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Stroke Rates Up in Pregnant Women, New Moms, Study Finds

Lesley Kennedy — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Pregnancy Health, Research Reveals

Credit: Getty Images

We've asked this before, but don't pregnant women have enough to worry about already?

Now, you can add an increase in stroke rates to their list of health concerns.

According to the Wall Street Journal, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found the rate of pregnant women being hospitalized for strokes rose 47 percent between 1994-95 and 2006-7, while the rate rose 83 percent for women who had given birth within the last three months.

Now, those numbers are still very low, the newspaper reports, with just .22 hospitalizations for every 1,000 deliveries, but, still, the numbers have experts concerned.

The findings, published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, could be a result of pregnant women being at risk more and more often for things such as obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure, all risk factors for stroke, the Journal reports.

Lead study author Elena Kuklina, an epidemiologist at the CDC's heart disease and stroke prevention division, tells the newspaper women should get general health exams before they plan to get pregnant to determine any issues that could be reversed.

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Pregnant Moms Who Use Mouthwash Not as Likely to Have Preemies, Study Finds

Lesley Kennedy — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Pregnancy Health, Research Reveals

Credit: Getty Images

"Floss, floss, floss!" You've been commanded by dentists for years to heed that advice. Now, it may be time to add "mouthwash, mouthwash, mouthwash!" to your oral health routine.

A new study finds pregnant moms with gum disease have a better chance of delivering full-term babies if they use mouthwash while they're expecting, Reuters reports, as preggo women with periodontal disease have more premature babies than moms with healthy gums.

Researchers found when women used an alcohol-free mouth rinse, the risk of early labor seemed to be decreased by three-quarters, according to the news service.

Reuters notes staff and funding from the study, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, came from Procter and Gamble -- a company that makes mouthwash.

The study doesn't draw specific conclusions, but Dr. Marjorie Jeffcoat, lead author and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, tells the news service dental care is crucial.

"They need to use a soft toothbrush and floss the right way," wrapping the floss around the tooth, she told Reuters in an earlier interview. "The first goal with almost all dental disease is prevention, prevention, prevention."

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In Vitro Kids More Advanced, But is it Nature or Nurture?

Tom Henderson — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Research Reveals

Credit: Getty Images

British researchers have found children conceived through in vitro fertilization start school with verbal skills eight months more advanced than those born through unplanned pregnancies.

It has nothing to do with biology, researchers at Oxford University tell the London Daily Telegraph. Rich and educated couples can afford in vitro fertilization more than poor couples, who are more prone to unplanned pregnancies.

That's why, researchers tell the Telegraph, their study found children who came as a surprise where at least five months behind other kids at age 5 and eight months behind the in vitro crowd.

There differences disappeared when family background was taken into account.

Dorothy Bishop, a professor of developmental neuropsychology at Oxford, tells ther paper the study shows how important it is to take social factors into account when looking at children's development.

"Children from unplanned pregnancies have lower scores on cognitive tests than those from planned pregnancies, but they are also much more likely to come from single parent, low income households," she says. "Once this is taken into account, there is no impact of an unplanned pregnancy on children's development."

Oxford researcher Claire Carson analyzed data on 12,136 children. She concluded the differences were explained by the "generally advantageous socioeconomic position" enjoyed by those born after fertility treatment.

Children born after unplanned pregnancies were more likely to have poor, young or less educated mothers, and to have less access to "books, puzzles, trips to library," Carson found.

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Domestic Violence Reaches the Womb, Study Finds

Tom Henderson — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Research Reveals

Credit: Getty

Research suggests domestic violence affects children -- even in the womb.

According to U.S. News & World Report, researchers have found pregnant women who endure abusive husbands and boyfriends risk passing on the stress of domestic violence to their children. And their children can continue to feel the stress well into adulthood.

"Healthy development starts in the womb, and it is not only nutritional," lead researcher Axel Meyer, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Konstanz in Germany, tells the magazine. "Behavioral and emotional factors are important, and the effects are long-lasting."

Anxious and stressed-out mothers are more likely to have children who develop attention and behavior problems and other issues, adds Thomas O'Connor, director of the Wynne Center for Family Research at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.

Researchers looked at the genes thought to be connected to stress.

On a genetic level, mothers stressed by domestic violence appear to "program their offspring to respond in a more costly way when exposed to stressors," Meyer tells U.S. News. The genes in the women themselves weren't affected.

"Data from many studies suggest that stressors need not be physical," Meyer points out. "Emotional neglect, ongoing familial conflict and other severe forms of adversity may also take their toll."

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Does Prenatal Depression Lead to Children's Asthma?

Tom Henderson — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Pregnancy Health, Research Reveals

Credit: Getty Images

Not to bum you out even more, but if you're pregnant and depressed, you're increasing your unborn child's risk of having asthma.

"Approximately 70 percent of mothers who said they experienced high levels of anxiety or depression while they were pregnant reported their child had wheezed before age 5," researcher Marilyn Reyes of Columbia University says in a press release. "Understanding how maternal depression affects a child's respiratory health is important in developing effective interventions."

In the study, published in the July issue of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, researchers studied the link between depressed mothers and wheezing children in low-income, urban environments. Turns out no one breathes easy when Mama is depressed.

"Prior research has linked maternal prenatal and postnatal mental health with the subsequent development of asthma in children," the authors write. "However, this relationship has not been examined in inner-city African Americans and Hispanics, populations at high risk for asthma."

Researchers focused on 279 pregnant African-American and Dominican women ages 18 to 35 in the Bronx and northern Manhattan areas of New York City.

"In this inner-city cohort, prenatal demoralization was associated with transient and persistent wheeze," the authors write. "Understanding how maternal demoralization influences children's respiratory health may be important for developing effective interventions among disadvantaged populations."

In other words, cheer up. This study could ultimately lead to ways help easy prenatal depression and help kids breathe a little easier.

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Car Exhaust Can Hurt Unborn Babies, Study Finds

Tom Henderson — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Research Reveals: Babies, Research Reveals

Credit: Getty Images

Car exhaust might hurt unborn babies.

The Canadian website Autos.ca reports researchers at the University of Sunderland in northeast England have linked car exhaust to children being born with respiratory ailments such as asthma and allergies.

Lead researcher Mohammad Sahmssian and his team tested the lung functions of 1,397 children ages 7 to 10 in Cairo, one of the world's most congested cities.

Researchers discovered a high prevalence of asthma, wheezing, eczema and hay fever symptoms. They also found air pollution causes two million premature deaths worldwide each year. Autos.ca reports Sahmssian is calling on the British Department of Health and Research Funding Council to conduct more surveys in major cities such as London, Manchester and Newcastle.

"We have identified that pollutants such as nitrogen and sulphur dioxide, as well as particle matter from vehicle exhausts and road dust, is linked to the onset of asthma," Sahmssian tells the website.

"The risk can start from the time a child is in the womb, as the placenta does not offer protection to mothers exposed to pollutants," he adds. "Pollutants entering the fetal circulation have a significant impact on growth and development. There have also been cases of babies born with retardation, morbidity and low birth weight. Children in homes near roads with heavy traffic also have increased risk of new onset asthma, incidence of wheeze, risk of recurrent dry coughs, hospitalization and school absenteeism."

Sahmssian cites studies in California that show when air pollution was reduced, annual asthma-related emergency visits and hospitalization decreased from 22 percent to 6 percent, and bronchitis decreased from 40 to 20 percent.

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It's Safe to Have a Baby if You Have Multiple Sclerosis, Study Finds

Tom Henderson — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Pregnancy Health, Health, Research Reveals

Mothers with MS had more babies born with physical disabilities, but the difference was not statistically significant and further research is needed. Credit: Getty Images

If you have multiple sclerosis, don't worry about having a baby.

According to U.S. News & World Report, a new study confirms pregnancy is generally safe for women with the disease.

The magazine reports Canadian researchers studied 432 births to mothers with multiple sclerosis and 3,000 births to women without the disease between 1998 and 2009. They found no significant differences in either the rate of premature births or the number of low-birth weight infants.

The likelihood of cesarean versus vaginal delivery also was the same. However, mothers with MS had more babies born with physical disabilities, but the difference was not statistically significant and further research is needed, the magazine reports.

"Our finding that MS was not associated with poor pregnancy or birth outcomes should be reassuring to women with MS who are planning to start a family," study author Mia van der Kop, a member of the MS research group at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, tells the magazine.

Her team noted that women with MS were more often overweight or obese, which is associated with greater risk during pregnancy and birth.

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Investing in More Midwives Could Help Save Lives, UN Study Finds

Lesley Kennedy — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Delivery, Research Reveals: Babies, Pregnancy Health, Research Reveals

Credit: Getty Images

Midwives don't only deliver babies, they can deliver health services to women, as well, something that could affect newborn and maternal deaths worldwide, the Associated Press reports.

According to the news service, a United Nations Population Fund study of 58 countries
identified as "suffering from a crisis in human resources for health," shows midwives should be respected and invested in by governments and donors.

"We have now realized that there is a huge potential in the hands of the midwives that was not being exploited," Dr. Vincent Fauveau, who coordinated the study, tells AP, adding that midwives can assist women with birth control services.

Some of the study's findings, according to the news service, include:

Just 6 percent of births in Ethiopia are attended by a doctor, nurse or midwife.
AIDS is linked to nearly 80 percent of maternal deaths in Botswana.
Midwives in Liberia often deal with 10 to 15 deliveries a day; U.N. health agency recommendations say that number should be one or two.

Fauveau tells AP investing in more clinics is also essential and that war, poverty and hunger serve as other dangers for women and kids.

"The revolution will not take place in a few months or a few years," he tells the news service. "It's a long-term strategy."

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Could Prenatal DNA Testing Open Pandora's Box?

Associated Press — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Pregnancy Health, Research Reveals

Credit: Jose Luis Pelaez, Getty Images

NEW YORK (AP) - Imagine being pregnant and taking a simple blood test that lays bare the DNA of your fetus. And suppose that DNA could reveal not only medical conditions like Down syndrome, but also things like eye color and height. And the risk for developing depression or Alzheimer's disease. And the chances of being gay.

So far that's still science fiction. But scientists have been taking some baby steps in that direction. And some ethics experts say it's time to start talking now about what that could mean for parents and society.

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This is the second story in a two-part series on fetal DNA testing and the ethical issues raised by it.

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Scanning fetal DNA from a blood test will be "without question a major medical advance that promises to greatly improve current prenatal care," says Jaime King, an associate professor at the UC Hastings College of Law in San Francisco who studies genetic testing. But bringing it into practice "raises significant practical, legal, ethical and social challenges," she says.

"This really changes the experience of what it will be like to be pregnant and have a child," said Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society in Berkeley, Calif. "I keep coming up with the word, game-changer."

She wonders if parents would withhold their commitment to a pregnancy until test results show a fetus is "good enough" to be born. And what, she asks, is good enough?

She and others worry about how well couples will be able to understand this flood of information, and just what should be revealed.

The issues have been discussed before. The DNA of a fetus has long been recoverable through medical procedures, with a small risk of miscarriage. But a blood test would be free of that risk, which should make many more women interested in it and doctors willing to test for a wider range of conditions, some experts say. And the results could come early enough to allow for an abortion before the pregnancy is even obvious.

The trigger for the new round of discussion is a couple of papers published last December. In preliminary results, two research teams showed that they could essentially reconstruct a baby's genetic makeup by recovering fragments of fetal DNA from the mother's bloodstream. That ability, plus the rapidly falling cost of analyzing DNA, would open the door to inspecting individual genes.

That would go well beyond the more accurate prenatal blood test for Down syndrome that some companies hope to market within a year.

Within five to 10 years, doctors may be able to test for 100 or 200 diseases, albeit many of them rare, estimates Stanford University law professor Hank Greely, who studies the implications of biomedical technologies.

Prenatal testing "is going to put a lot more information about the genetics of a child into the hands of a lot more parents," said King.

That knowledge has a flip side. "How much responsibility are we expecting people to take for the genetic makeup of any child they might have?" asks Josephine Johnston, a research scholar at the Hastings Center, a bioethics think tank near New York City.

If a child is born with a condition that could have been detected, the presence of the test changes that outcome "from something that happened to you, to something that you participated in," she says.

"That's a very big burden to place on would-be parents," she said, adding that it's hard for a pregnant woman to refuse any test for a medical condition because it feels like the responsible thing to do.

Johnston has personal experience; she gave birth to a girl just two years ago. When offered a medical screening test for the fetus, she generally felt compelled to take it.

"At the moment these things happen, it's just you there by yourself," she said. Some people might like that level of control, but others "would be happier to leave things up to chance a little more."

She said if she were pregnant again and offered a wider range of tests, she'd restrict herself to "really, really serious disabilities and disorders."

King, who had a son 18 months ago, said she wouldn't have wanted to know about any risk for incurable diseases that show up in adulthood. Those are "things that would have caused us to spend a lot of time worrying about what his future would look like even though there's nothing we could do about it," she said.

In the future, such testing could also look for other genes - some of which aren't yet identified - that affect non-medical traits.

"If no limitations are put on, you can have a couple get a prenatal genetic test in the future saying their fetus has ... a 60 percent chance of having breast cancer at the age of 60 and a 30 percent chance of being gay," says Dr. Brian Skotko, a board member of the National Down Syndrome Society.

Since such information would come early enough for an abortion, Skotko says, "The ultimate question for society is, What forms of human variation are valuable?"

Then there's the possibility of direct-to-consumer companies stepping in to fill demand, King said. Couples who go that route may miss out on getting help in understanding the nuances of what the test results really mean, said Dr. Mary Norton, a Stanford professor of obstetrics and gynecology.

Once the prenatal information is available, another question arises, King said: Should a woman be allowed to get an abortion for any reason, even a trivial one like test results about height or eye color? Some state governments have passed laws outlawing abortions on the basis of sex, she said. But it's not clear whether those are constitutional, and a woman might simply not reveal her true reasons for wanting the abortion, King said.

Skotko points out that people use their own personal perspective in deciding what they want for their children. Some couples who are deaf from a genetic condition already use current technology to avoid having children with normal hearing. "It's their lens by which they view the world, and they want a child who views the world through that same lens," he said.

Greely sees other concerns. Will the testing become so routine that women won't even realize they authorized it, and then be faced with information and an abortion decision they didn't necessarily want? How can they be helped to make an informed decision on whether to be tested? And if offered a choice of genes to be tested, or results to be told about, who will help them sort through the long list to decide what they want to know? Few doctors are informed enough, and there aren't enough genetic counselors go around, he said.

The same problem arises later when it comes time to help couples understand what the results really mean, he said. "How do you tell somebody about 100 different genetic things?" he asked. "Who's going to do that? Who's going to listen to that? Who's going to pay for that?"

Results can be complex. For example, how is a woman supposed to balance a 25 percent increase in risk for one disease versus a 15 percent decrease in another, Darnovsky asks.

On a societal level, King said she's concerned that the prenatal diagnosis might become seen as a way of "curing" diseases by aborting fetuses that have them.

Greely recently spoke about prenatal diagnosis before the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical issues, a federal advisory board. Valerie Bonham, executive director, said the commission may pursue the topic further as part of a project on DNA technology. "It's an important and emerging issue," she said.

Norton doesn't believe the arrival of a blood test for DNA analysis would raise all the issues some observers cite. But she thinks it's still a good idea to talk about what the new technology could mean.

"I think that it is always better and helpful and important to bring up all of these issues, whether they are likely to really become reality or not," she said.

"Once you've opened Pandora's box, it's harder to close it."

If you had the option, would you consider having this test? Join the discussion on Facebook!

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. This article was written by Malcolm Ritter, Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

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Fever During Pregnancy May Cause Rise in Austim Risk

Lesley Kennedy — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Research Reveals

Fevers during pregnancy could increase the risk of autism, sutdy shows. Credit: Corbis

Catching a cold -- or even the flu -- when you're pregnant is no big deal, but new research says running a fever could cause an increased risk of developmental issues, including autism, in kids.

HealthDay reports a number of new studies were presented at the recent International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) in San Diego, and, in addition to the fever study, researchers also found C-section births aren't associated with autism, but pregnant women with high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes are at risk.

According to the news service, about one in 110 children in the United States has an autism spectrum disorder, and research shows autism diagnoses are rising, while some studies also suggest a rise in the actual number of autism cases, too.

"Autism is an incredibly complex disorder than now affects nearly 1 percent of children," IMFAR President David Amaral tells HealthDay.

In one study, researchers looked at reports from women who had influenza or fevers during pregnancy, the news service reports, and discovered those who had kids diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder were almost two times more apt to have reported a fever during pregnancy than those who did not have autistic children. Fever during the second trimester seemed to raise the risk even more, HealthDay adds.

In another study, researchers found children of mothers who had diabetes -- both Type 2 and gestational -- chronic hypertension and pre-pregnancy obesity were at a "significant" risk of having a child with autism or a developmental delay, according to HealthDay.

And, in another study, the news service reports, researchers looking at autism in connection to C-sections found no link.

Research presented at meetings should be considered preliminary, HealthDay notes.

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Kneel Before Zod? Most Parents Aren't That Strict, According to Test

Tom Henderson — Mon, 09 May 2011 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Childcare, Behavior, Research Reveals

You may think they're mean but it turns out, most parents aren't that strict. Credit: Getty Images

"Kneel before Zod!"

Say what you will about his plans to kill Superman and take over the world, you have to hand it General Zod. He was very clear about his parenting style.

He's what you may call an "authoritarian" parent. Not like that namby-pamby Jonathan Kent who adopted Superman as infant.

He was the very model of the "permissive" parent, with with all his love, care and praise for young Clark. Maybe what you need is a blend between Jonathan Kent and General Zod.

Like Jor-El.

Superman's birth father clearly loved his son but set boundaries and rules. (None of that interfering with human history or spinning the Earth backwards on its axis.)

This is the "authoritative" style of parenting -- and is possibly the most popular among us earthlings.

Queendom.com of Canada, which offers personality assessments on the Internet, just released the results of its Parenting Style Test. Most parents aspire to be Jor-El. They don't want their children to kneel before them. But they do want them to clean their rooms.

More than 1,000 parents took the style test, and according to a press release posted on PR.com, the vast majority of them said they preferred the authoritative mode of child rearing. This was true across the age spectrum.

It was even true among participants who didn't actually have children. However, those people tended to be a bit delusional, according to the press release. They envisioned themselves as the superhero parents -- buying only expensive organic baby food, staying involved in all their children's activities and shielding them from the influences of pop culture.

"I shall destroy this 'Hannah Montana'!"

Yeah, good luck with that, General Zod.

The survey provides an interesting glimpse into parenting styles and the children they produce, Queendom officials say in the press release.

"Research has shown quite clearly that parenting style can have a significant impact on a child's emotional health," Ilona Jerabek, the president of the company, says in the release.

"Children of authoritative parents tend to be the most socially well-adjusted and to have higher self-esteem," she adds. "Our study revealed that while most parents are happy about their relationship with their children, the least happy group tended to have more authoritarian parents themselves.

"In addition, those who viewed their children as being 'well-behaved' rather than 'mischievous' scored higher on Responsiveness and Team Parenting, and were firmer with their children."

The study also revealed:

· 8 percent of parents would rather give in to their children's desires than risk getting into an argument.
· 8 percent of parents felt that daycare is not appropriate for young children.
· 14 percent of parents want to feed only organic food to their children.
· 21 percent of parents believe that children should be sheltered from any exposure to injustice or others' bad behavior.
· 24 percent of parents consider themselves strict.
· 65 percent of parents will consult with their partner before administering a major punishment.
· 67 percent of parents like the idea of sitting around the dinner table and having their family discuss their day.
· 73 percent of parents said that they trust their children to make the right choices in life.
· 79 percent of parents believe in the old adage, "When you live under my roof, you will live by my rules."
· 91 percent of parents encourage self-expression and individuality in their children.

"The impact of parenting style on children is far-reaching," Jerabek says in the release. "This isn't to say that if a child has adjustment problems or delinquency problems in the future, it should be blamed solely on the parents. However, parents need to understand that from the very beginning, they will be setting the foundation for their children's future behavior and psychological health."

Or as Jor-El once put it, "The son becomes the father ... and the father, the son."

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Every Week Counts Campaign Raises Awareness About Dangers of Early Induced Labor

Laura Stampler — Mon, 09 May 2011 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Pregnancy Health, Research Reveals

Credit: Getty Images

With back pain, insomnia and fingers so swollen they can barely hold a fork for the rare meal that doesn't result in massive heartburn, in the final weeks of a pregnancy, many women are ready to get that baby out and now.

Over the past two decades, instances of induced labor have increased by more than 13 percent, a number that is, for the most part, attributed to a rise in elective, rather than medical, inductions. Although a pregnancy is labeled full-term between 37 and 42 weeks of gestation, studies show that scheduling cesarean sections and inducing labor for non-medical reasons before 39 weeks can prove dangerous to the child's health and development. The March of Dimes and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) have connected with doctors and hospitals across the country in a movement to eliminate unnecessary early births.

"Some people think, hey, it's time, the baby should be fine," said Dr. Scott Berns, the senior vice president of the March of Dimes Chapter Programs.

But babies who are born prior to 39 weeks are more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit, Berns continued. They are also at higher risk of breathing, feeding, weight, hearing and vision complications than babies born after 39 weeks of gestation.

Even though ACOG has readily disseminated this information since the 1970s, the number of early electively-inducted labor and C-sections has only increased. According to the March of Dimes, between 1990 and 2006, the rate of births between 36 and 38 weeks has risen exponentially (between 25 and 50 percent.) Births after 40 weeks of gestation have decreased drastically.

And so explains the reasoning behind the Every Week Counts campaign to educate patients and medical practitioners on the importance of waiting to deliver.

"If a baby needs to be born for a medical reason, that baby should be born," said Dr. George Macones, an OBGYN at Washington University's School of Medicine in St. Louis. "But when I was practicing in Philadelphia, patients put pressure to deliver early for what I call 'social purposes.' "

According to Macones, births of convenience are often requested to accommodate visiting relatives who want to witness the birth or a doctor's busy schedule.

"But there are also problems with dating," Macones said. "What you think might be 37 weeks can really be 36 or 35."

The developmental differences between a 35- and 39-week-old baby is drastic. A baby's brain at 35 weeks, for example, weighs only two-thirds of what it will weight at 39 to 40 weeks. Furthermore, preterm birth (before 37 weeks) costs the United States $26 billion annually, according to the Institute of Medicine.

The California Chapter of the March of Dimes created a downloadable toolkit that assists hospitals nationwide in eliminating non-medically indicated deliveries prior to 39 weeks of gestation.

Hospitals in what are known as the "big five" states (New York, California, Florida, Texas and Illinois), which account for 40 percent of births in the United States, have been specifically targeted for participation. But the initiative has had a much farther reach. The toolkit is downloaded roughly 30 times a week and has been used in at least 35 states.

Oklahoma, which ranks 46th in the nation for infant mortality, began the Every Week Counts program last week.

"We did have a state initiative recognizing that our state is one of the worst," said Barbara O'Brien, senior coordinator of the Oklahoma University Health Sciences Office of Perinatal Continuing Education. Sixty-eight percent of births in Oklahoma occurred before 40 weeks.

"We are almost at 100 percent participation," O'Brien said. Of 60 hospitals statewide, 55 are contributing to the program.

O'Brien said she was shocked to see how frequently cases of induced labor occurred due to elective rather than medical reasons.

There is a dearth of data as to how many scheduled deliveries prior to 39 weeks are elective, Berns said.

"The first thing a hospital will say when you ask the question, their first reaction is, 'Well we don't do that, we don't deliver babies unless they need to be delivered,' " Berns said. "When they actually pull the charts, though, what happens oftentimes is that they'll look and say, 'Gosh, we were at 20 percent.'"

With the Every Week Counts program gaining momentum, medical practitioners hope that education will be the key to a shift in mindset and behavior.

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Can What You Eat During Pregnancy Make Your Baby Fat?

Mary Beth Sammons — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Nutrition: Health, In The News, Diet & Fitness, Research Reveals: Babies, Pregnancy Health, Research Reveals

Watch a video on what to eat during pregnancy.

A mother's diet during pregnancy can alter the DNA of her child. Credit: Keith Brofsky, Getty Images

Moms who pack on the pounds during pregnancy aren't the only ones who end up fat and flabby. It's likely baby will need her own personal trainer and nutrition consultant to stave off obesity if Mom spends nine months giving in to her food cravings.

In a new study, British researchers found that a mother's diet during pregnancy can alter the DNA of her child and increase the risk of obesity, BBC News reports.

The study, to be published in the journal Diabetes, showed that mothers with early pregnancy diets low in carbohydrates, such as sugars and starch, had children with these markers, and that there was a strong link between these markers and a child's obesity at ages 6 and 9. The researchers found kids with these changes were fatter, according to the BBC.

As a result of the findings, the British Heart Foundation called for better nutritional and lifestyle support for pregnant women.

"What is surprising is that it explains a quarter of the difference in the fatness of children six to nine years later," Professor Keith Godfrey, who is from the University of Southampton and led the international study, tells the BBC.

Significantly, the report showed the effect was "considerably greater" than that of birth weight and did not depend on how thin or fat the mother was.

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Pregnant Moms Who Exercise Help Baby's Heart, Too, Study Finds

Mary Beth Sammons — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Diet & Fitness, Pregnancy Health, Health, Research Reveals

Watch a video on exercising during pregnancy!

Pregnant moms who exercise deliver healthier babies, a new study finds. Credit: Getty Images

Not too long ago, it was considered healthy for pregnant moms to take a break from the gym and send their spouses out in the middle of the night for Taco Bell runs. Being with child was a great excuse to slouch on the couch and scarf up chips, ice cream or whatever you had a hankering for -- guilt-free.

But don't stash the Lululemons and Asics away in the closet just yet. A new study suggests pregnant moms who exercise will deliver healthier babies, Time magazine reports.

Researchers at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences say exercise-exposed fetuses have improved cardiovascular activity throughout the nine months in utero, according to a university release. The findings were presented at the American Physiological Society Conference.

Every four weeks throughout the pregnancies of the women studied, the researchers measured the heart rate of 66 moms and their babies from 24 weeks to term, along with breathing, body and mouth movements of moms and babies.The women were grouped according to the frequency, intensity and length of exercise and the physical activity they engaged in from moderate to intense aerobic activity. They exercised 30 minutes per session, three times a week, according to the release.

"This study suggests that a mother who exercises may not only be imparting health benefits to her own heart, but to her developing baby's heart, as well," Linda May, exercise physiologist and anatomist at Kansas City University and co-author of the study, says in the release.

At 32 weeks, researchers started to see changes in heart response in the fetuses of the exercising moms. By 36 weeks, they noted what May calls a "big, significant change" -- a lower heart rate and increased heart rate variability, according to the release.

"If she just does a little bit, it will have benefit," May tells Time. "If she does more, it will help more. It's similar to the exercise response of an adult. It's very cool."

What's more, the results continued to keep the babies' hearts pumped up after birth, she tells the magazine. Some women dropped out of the research due to attrition, but 43 moms brought their babies back when they were 1 month old. Their hearts still showed that pumped-up quality.

"It suggests the result we saw was real, and that it is giving this baby a healthier heart," May tells Time.

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Two Sisters Rule When it Comes to Family Harmony, Study Finds

Lesley Kennedy — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Siblings, In The News, Expert Advice: Family Time, Research Reveals

Two sisters make for the most harmonious family life. Credit: Getty Images

There may be something to the old schoolyard chant "Girls rule, boys drool!"

The U.K. website Bounty reports that it studied 2,116 families with different combos of kids -- both boys and girls -- and two girls makes "for the most harmonious family life as they are unlikely to fight, will play nicely and are generally a pleasure to be around."

The site continues that two girls "rarely annoy their parents with too much noise, confide in their parents and are unlikely to wind each other up or ignore each other."

The worst combo? Four daughters. Drama. City.

Bounty reports one in four parents with four girls say they are not completely happy with their situation and must referee an average of four fights a day.

Bounty's Faye Mingo says parents with bigger families find it difficult to keep the peace.

"The findings were absolutely fascinating -- we often assume little girls behave like angels, and if you have two this certainly seems to be the case," she says on the site. "But the more girls you have, the more of a handful they become -- more so in fact than boys. In fact, going from two to four girls seem to take parents from one extreme to the other -- whilst doubling the amount of boys has much less impact. We expected two, three or four boys to come out as the most difficult combination of children to have, purely because of their energetic and boisterous personalities."

Bounty ranked the best to worst combinations of kids:
1. Two girls
2. One boy and one girl
3. Two boys
4. Three girls
5. Three boys
6. Four boys
7. Two girls and one boy
8. Two boys and one girl
9. Three boys and one girl
10. Three girls and one boy
11. Two boys and two girls
12. Four girls

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Kids With Tourette Syndrome May Have Greater Motor Control

Tom Henderson — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Special Needs, Research Reveals

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Brain scans of kids with Tourette Syndrome revealed they were uniquely wired. Credit: Getty

If your kids cusses up a blue streak, it could be a sign of Tourette Syndrome.

Or, it could be a sign of simply being a kid.

Tourette Syndrome, despite its popular reputation, is not just about spewing obscenities. It is more often characterized by making repeated involuntary sounds and physical tics, such as blinking, grimacing, shrugging, twisting and grunting.

Believe it or not, there's an upside to all this.

A study published online March 24 in the journal Current Biology reveals that children with Tourette Syndrome may have greater motor control as a result of struggling to control their other problems.

"The motor outputs of children with Tourette Syndrome are under greater cognitive control," Stephen Jackson, of the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, says in a press release posted on Science Daily. "You might view this as their being less likely to respond without thinking, or as being less reflexive."

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans of kids with the condition revealed they were uniquely wired when it comes to how different parts of their brains communicate.

In the release, Jackson says the study may help explain why some people with Tourette Syndrome have tics during childhood but manage to conquer them as adults, while others are plagued by tics throughout their lives.

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It's Possible to Get Pregnant Soon After Birth, Study Shows

Mary Beth Sammons — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Pregnancy Health, Research Reveals

If you just had a baby and aren't ready for the next one just yet, best use birth control. Credit: Getty Images

Remember when, shortly after giving birth, your baby doctor marched into the room with a checklist of dos and don'ts to follow during the early postpartum phase?

High on that list was sexual intercourse. Well, it turns out that in addition to the obvious physical recovery concerns, there's good reason to abstain: You could get pregnant again -- like, really soon.

A new study says if you just had a baby and are not in the mood to add on to the nursery just yet, it's best to consider contraception as soon as three weeks after giving birth, Reuters reports.

Though it is very unlikely for new moms who are breast-feeding to conceive, and most women who aren't breast-feeding won't start ovulating until six weeks later, it can happen sooner, researchers warn in the study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

"For women with a new baby, contraception may not be at the top of their list of concerns," Dr. Emily Jackson, one of the researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO) and a family doctor in Los Angeles, tells Reuters. "It is really important that people who provide care to postpartum women bring up the subject of contraceptives, alert women to the fact that they may become fertile soon after having a baby and make sure that women have their chosen method before they become fertile again."

But there is one caveat and that is that using birth control pills right after pregnancy does pose some risk, researchers tell Reuters. That's because the estrogen in the pills and post-pregnancy hormones increase the risk of blood clots. That lessons over time.

The study was purposed to discover at what point the risk of taking contraceptive pills again outweighs the risk of getting pregnant.

The researchers examined the findings of four studies and found that, on average, ovulation started again between 45 and 94 days following birth. But it also was discovered that it can start less than a month later, as early as 25 to 27 days.

Based on these results and data regarding the likelihood of blood clots, the WHO determined the benefits of starting contraceptive pills containing both estrogen and progestin probably outweigh any risks starting at three weeks after birth.

After six weeks, WHO researchers say, there should be no restrictions on contraceptives.

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In Japan, Pregnant Women at Increased Risk for Radiation Exposure, Experts Warn

Mary Beth Sammons — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Pregnancy Health, Expert Advice: Pregnancy, Research Reveals

The risk for radiation poisoning is concerning for pregnant women. Credit: Getty Images

For now, experts say the radiation coming from the malfunctioning nuclear power plant in Japan doesn't pose an immediate health threat, beyond workers at the plant, itself. But, the risk of radiation poisoning could be more of a concern for pregnant women, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Pregnant women are at a greater risk because unborn babies' cells multiply more rapidly than adults, making them more vulnerable to birth defects, cognitive problems and cancer, according to the Journal's health blog.

Exacerbating the risk is the fact that radiation can affect the fetus in a number of different ways, according to the Journal.

Chandon Guha, vice chairman of the radiation oncology department at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, tells the Journal radiation can pass directly to the fetus through the woman's body, similar to a diagnostic X-ray, though the woman's abdomen does shield the fetus from exposure.

But of equal concern are "damaging particles that are released from nuclear accidents and (can) be carried by the wind. If those are inhaled, ingested or absorbed into the skin, they can reach the fetus through the circulatory system of the mother and cause damage," the Journal writes.

The risk of adverse effects on an unborn baby varies at different stages in the pregnancy, with the first 10 to 14 days posing damage that can be fatal, according to the Journal. That's magnified by the fact that the woman might not even know she is pregnant.

For harm to happen, though, a woman would likely require a dose of radiation many times higher than is given in most diagnostic tests, such as a pelvic CT. And fetuses that are exposed to radiation during this period and survive aren't likely to develop related birth defects, brain damage or stunted growth, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

After the 16th week of pregnancy, radiation exposure is unlikely to produce the same kind of problems, unless the dose is equivalent to about 5,000 chest X-rays, the CDC tells the Journal. And, after 26 weeks, the fetus "is no more sensitive to the effects of radiation than are newborns," with birth defects unlikely and "only a slight increase in the risk of having cancer later in life expected," the CDC says.

But very high doses of radiation would have the same ill effects as they would on a baby.

Experts, however, warn that the news coming out of Japan changes frequently, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact levels of radiation.

"For convenience, we assume any radiation dose gives us an increased risk of cancer," Kathryn Higley, head of the department of nuclear engineering and radiation health physics at Oregon State University, tells Time.

In areas experiencing high concentrations of radiation, she adds, "there is no question that really elevated levels do affect the embryo and fetus."

Higley and other experts tell Time pregnant women and parents of little kids would be wise to heed advisories regarding evacuation zones.

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Miscarriage Mourning Lingers, Even After a Healthy Baby is Born, Study Shows

Mary Beth Sammons — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Pregnancy Health, Health, Research Reveals

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Sadness from a miscarriage can last a lifetime. Credit: Getty Images

The grief following a miscarriage or stillborn is a loss that can lead to anxiety and depression, but researchers are now discovering the angst can lead to prolonged psychological distress, even after mothers deliver healthy babies.

The findings turn the spotlight on the importance of knowing what to do and what to say when a woman miscarries. Sentiments, such as "At least you have other children," can be hurtful, Time magazine reports.

"We kind of assumed in the academic world that if you have a healthy baby, everything would be fine," Emma Robertson Blackmore, the study's lead researcher and an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center, tells Time.

Almost 80 percent of the estimated U.S. women who endure a miscarriage or stillbirth get pregnant again, the study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry reports. However, nearly 13 percent of the women who have since delivered healthy babies still had symptoms of depression almost three years, or 33 months, after the birth of the new baby.

The pain is magnified for moms who had two previous losses and then gave birth, with 19 percent of those new moms having symptoms of depression within the same almost three-year time span, according to the study.

Researchers tracked 13,133 pregnant women in the United Kingdom who were participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. They were screened for depression and anxiety throughout their pregnancy and after giving birth. Most reported no miscarriages, but 21 percent said they had experienced at least one.

Researchers tell Time the findings are significant because physicians should screen women who've lost a pregnancy for postpartum mental problems.

"It's expected that women who've suffered a loss might be more anxious in subsequent pregnancies, especially up until the point at which they lost the pregnancy," Blackmore tells the magazine. "Say you had a miscarriage at 15 weeks. You can imagine until you get to that point, you think, 'Oh, my God, is everything going to be OK?' "

She tells Time researchers had expected the symptoms of depression to decrease once that point was reached. But the numbers continue to spike with the numbers of lost pregnancies.

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Intense Prenatal Stress Can Affect Newborns, But Don't Stress About It, Study Says

Tom Henderson — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: In The News, Research Reveals

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Chill out. Your stress could affect your baby. Credit: Getty

Hey, all you pregnant women, mellow out.

If you don't, your baby runs a much greater risk of being hospitalized with a nasty case of God-knows-what.

Relaxed now?

If not, you might want to put in a soothing CD of ocean sounds rather than read about this new study that links prenatal stress to newborn health.

Researchers found women who experience intense stress (divorce, death in the family) during or before pregnancy can look forward to more stress, as their babies are more likely to be sick to the point of hospitalization.

Even women who experienced profound stress almost a year before conceiving a child were 42 percent more likely to have a sick newborn.

"We speculate that this is due to effects of longer-lasting stress following the stressful life event," study researcher Nete Munk Nielsen, an epidemiologist at Statens Serum Institute in Denmark, tells MSNBC.

The study was published last week in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Nielsen and his team looked at health information from 1,670,269 Danish children born between 1977 and 2004. They asked their mothers if they experienced the death of a spouse or a child or had gotten a divorce before or during pregnancy. The children were followed from four weeks after birth until they turned 15.

"Death of a spouse, death of a child and divorce are considered some of the most devastating and stressful life events," Nielsen tells MSNBC.

But why is the stress of the mother visited upon the child?

One reason, Nielsen tells the network, could be that stress affects a person's immune system. Just as cigarettes, alcohol and a poor diet can weaken a mother's immune system, so could stress.

Then, there are maternal stress hormones.

Women produce a lot of them during pregnancy, Nielsen tells MSNBC, so it could be that moms are feeding their babies the leftovers.

Stress hormones also could affect a part of the baby brain that regulates the immune system, Kathleen M. Gustafson, director of fetal biomagnetometry at the University of Kansas Medical Center, tells MSNBC. She wasn't involved with the study, but she says it's a good hypothesis based on the data.

By the way, if a baby born with a weak immune system and an increased chance of being hospitalized aren't enough to keep you up nights, Gustafson adds stressed-out moms also run the risk of premature babies and spontaneous abortions. Oh, and their babies run an increased risk of developmental disabilities and schizophrenia.

One more thing: Don't stress out about being stressed out by everyday stress.

"This publication deals with significant, life-altering events -- not the kind of daily events we call 'stress' like getting stuck in traffic or missing your flight at the airport," Gustafson tells MSNBC. "We need to stress that, if you will. Otherwise, we're causing undue stress to women who are doing their best to maintain a healthy pregnancy."

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