Pregnancy News and Research

Latest Pregnancy News and Research

Incentive-based smoking cessation interventions significantly reduce infant morbidity

Colorado is taking a critical step to protect low-income women during their pregnancy through incentive-based smoking cessation interventions. A new study from the Colorado School of Public Health at the Anschutz Medical Campus shows a significant reduction in infant morbidity due to the program.

6 Dec 2019

Lower socioeconomic status of fathers is a risk factor for early preterm birth

Lifelong lower socioeconomic status of fathers, as defined by early life and adulthood neighborhood income, is a newly identified risk factor for early preterm birth (at less than 34 weeks), according to a study published in Maternal and Child Health Journal.

6 Dec 2019

Black mothers get less treatment for postpartum depression than other moms

Portia Smith’s most vivid memories of her daughter’s first year are of tears. Not the baby’s. Her own.

6 Dec 2019

Researchers draw an evolutionary link between pregnancy and cancer malignancy

A UConn School of Dental Medicine researcher used pregnancy to unlock a missing link between various species of mammals and cancer malignancy--fundamentally changing the way we look at cancer metastasis.

5 Dec 2019

Birth control pills shrink hypothalamus

Birth control pills have been found to reduce a part of the brain that is associated with controlling the sex drive finds a new study. The study results are being presented as a preview in the annual conference of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

5 Dec 2019

Prenatal screening for hemoglobinopathies different in OBGYN practices and family medicine

Sickle cell disease is one of the most common inherited red blood cell disorders, yet many are not aware of their carrier status (Treadwell, J Nat Med Assoc, 2006), which can lead to confusion around pregnancy and newborn diagnosis.

5 Dec 2019

Proposed Ohio legislation may interfere with providing medically optimal care for women

The American College of Physicians fears that recent legislation introduced in the Ohio state legislature that orders physicians to re-implant ectopic pregnancies, which is clinically not possible, will threaten patient health and subject physicians to criminal prosecution for providing standard of care, reproductive health care services.

4 Dec 2019

Preterm birth could be spotted early by ultrasound

A new presentation at the 178th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in San Diego will report on ultrasound as used in pregnancy, especially with respect to the comparison of two sets of data derived from two separate ultrasound techniques to evaluate cervical changes. The researchers claim that both ultrasound techniques help to estimate the attenuation coefficient of human cervical tissue, and to thus assess changes in it, providing a better picture of the true risk for preterm birth thereby.

4 Dec 2019

Baylor researchers report creation of an 'epigenetic couch potato' mouse

Why is it that some people love to exercise, and others hate it? Most people would assume it's all due to genetics, but a new Baylor College of Medicine led study in mice shows for the first time that a different molecular level of regulation - epigenetics - plays a key role in determining one's innate drive to exercise.

4 Dec 2019

Rural women experience higher rates pregnancy complications than urban peers

Women in rural communities experience higher rates of life-threatening complications during or after childbirth than mothers in urban cities, a new study finds.

4 Dec 2019

Experts condemn CRISPR babies research as original manuscript is made public

Scientists have criticized the gene-editing of the Chinese twins last year, following the first public release of the research.

4 Dec 2019

Children exposed to smoking in early life more likely to exhibit hyperactivity, conduct problems

In a recent study, children exposed to smoking in the first 4 years of life were more likely to exhibit symptoms of hyperactivity and conduct problems.

4 Dec 2019

Exposure to cooking fumes during pregnancy linked to higher risks of hyperactivity in children

In pregnant women, exposure to cooking fumes was related to an increased risk of their children having hyperactivity behaviors at the age of 3 years.

4 Dec 2019

Pregnant women do not meet nutritional recommendations, show studies

In a Maternal & Child Nutrition analysis of published studies on the dietary habits of women who were trying to conceive or were pregnant, most studies indicated that women do not meet nutritional recommendations for vegetable, cereal grain, or folate intake.

4 Dec 2019

Cesarean delivery of twins increases threefold in Victoria, Australia

The proportion of twins born by cesarean delivery in Victoria, Australia increased threefold, from 24% to 71% of all twin births, during 1983–2015, despite high-level evidence that routine cesarean delivery of twins does not benefit mothers or babies, according to the authors of research published online today by the Medical Journal of Australia.

4 Dec 2019

Common cold virus could infect fetus via placenta

According to researchers, the common cold viruses are capable of infecting human placental cells and may thus transmit the infection to the fetus in the womb during pregnancy. The new study was published in the journal PLOS ONE, and provides the first concrete proof that this type of carriage is possible.

3 Dec 2019

1 in 5 adolescents have prediabetes in U.S.

The recent report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published in JAMA Pediatrics, highlights the rising prevalence of prediabetes, which can lead to type 2 diabetes if it’s not treated or controlled early. In the country, an estimated 18 percent among adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18, and 24 percent among young adults, between 19 and 34 have prediabetes.

3 Dec 2019

Daughters of women with PCOS five times more likely to develop the syndrome in adulthood

Daughters of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome are five times more likely to be diagnosed with PCOS as adults, and the generational transmission is driven by high androgen levels during pregnancy, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report.

2 Dec 2019

Daily cannabis use during pregnancy associated with delayed fetal growth

Daily marijuana use during pregnancy may lead to an increased risk of low birth weight, low resistance to infection, decreased oxygen levels and other negative fetal health outcomes, according to a new study from a team of UNLV Medicine doctors.

2 Dec 2019

Study shows perinatal outcomes following bariatric surgery between pregnancies

During 2002-2014, there was a 13-fold increase in weight loss surgeries among women aged 15-44 years in New South Wales, Australia, and undergoing such surgery between a first and second pregnancy was associated with lower risks of hypertension, preterm birth, and other outcomes in the second pregnancy.

2 Dec 2019