protective role against negative effects of stress during pregnancy

Resilience—understood as the set of personal resources that help individuals deal effectively with adversity, protecting them from the negative health effects of stress—is receiving increasing attention from researchers.

6 Sep 2019

Two-thirds of women over 40 suffer from bladder leakage, research shows

Commissioned by pelvic floor muscle trainer Pelviva, the research of 2,000 women aged over 40 confirms this is one of the biggest areas of female public health, which demands immediate attention by all healthcare professionals.

5 Sep 2019

Pregnancy-related widening of abdominal muscles may affect 'tummy tuck' outcomes

Especially in women who have had multiple pregnancies, widening and thinning of the abdominal muscles may contribute to problems with the outcomes of abdominoplasty ("tummy tuck") surgery, reports a study in the August issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons

20 Aug 2019

Home births and hospital births equally safe, says large international study

A large study has confirmed what many midwives and mothers instinctively knew – it’s really not safer giving birth in a hospital than at home if you had a low-risk pregnancy so far. This is bound to reassure the growing number of low-risk pregnant women living in countries with reasonably good access to healthcare who want to deliver their babies at home.

8 Aug 2019

Expectant parents' emotional struggles linked to behavioral problems in 2-year-olds

Expectant parents' emotional struggles predict emotional and behavioral problems in 2-year-olds, new research shows. The same study reveals, for the first time, that couple conflict helps explain emotional problems in very young children.

5 Aug 2019

iTHRIV and community groups partner to address health needs across Virginia

Four biomedical research projects to improve the health of Virginians will be funded by the integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (iTHRIV), a Clinical Translational Science Award Hub.

5 Aug 2019

Study shows how 'natural-killer' cells may help women avoid placental accreta

One of the most dangerous risks expectant mothers face as their delivery date approaches is a surprisingly common condition with a little-known name: placental accreta.

5 Aug 2019

New leukemia treatment developed from common wild flower

Researchers have discovered how to turn a compound from a common wildflower called Feverfew into a new treatment for leukemia.

1 Aug 2019

Maternal behavior in mice linked to oxytocin-sensitive cells in the female brain

A startling new study shows that cells that are exquisitely sensitive to oxytocin are found in a tiny region in the brains of female but not male mice. This could be of great importance in explaining maternal behavior in females and eventually in treating social disorders like postpartum depression and autism spectrum disorder.

25 Jul 2019

'Dual burden' of prematurity and serious maternal complications occurs in one of 270 births

A quarter of women who have serious maternal complications during childbirth also have premature births, posing a "dual burden" on families, finds research from NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, the University of California, San Francisco California Preterm Birth Initiative, and Stanford University.

17 Jul 2019

Perinatal depression screenings may overlook women having suicidal ideation

A new study of 736 low-income pregnant women in Illinois found that more than one-third of those who reported thoughts of self-harm did not have elevated levels of depression, according to a commonly used health questionnaire.

16 Jul 2019

Transobturator sling surgery shows promise for stress urinary incontinence

A recent study from the Mayo Clinic researchers has shown that surgery for management of stress urinary incontinence can yield better results than conservative methods such as exercise and urethral inserts.

16 Jul 2019

Diet and physical exercise do not reduce risk of gestational diabetes

The assumption that minimizing weight gain in obese pregnant women is advantageous for avoiding gestational diabetes has not been borne out.

11 Jul 2019

Exercise during pregnancy can promote bone health of both mother and child

Vitamin D is important to enable calcium to be absorbed into the intestine. During pregnancy, vitamin D is especially significant because extra calcium is needed to build the baby's skeleton.

9 Jul 2019

Opioids are major cause of pregnancy-related deaths in Utah

Stephanie lay in the Salt Lake County jail bunk bed and thought, "Everything would be better if I just died."

28 Jun 2019

Low maternal education linked to high risk of infant mortality

Infants of women with a short-term education are more likely to die within the first year of life. In more than half of cases, the cause of death is premature childbirth and low fetal weight. This is shown by research from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital.

27 Jun 2019

Pregnant women with migraine more often have complications during pregnancy and childbirth

Despite the fact that many women who suffer migraines find that the number and severity of these severe headaches decrease during pregnancy, migraines are now being linked to elevated blood pressure, abortions, caesareans, preterm births and babies with low birth weight.

26 Jun 2019