Fertility & Pregnancy

Women who are deficient in vitamin D in the first 26 weeks of their pregnancy may be at risk of developing severe preeclampsia, a potentially life-threatening disorder diagnosed by an increase in blood pressure and protein in the urine, according to research by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. In one of the largest studies to date, researchers … [Read more...]

Here's more evidence that pregnant women should be careful about what they eat and drink: A new research report appearing in the June 2014 issue of The FASEB Journal shows that when taken during pregnancy, resveratrol supplements led to developmental abnormalities in the fetal pancreas. This study has direct relevance to human health--Resveratrol is widely used for its … [Read more...]

Women who take antidepressants during pregnancy do not appear to be at greater risk of giving birth to children with congenital heart defects compared to women who are not exposed to the drugs, according to new research from UCL. The study, which analysed data from over 200,000 pairs of women and children in the UK between 1990 and 2011, showed that other characteristics, … [Read more...]

The benefit that premature infants gain from skin-to-skin contact with their mothers is measurable even 10 years after birth, reports a new study in Biological Psychiatry. Physical contact with babies is essential for their physical and psychological development. This lesson has been learned the hard way, as infants neglected in hospitals and orphanages developed many … [Read more...]

"It is OK to drink a little bit of alcohol during pregnancy" or "a pregnant woman should not touch alcohol at all during her pregnancy." These statements represent the contradictory conclusions that large population studies on pregnancy and alcohol can reach. Psychologist Janni Niclasen has just defended her PhD thesis on the subject at the University of Copenhagen. She was … [Read more...]

Expectant women with prenatally diagnosed fear of childbirth are at an increased risk of postpartum depression, according to a study of over 500,000 mothers in Finland. Women with a history of depression are at the highest risk of postpartum depression. The fact that fear of childbirth puts women without a history of depression at an approximately three times higher risk of … [Read more...]

Led by Cornell University nutritional scientist Rebecca Seguin, a new study of 93,000 postmenopausal American women found those with the highest amounts of sedentary time -- defined as sitting and resting, excluding sleeping -- died earlier than their most active peers. The association remained even when controlling for physical mobility and function, chronic disease status, … [Read more...]

A University of Adelaide study has shown that the risk of serious complications such as stillbirth, preterm birth, low birth weight and neonatal death is around twice as high for babies conceived by assisted reproductive therapies compared with naturally conceived babies. In the most comprehensive study of its kind in the world, researchers from the University's Robinson … [Read more...]

A comparison of Y chromosomes in eight African and eight European men dispels the common notion that the Y's genes are mostly unimportant and that the chromosome is destined to dwindle and disappear. "The Y chromosome has lost 90 percent of the genes it once shared with the X chromosome, and some scientists have speculated that the Y chromosome will disappear in less than 5 … [Read more...]

A new study finds that the epilepsy drug levetiracetam appears not to be associated with thinking, movement and language problems for preschool children born to mothers who took the drug during pregnancy, although the drug valproate was associated with some difficulties in preschoolers. The study is published in the January 8, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical … [Read more...]

A new study from the University of Southampton adds to a growing body of evidence that links a child's early environment before and soon after birth to their chance of becoming obese later in life. Previous studies have identified a number of individual early life 'risk factors' but few have evaluated the size of their combined effects. The new research suggests that having … [Read more...]

Injecting a little anesthetic near a nerve bundle in the neck cut troublesome hot flashes significantly, shows a new randomized, controlled trial published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). The technique could give women who cannot or prefer not to take hormones or other medications an effective treatment alternative. In … [Read more...]

New research is lighting up yet another reason for women to quit smoking. In a study published online in the journal Menopause, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report the first evidence showing that smoking causes earlier signs of menopause -- in the case of heavy smokers, up to nine years earlier than average -- in white women … [Read more...]

Migraine headaches heat up as women approach menopause, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC), Montefiore Headache Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Vedanta Research. "Women have been telling doctors that their migraine headaches worsen around menopause and now we have proof they were right," says Vincent Martin, MD, … [Read more...]

In a nationwide study, University of Arizona sociologists Christina Diaz and Jeremy E. Fiel found that the negative effect of young motherhood on educational attainment and earnings is not limited to those from disadvantaged backgrounds and actually is most significant among better-off teenagers. Diaz and Fiel analyzed a subset of the Child and Young Adult Cohorts of the … [Read more...]

There is no evidence that water births, where a baby is intentionally born under water in a tub or pool, poses any increased harm to the child, Oregon State University researchers have found. Researchers examined outcome data for more than 6,500 midwife-attended water births in the United States and found that newborns born in water were no more likely to experience low … [Read more...]

Fertility experts in Southampton and the Netherlands have identified a specific genetic pattern in the womb that could predict whether or not IVF treatment is likely to be successful. Study co-lead Professor Nick Macklon, chair in obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Southampton, said the discovery would help clinicians understand why IVF fails repeatedly in some … [Read more...]

Women who take estrogen supplements from before or at the start of menopause and continue with them for a few years have better preserved brain structure, which may reduce the risk of dementia. Globally, one new person is affected by dementia every four seconds. In 2010, 36 million people were estimated to have dementia. Now, findings in a doctoral thesis from the … [Read more...]

Depression in both expectant mothers and fathers increases the risk of premature birth, finds a study published in BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (BJOG). Depression in women during pregnancy is known to be associated with low birth weight and increased risk of premature birth. Maternal stress, such as the death of a loved one, lack of social … [Read more...]

University of Adelaide research has for the first time confirmed that women who eat a poor diet before they become pregnant are around 50% more likely to have a preterm birth than those on a healthy diet. Researchers at the University of Adelaide's Robinson Research Institute investigated the dietary patterns of more than 300 South Australian women to better understand their … [Read more...]

Using paroxetine -- a medication prescribed to treat conditions including depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder -- during the first trimester of pregnancy may increase newborns' risk of congenital malformations and cardiac malformations. That's the conclusion of a recent analysis published in the British Journal of Clinical … [Read more...]

The increase in use of prescribed opioids among women during pregnancy has probably contributed to the rise in neonatal abstinence syndrome, argues Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, in The BMJ . "The steep increase in the number of opioid prescriptions dispensed in the United States has been associated with … [Read more...]

Researchers at Tohoku University's School of Medicine have found an explanation for the correlation between eating fish during pregnancy, and the health of the baby's brain. Dietary lipid contains fatty acids such as omega-6 and omega-3, which are essential nutrients for many animals and humans. The research group, led by Professor Noriko Osumi, found that a balanced intake … [Read more...]

High levels of vitamin D are linked to improved fertility and reproductive success, a study of wild sheep has found. The study, carried out on a remote Hebridean island, adds to growing evidence that vitamin D -- known as the sunshine vitamin -- is associated with reproductive health. Experts hope that further studies will help to determine the relevance of the results … [Read more...]

Women who eat more potatoes before pregnancy may have higher rates of gestational diabetes--the form that occurs during pregnancy--compared to women who consume fewer potatoes, suggests a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study. The researchers propose that substituting potatoes with other vegetables, legumes or whole grains may help lower gestational diabetes risk. The … [Read more...]

A research group at the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine has been using a rat model to see how maternal intake of above-requirement vitamins (A, D, E, and K) impact offspring's brain development and behaviour. Some of their findings were published today in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. Much … [Read more...]

Caring for an infant is challenging for any mother -- but especially so for women with postnatal depression, which may lead to adverse effects on child outcomes. Current evidence on postnatal depression and parenting -- including preliminary data on the role of the hormone oxytocin -- is reviewed in the January/February issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is … [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...]

A team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that moderate to severe hot flashes continue, on average, for nearly five years after menopause, and more than a third of women experience moderate/severe hot flashes for 10 years or more after menopause. Current guidelines recommend that hormone therapy, the primary medical … [Read more...]