I realize why women die in childbirth - it's preferable.

- Sherry Glaser






Pregnancy News From Health.AM

  • Sex late in pregnancy unlikely to trigger labor
    posted on 10/11/07
    A new study calls into question the folk wisdom that having sex late in pregnancy can help bring on labor.Women who had sex a few days before they were scheduled for labor induction were no more likely to go into labor spontaneously than women who didn’t have intercourse, Dr. Peng Chiong Tan of the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and colleagues found. 

  • Low Levels of Perchlorate Exposure are Safe for Pregnant Women
    posted on 10/05/07
    Despite great concerns that small amounts of ingested perchlorate - a chemical which is ever-present in the environment - decreases thyroid function among individuals, it has no effect on the thyroid function of women in early pregnancy, including those with a low-iodine diet, according to a new study being presented on Saturday, Oct. 6, at the 78th Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association (ATA) in New York.Thyroid hormone is critical for the neurodevelopment of a fet

  • Pregnancy After Breast Cancer Is Possible
    posted on 10/01/07
    Once Alyssa Tushman knew her young son would not grow up motherless, her next question was whether he would be an only child.Tushman was 27 and a new mother when she was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer. After aggressive treatment - including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery - Tushman was happy to learn that another baby would be possible. And today, she’s pregnant with her third child.

  • Nicotine Replacement Therapy an Option for Pregnant Smokers
    posted on 09/25/07
    Pregnant women trying to quit smoking could find it easier with help from nicotine replacement therapy, a new study finds, despite safety concerns about the risk of early delivery.“Every pregnant woman wants to quit smoking. Every woman knows it’s bad for her baby,” said lead author Kathryn Pollak, Ph.D., an associate professor at Duke University Medical Center.

  • Multiple Corticosteroid Injections in Pregnant Women May Increase Cerebral Palsy
    posted on 09/21/07
    When pregnant women are at high risk for preterm birth, giving them a single injection of corticosteroids has been shown to reduce the baby’s chances of having serious lung problems after birth.But some women receive multiple injections of corticosteroids, and a new study shows that repeat courses of corticosteroids are linked to an increased rate of cerebral palsy among children of these mothers.

  • Bed rest during pregnancy for preventing miscarriage
    posted on 09/17/07
    Miscarriage is pregnancy loss before 23 weeks of gestational age and it happens in 10% to 15% of pregnancies depending on maternal age and parity. It is associated with chromosomal defects in about a half or two thirds of cases. Many interventions have been used to prevent miscarriage but bed rest is probably the most commonly prescribed especially in cases of threatened miscarriage and history of previous miscarriage. Since the etiology of miscarriage in most of the cases is not related to an e

  • Researchers test old drug with new hopes for pre-eclampsia cure
    posted on 09/15/07
    Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston are trying to determine whether a drug already available to heart patients can also be used to delay delivery in expectant mothers with severe preeclampsia. If so, this groundbreaking study would give hope to hundreds of thousands of women who experience this life-threatening disorder each year.The drug, Digibind, has been prescribed for over 20 years to patients who overdose on a certain heart medication, but i

  • Pregnancy May Help Cut Risks for HIV-infected Women
    posted on 09/13/07
    Women with HIV infection who become pregnant have a lower risk of progression to AIDS and death, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center report.Their findings, posted last week on the online edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, suggest that “the complex set of immunologic changes” that occur during pregnancy may be interacting in a beneficial way with combination drug therapy. 

  • Low vitamin D during pregnancy linked to pre-eclampsia
    posted on 09/10/07
    Vitamin D deficiency early in pregnancy is associated with a five-fold increased risk of preeclampsia, according to a study from the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences reported this week in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.A serious complication of pregnancy marked by soaring blood pressure and swelling of the hands and feet, preeclampsia is the leading cause of premature delivery and maternal and fetal illness and death worldwide, conse

  • Drug May Help Pregnant Women with Insulin Resistance
    posted on 09/06/07
    Women who are obese, have type 2 diabetes or a family history of type 2 diabetes could one day have more successful pregnancies because of a study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.This study, performed in mice, suggests that Metformin, the most commonly prescribed anti-diabetes drug, could potentially improve pregnancy outcomes in women with insulin resistance.