Fertility & Pregnancy

Los Angeles Teen Birth Rate Highest In State Reported May 21, 2008 LOS ANGELES The teen birth rate in the Los Angeles area was among the highest in the state, costing the county more than $29 million per year, according to a study released on Wednesday by the nonprofit Public Health Institute. After 15 years in decline, teen birth rates in California are rising, costing … [Read more...]

Women more willing than docs to accept labor risksReported November 19, 2008 NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Pregnant women are more willing to accept potential risks of delivering their baby vaginally than are the medical professionals caring for them, Australian researchers report. And among the health care workers surveyed, midwives were ready to take the greatest risks, … [Read more...]

Manitoba appeals abortion ruling to protect right to set spending priorities Jan. 27, 2005 WINNIPEG (CP) - The Manitoba government must appeal a court ruling ordering it to pay for abortions in private clinics to protect its right to decide how health-care dollars are spent, Health Minister Tim Sale said Thursday. Sale said the case, … [Read more...]

Pregnancy loss affects young women: study Reported December 15, 2008 Young women who have lost a pregnancy through abortion or miscarriage have an increased risk for substance abuse or developing a mood disorder in later life, according to an Australian study. The Mater-University of Queensland study of pregnancy and its outcomes, involving 1223 women, … [Read more...]

Opening up About Sexual Health Screening Reported May 14, 2008 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Though young women may be fine with being tested for sexually transmitted diseases, they don’t like talking about their sex lives with their doctors. According to a new survey from the University of Melbourne in Australia, not only did they not want to give details, sometimes they lied … [Read more...]

Pregnant Women Should Buckle Up Reported April 08, 2008 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- There is a long-standing myth that wearing a seatbelt is not safe for pregnant women. A new study finds it’s not only safe, but proper seatbelt use by pregnant women would save 200 fetuses a year. “It’s very clear, based on this study, that pregnant women should buckle up every single time … [Read more...]

Preventing Late-Term Pregnancy LossReported August 04, 2009 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Fetal death, or intrauterine fetal demise (IUFD), caused by an under-sized placenta, affects 30,000 women in the U.S. each year. Technological limits currently prevent doctors from monitoring the growth of the placenta, the source of nourishment for the fetus. "The placenta can be so small … [Read more...]

Abortion Drastically Increases Risk of Pre-Term and Low-Weight Births Reported December 17, 2007 Richmond, VA (LifeNews.com) -- Women who have one or more abortions face a drastically increased risk of giving birth to a pre-term or low birth weight baby in a subsequent pregnancy. That's the conclusion a team of scientists from Virginia Commonwealth … [Read more...]

Secondhand Smoke Linked to Fertility ProblemsReported January 02, 2009 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- There's one more reason why you should quit smoking: it may make it harder for those around you to have children. Researchers have found women exposed to secondhand smoke in either childhood or adulthood, are much more likely to experience fertility issues and suffer miscarriages. … [Read more...]

Pregnancy Can Go Well for Women with Diabetes NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women with type 1 diabetes who monitor their blood glucose daily both before and during pregnancy have better outcomes, Danish researchers report. In the largest study to date of pregnant women with type 1 diabetes, Dr. Dorte M. Jensen … [Read more...]

Study: MS Has Little Impact on PregnancyReported December 28, 2009 (Ivanhoe Newswire) – There is good news for women with multiple sclerosis (MS) who are pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant. Pregnant women with multiple sclerosis are only slightly more likely to have cesarean deliveries and babies with a poor prenatal growth rate than women who do not have MS. … [Read more...]

Implications of twin, triplet and quadruplet pregnancies on mothersSaturday, 4-Dec-2004 More women giving birth in their later years has given rise to fertility treatments which has in turn led to what can be described as an explosion in twin, triplets and quadruplet pregnancies. And while studies have been conducted to determine the impact on babies, mothers … [Read more...]

The Male Pill: A Work in Progress Reported March 31, 2008 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Researchers are making progress on the development of a male version of “the pill.” Investigators from Australia have found the male form of hormonal contraception works best when men are given a combination of the male hormone testosterone and a synthetic version of the female hormone … [Read more...]

Birth drugs 'cut breastfeeding'   Reported September 01, 2009 The study, which appears in the journal BJOG, suggests the drugs may impede milk production. The Swansea University team also confirmed high doses of painkilling drugs have a similar effect. The findings may help to explain the limited success of efforts to increase breastfeeding rates … [Read more...]

Should we seek to screen for autism? Reported January 12, 2009 The news about the latest autism research, which raises the possibility of screening to test for autism, has kicked off the expected debate about whether parents should be screening their children for autistic spectrum disorders. Proponents of autism screening (which is not … [Read more...]

U.S. Reaching Breastfeeding Goals Reported January 10, 2005 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new study shows more American women are breastfeeding their newborns, but there is still room for improvement. The data also show many women breastfeed for only a short period of time. Breastfeeding is recognized as beneficial for both infants … [Read more...]

Unified approach helps preemies thriveReported December 03, 2009 COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A unified approach -- implementing small baby guidelines -- for premature infants improved outcomes, U.S. researchers found. The study, published in Acta Paediatrica, found 37 infants born prematurely -- before 27 weeks gestation age -- cared for using this approach were … [Read more...]

New Egg Freezing Technique Preserves FertilityReported September 05, 2009 A breast cancer patient who must undergo chemotherapy may lose her chance to have children. The harsh medications can destroy fertility. Now improved egg-freezing methods are helping these women, and others. Trina mills is just 28 years old and has a-plastic anemia. It didn't occur to her that … [Read more...]

Vaccine may reduce infection in unborn babiesReported March 19, 2009 NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An important cause of neurological impairment in infants -- infection with cytomegalovirus while they are in the womb -- may be curbed with the use of a new vaccine. Most adults have been infected with cytomegalovirus or CMV, usually with negligible consequences. However, when … [Read more...]

Early Treatment for PCOSReported January 15, 2007 ROCHESTER, N.Y. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Polycystic ovary syndrome is a leading cause of infertility for women. The hormonal disorder affects up to 10 million women in the United States. Now, researchers want to identify and treat the disease in adolescence to save girls from a lifetime of complications. Nutrition lessons … [Read more...]

Haryana to launch family health campaign tomorrowChandigarh | September 25, 2005 Family Health Awareness Campaign (FHAC) will be launched in Haryana tomorrow with the aim to sensitise the sexually active population of between 15 and 49 years towards various sexually transmitted infections including HIV and AIDS. While stating this … [Read more...]

Pregnant Women With Fatty, High-Caloric Diets Increase Fetal Risk For Liver Disease, Obesity, Diabetes, Researcher Says 13 August, 2007 Infants born to women who have diets high in calories and fat during pregnancy have an increased risk of developing liver disease, which can lead to obesity and diabetes later in life, Kevin Grove, a researcher at Oregon … [Read more...]

Germany's Falling Total Fertility Rate July 22, 2007 The New York Times on Thursday examined Germany's falling total fertility rate, which is entering its second generation of decline and could imperil the country's "advanced social systems and public infrastructure" that were designed for larger … [Read more...]

Healthy Gums Equal Healthy BabiesReported April 08, 2009 (Ivanhoe Newswire) – One step to a healthier newborn might be a new toothbrush and some better dental hygiene. The reason: gum disease is linked to a higher risk for gestational diabetes. Dental researchers from New York worked with colleagues in Sri Lanka to arrive at those conclusions in a study involving 190 … [Read more...]

Improving Conception Odds Reported July 23, 2008 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- There are more than three million infertile couples in the United States. Forty percent of those cases are due to male infertility. Now, a new, minimally invasive procedure for a common cause of male infertility is significantly improving those couples' odds of conception. Women often complain of … [Read more...]

New test for at-risk pregnancies Feb. 15 [Health India]: BASEL, Switzerland, Feb. 15 : A Swiss study has found a technique -- size-fractionation -- performed on a sample of the mother's blood can help identify at-risk pregnancies. Researchers at University Hospital in Basel, … [Read more...]

Korea Had World’s Lowest Birth Rate in ‘06 Reported May 22, 2008 The national birth rate was a mere 1.2 in 2006, the lowest in the world, according to the World Health Organization yesterday. The health body’s annual statistics for 2008 said Korea’s birth rate was the lowest among 193 countries, along with Belarus, the Czech Republic, Poland and … [Read more...]

U.S. Maternal Deaths on the RiseReported August 24, 2007 ATLANTA (AP) -- U.S. women are dying from childbirth at the highest rate in decades, new government figures show. Though the risk of death is very small, experts believe increasing maternal obesity and a jump in Caesarean sections are partly to blame. Some numbers crunchers note that a change in how such deaths are … [Read more...]

Study: Quit Caffeine While Pregnant Reported November 04, 2008 Nov. 4, 2008 -- Women who plan to become pregnant should quit caffeine completely -- or at least "markedly reduce" caffeine consumption -- when pregnant, British researchers report. That advice may "unnecessarily frighten some women," states an editorial published with the study in BMJ, formerly called the … [Read more...]

Pregnancy Weight Gain Recommendation Expected to Change Reported September 11, 2007 During this fall, the Institute of Medicine is expected to start gathering scientific evidence to support how much weight pregnant women should gain. The current guidelines, which were announced in 1990, recommends that women with low body mass index scores should gain 40 pounds, women … [Read more...]