Fertility & Pregnancy

  New research suggests that mothers who eat high-fat, high-sugar diets can predispose multiple generations to metabolic problems, even if their offspring consume healthy diets. While other studies have linked a woman's health in pregnancy to her child's weight later in life, a mouse study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is the first to … [Read more...]

Stress during pregnancy has been linked to several conditions, including some instances of autism spectrum disorder. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine have observed a variant of a stress-sensitive gene and exposure to stress during pregnancy among two groups of mothers of children with autism. The researchers believe the finding could be a step … [Read more...]

Weight gain between pregnancies is linked to pregnancy complications and adverse neonatal outcomes in second born children, according to a study published by Martina Persson and colleagues from the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, in this week's PLOS Medicine. The researchers examined data from the nationwide Swedish Medical Birth Register, including 532,858 … [Read more...]

In an analysis of pregnancies in Australia from 1999 to 2014 in which women were taking anti-epileptic drugs, fetal malformation rates fell over time in pregnancies where only one drug was taken, but rates increased in pregnancies where multiple drugs were taken. The rise in such "polytherapy" malformation rates began around 2005 when levetiracetam and topiramate use began … [Read more...]

Pregnant women with higher levels of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, proteins that control communication between cells of the immune system, may be at significantly greater risk of having a child with autism combined with intellectual disability, researchers with the UC Davis MIND Institute have found. The research also suggests a potential immune profile for the … [Read more...]

Most people have heard the old adage "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." It's an old truth that encompasses more than just apples--eating fruit in general is well known to reduce risk for a wide variety of health conditions such as heart disease and stroke. But now a new study is showing the benefits of fruit can begin as early as in the womb. The study, published in … [Read more...]

Preeclampsia is one of the most common complications to occur during pregnancy, yet its causes are still unknown. A new study involving patients, cell cultures and animal experiments has now shown that those affected by the disease have lower quantities of the placenta's immune protein CD74, and that certain inflammatory factors are higher. These factors disrupt the formation … [Read more...]

Early exposure to nicotine can trigger widespread genetic changes that affect formation of connections between brain cells long after birth, a new Yale-led study has found. The finding helps explains why maternal smoking has been linked to behavioral changes such as attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, addiction and conduct disorder. Nicotine does this by affecting … [Read more...]

New research presented at this year's Euroanaesthesia congress (London, May 27-30) addresses the importance of discussing potential pregnancy and providing pregnancy testing for women of reproductive age before they undergo surgery, so that harm to mother and baby can be avoided. The study is by Dr Subhamay Ghosh, Consultant Anaesthetist, Glangwili General Hospital, Carmarthen, … [Read more...]

First-time parents are only somewhat satisfied with their sex lives according to Penn State health researchers who checked in with parents regularly after their baby was born. And one factor that appears to be reducing their sexual satisfaction is mothers' stress as a new parent. "The transition to parenthood has gained importance recently," said Chelom E. Leavitt, doctoral … [Read more...]

An additional blood test for pregnant women accurately predicts which women with high thyroid function are at risk of developing preeclampsia, according to a study presented today at the European Congress of Endocrinology. The findings may help identify high-risk pregnant women and potentially avoid unnecessary treatment that carries the risk of fetal … [Read more...]

Canada's program that aims to prevent pregnancy in women who use the powerful acne drug isotretinoin (Accutane) is not effective, found a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Of the women taking the drug, 30% to 50% do not comply with the program's requirements, which, given the severe harm the drug can cause to a fetus, represents poor performance of … [Read more...]

Researchers have made a new discovery, which entails that Zika virus is capable of infecting and imitating immune cells present in the placenta. This discovery can actually shed light on the way virus manages to get transferred via the placenta of a pregnant woman, thereby infecting the developing brain cells in her fetus. The senior author of the study and an Assistant … [Read more...]

Most people have heard the old adage "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." It's an old truth that encompasses more than just apples--eating fruit in general is well known to reduce risk for a wide variety of health conditions such as heart disease and stroke. But now a new study is showing the benefits of fruit can begin as early as in the womb. The study, published in the … [Read more...]

Influenza is significantly associated with an increased risk of new-onset atrial fibrillation, which could be reduced through influenza vaccination, according to new findings reported HeartRhythm. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate and is the most common cardiac arrhythmia seen in clinical practice, … [Read more...]

Sudden unexpected infant death (SUID), which includes sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), is the leading cause of death in infants 1 month to 1 year of age in the United States. Although the reason is unknown, maternal age less than 20 years is associated with an increased risk of SIDS. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers found … [Read more...]

Women with severe depressive symptoms have a decreased chance of becoming pregnant, while the use of psychotropic medications does not appear to harm fertility, a study by researchers from the Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine shows. The study, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, found a 38 percent decrease in the average … [Read more...]

Acupuncture treatments can reduce the number of hot flashes and night sweats associated with menopause by as much as 36 percent, according to researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The findings are published in the June issue of the journal Menopause. "Although acupuncture does not work for every woman, our study showed that, on average, acupuncture effectively … [Read more...]

A study by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), New York State Psychiatric Institute and colleagues in Finland reports an association between smoking during pregnancy and increased risk for schizophrenia in children. The paper evaluated nearly 1,000 cases of schizophrenia and matched controls among … [Read more...]

Overweight or obese women with the mentality that they are "eating for two" are more likely to experience excessive weight gain while pregnant, according to researchers at Penn State College of Medicine. Cynthia Chuang, associate professor of medicine and public health sciences, studied the attitudes and habits of women who gained appropriate weight and those who exceeded … [Read more...]

An increased risk of emergency operative delivery is linked with increasing maternal age, suggests a new study published today in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The study used a sample of 169,583 low risk, first-time mothers in Norway, to examine the association between maternal age and emergency operative delivery, which include emergency … [Read more...]

For premature infants, adequate growth while in the neonatal intensive care unit is an indicator of better long-term health and developmental outcomes. Researchers at the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital have now successfully incorporated a cream supplement into premature infants' diets that improved their … [Read more...]

Pregnant women who eat a "prudent" diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains and who drink water have a significantly reduced risk of preterm delivery, suggests a study published on bmj.com today. A "traditional" dietary pattern of boiled potatoes, fish and cooked vegetables was also linked to a significantly lower risk. Although these findings cannot establish … [Read more...]

A new study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, has found that prenatal exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) has a significant association with lower birth weight and gestational length. This was found to be in cases where mothers had taken the drug for two or more trimesters. The results showed, once adjusted for socio-demographic … [Read more...]

Prenatal exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA), a common chemical used in plastic water bottles and canned food, is associated with measures of obesity in children at age 7, according to researchers from the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Mailman School of Public Health. The researchers are the first to show associations between prenatal exposure to … [Read more...]

Women who plan on becoming pregnant are told they need enough of the nutrient folate to ensure proper neurodevelopment of their babies, but new research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests there could be serious risks in having far too much of the same nutrient. The researchers found that if a new mother has a very high level of folate right … [Read more...]