OB Health News
News for professionals focused on the health of women and newborns
Women's Health Update
Obstetrics Focus
Exercise may improve fetal, maternal health with gestational diabetes
Regular moderate-intensity exercise may help boost fetal and maternal health in pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus, a study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found. Patients in the exercise group also had a lower risk of macrosomia and were less likely than the control group to need an acute or elective cesarean delivery, researchers noted. Diabetes.co.uk (U.K.)
Air pollution may raise odds of pregnancy complications
Pregnant women who were exposed to high levels of smog during their first trimester had an elevated risk of complications including preeclampsia and premature birth, a report in BMJ Open found. Researchers also found the odds of preeclampsia and premature delivery were 10% and 25% higher, respectively, in women with asthma than in those without the condition.
CDC report finds continued decline in U.S. teen birth rate
The teen birth rate in the U.S. declined by 8% between 2010 and 2011, with just over 3% of teens ages 15 to 19 giving birth during the study period, a CDC study found. Rates of premature birth and low birth weight continued to drop, but the infant mortality rate remained unchanged, researchers reported in the journal Pediatrics. Reuters
Warm showers provide pain relief during labor
Pregnant women can reduce pain and improve the birth experience by taking warm showers during early labor, suggests a new study published in JOGNN. The findings, conclude the authors, point to warm showers as a cost-effective, convenient and easy alternative to pain medication and epidurals -- without the potential side effects. The study involved 80 women delivering at a Taipei hospital who were randomly assigned to receive 20-minute warm (37º C) showers as frequently as desired, provided labor progressed normally, or to standard childbirth care. Labor pain was monitored using standardized scales at 4-centimeters and 7-cm dilation, and birth experience was similarly measured following delivery. Women in the warm-shower group reported significantly lower pain scores at each period. At 10 and 20 minutes after the intervention, mean pain scores for the experimental group dropped significantly, while increasing significantly for the control group. Women who took warm showers also had higher mean scores assessing birth experience. Read the article.
Neonatal Health
Bleeding stroke may raise risk of seizures, epilepsy in children
U.S. researchers assessed 73 pediatric survivors of bleeding strokes and found that about 60% of the babies and 43% of the older children had seizures during the stroke or within a week following the stroke. The study, to be published in the journal JAMA Neurology, showed that 13% of the patients were diagnosed with epilepsy within two years.
Women's Health Update
Obstetrics Focus
Exercise may improve fetal, maternal health with gestational diabetes
Regular moderate-intensity exercise may help boost fetal and maternal health in pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus, a study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found. Patients in the exercise group also had a lower risk of macrosomia and were less likely than the control group to need an acute or elective cesarean delivery, researchers noted. Diabetes.co.uk (U.K.)
Air pollution may raise odds of pregnancy complications
Pregnant women who were exposed to high levels of smog during their first trimester had an elevated risk of complications including preeclampsia and premature birth, a report in BMJ Open found. Researchers also found the odds of preeclampsia and premature delivery were 10% and 25% higher, respectively, in women with asthma than in those without the condition.
CDC report finds continued decline in U.S. teen birth rate
The teen birth rate in the U.S. declined by 8% between 2010 and 2011, with just over 3% of teens ages 15 to 19 giving birth during the study period, a CDC study found. Rates of premature birth and low birth weight continued to drop, but the infant mortality rate remained unchanged, researchers reported in the journal Pediatrics. Reuters
Warm showers provide pain relief during labor
Pregnant women can reduce pain and improve the birth experience by taking warm showers during early labor, suggests a new study published in JOGNN. The findings, conclude the authors, point to warm showers as a cost-effective, convenient and easy alternative to pain medication and epidurals -- without the potential side effects. The study involved 80 women delivering at a Taipei hospital who were randomly assigned to receive 20-minute warm (37º C) showers as frequently as desired, provided labor progressed normally, or to standard childbirth care. Labor pain was monitored using standardized scales at 4-centimeters and 7-cm dilation, and birth experience was similarly measured following delivery. Women in the warm-shower group reported significantly lower pain scores at each period. At 10 and 20 minutes after the intervention, mean pain scores for the experimental group dropped significantly, while increasing significantly for the control group. Women who took warm showers also had higher mean scores assessing birth experience. Read the article.
Neonatal Health
Bleeding stroke may raise risk of seizures, epilepsy in children
U.S. researchers assessed 73 pediatric survivors of bleeding strokes and found that about 60% of the babies and 43% of the older children had seizures during the stroke or within a week following the stroke. The study, to be published in the journal JAMA Neurology, showed that 13% of the patients were diagnosed with epilepsy within two years.
