Fertility & Pregnancy

A new study by McGill University will examine whether vaccinating only one partner in a couple against the human papillomavirus (HPV) can help prevent transmission of HPV to the unvaccinated partner. The study -- called TRAP-HPV, an acronym for Transmission Reduction And Prevention with HPV vaccination -- is a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind trial involving 500 … [Read more...]

The risk of experiencing an oxygen deficit at birth (birth asphyxia) increases for babies born to women who are overweight or obese, according to a study by Swedish and US researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine. These findings are important given the high prevalence of overweight and obesity worldwide, and suggest that preventing women of reproductive age from … [Read more...]

Periodontal disease is a common condition that has been associated with heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Previous research has found links between periodontal disease and oral, esophageal, head and neck, pancreatic, and lung cancers, so the researchers wanted to see if there was any relationship with breast cancer. Jo L. Freudenheim, PhD, and colleagues monitored 73,737 … [Read more...]

A new study of women's experiences of delay in labor has revealed that many moms-to-be are prepared to abandon their antenatal plans for how they wanted their labors and births to be. Researchers from the Universities of Leicester and Birmingham found that women were willing to let go their ideal of choice when unanticipated complications occurred. Published in the … [Read more...]

Children are likely to have stronger muscles if their mothers had a higher level of vitamin D in their body during pregnancy, according to new research from the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit (MRC LEU) at the University of Southampton. Low vitamin D status has been linked to reduced muscle strength in adults and children, but little is known about how … [Read more...]

Group prenatal care can substantially improve health outcomes for both mothers and their infants, a new study led by the Yale School of Public Health has found. The paper was published online Dec. 21 in The American Journal of Public Health. Women who received group -- rather than individual -- prenatal care were 33% less likely to have infants who were small for … [Read more...]

Zinc levels in breast milk may be able to serve as an indicator of breast function during lactation, according to Penn State health researchers. In previous studies, Shannon L. Kelleher and colleagues found that the protein ZnT2 is critical for secreting zinc into breast milk, and women who have mutations in the gene that encodes ZnT2 have substantially lower milk zinc … [Read more...]

Although in vitro fertilization (IVF) is often limited to 3 or 4 treatment cycles, new research shows the effectiveness of extending the number of IVF cycles beyond this number, according to a study in the December 22/29 issue of JAMA. In vitro fertilization is commonly stopped after 3 or 4 unsuccessful embryo transfers, with 3 unsuccessful transfers labeled "repeat … [Read more...]

Poor-quality sleep during the third trimester of pregnancy can increase the odds of weight gain and metabolic abnormalities in offspring once they reach adulthood, according to a new study published online May 8, 2014, in the journal Diabetes. The researchers linked the excess weight and changes in metabolism to epigenetic modifications that reduce expression of the gene for … [Read more...]

With plummeting hormone levels, natural menopause before age 40 can put a damper on women's mental well being and quality of life. But bringing testosterone back up to normal may not bring them the boost some hoped for, found a new study published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). Before age 40, ovaries stop functioning in … [Read more...]

Active and passive smoking are linked to infertility problems and a hastening of the natural menopause before the age of 50, finds a large study published online in the journal Tobacco Control. The highest levels of tobacco exposure were associated with the arrival of menopause 1 to 2 years earlier in active and passive smokers than among lifetime non-smokers who had not … [Read more...]

A new study finds some surprising ways in which women's health at midlife is connected to when they had their first child and to their marital history. Researchers found that women who had their first child in their early 20s didn't report better health at midlife than those who had their first baby as a teen. "We've had all this focus on the bad effects of teen … [Read more...]

Turning the TV off during mealtimes to help prevent childhood obesity may need to start even before a child is born, according to a study to be presented Tuesday, May 6, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Researchers found that pregnant women who watched television while eating were more likely to sit in front of … [Read more...]

Mothers who smoke are putting more than their own health at risk, suggests a study published today in BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (BJOG). Young men whose mothers smoked during pregnancy had lower aerobic fitness compared to those whose mothers did not. For the first time, a small Finnish study has examined the impact of maternal smoking on … [Read more...]

Approximately three of every four Cincinnati infants heavily breastfeed after the age of six months is not obtaining the level of dietary diversity recommended by the World Health Organization, according to a new Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center study. The study raises the question of whether better education is needed about the importance of introducing at … [Read more...]

Use of the antifungal medication fluconazole for six weeks for extremely low birth-weight infants did not significantly reduce the risk of death or invasive candidiasis, a serious infection that occurs when candida (a type of fungus) enters the bloodstream and spreads through the body, according to a study in the May 7 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on child health. This issue is … [Read more...]

In the first study of its kind, researchers have shown that inadequate maternal iron intake during pregnancy exerts subtle effects on infant brain development. Their findings have been published online by the journal Pediatric Research. The research--led by principal investigators Bradley S. Peterson, MD, director of the Institute for the Developing Mind at The Saban … [Read more...]

Treatment with progesterone, a naturally occurring hormone that has been shown to alleviate severe hot flashes and night sweats in post-menopausal women, poses little or no cardiovascular risk, according to a new study by the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health. The findings, published today in PLOS ONE, help to dispel a major impediment to widespread … [Read more...]

A mother's diet before conception can permanently affect how her child's genes function, according to a study published in Nature Communications. The first such evidence of the effect in humans opens up the possibility that a mother's diet before pregnancy could permanently affect many aspects of her children's lifelong health. Researchers from the MRC International … [Read more...]

Mothers of healthy weight during their first pregnancy who gain even a moderate amount of weight (around 6 kg in a woman of average height) between their first and second pregnancies increase the risk of their baby dying in its first year of life, according to new research involving over 450000 Swedish women, published in The Lancet. The findings also reveal an incremental … [Read more...]

New Michigan State University research aims to help doctors estimate the size of newborns with a new set of birth weight measurements based on birth records from across the country. "More than 7 million records were reviewed," said Nicole Talge, an assistant professor in MSU's Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, who co-led the study which is now available in the … [Read more...]

When several factors are accounted for, stillbirth may be associated with both severely restricted and excessive fetal growth, according to a study by US researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine. Radek Bukowski and colleagues from the NICHD Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network investigated the fetal growth abnormalities associated with stillbirth using a new … [Read more...]

When it comes to effective solutions for lowering cholesterol levels in pregnant women, Mother Nature may know best. Researchers at the University at Buffalo are studying whether plant sterols can be used as a natural alternative to drug therapy in expectant mothers who have high cholesterol. While it's normal for a woman's cholesterol to spike during pregnancy, excessive … [Read more...]

A new study suggests that fish consumption advisories for expecting mothers are ineffective in reducing infant exposure to long-lived contaminants like persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The study, performed by a team of researchers including University of Toronto Scarborough PhD student Matt Binnington and Professor Frank Wania, looks at how different levels of … [Read more...]

Certain prenatal risk factors are associated with the development of chronic kidney disease in children, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). Future studies should investigate whether modifying these factors could help protect children's kidney health. Risks for certain types of kidney disease may … [Read more...]

A long-term study evaluating maternal diet's impact on food allergy in later life is expected to uncover causes of allergy in children. About 20 million Europeans are subject to food allergies. Now scientists are looking at these allergies in new ways. It involves the food industry in its work and pays special attention to the link between early diets and allergy in later … [Read more...]