Smoke exposure during pregnancy damages a baby’s blood pressure control, which may explain why such babies’ risk of cot death is higher, say experts.
Maternal smoking remains one of the biggest risk factors for cot death. A team at Sweden’s Karolinksa Institute found smoke-exposed babies had abnormal surges in blood pressure, even when sleeping undisturbed in their cots. These surges put extra demand on the heart, making it pump faster and harder, the journal Hypertension says. Read the rest of this entry »
Breastfeeding a child may lower a woman’s risk of developing Metabolic Syndrome, a condition linked to heart disease and diabetes in women, according to a Kaiser Permanente study that was published online ahead of print and will appear in the February issue of Diabetes, a journal of the American Diabetes Association.
The protective association was even stronger for women who had gestational diabetes during pregnancy, according to the study’s lead author, Erica Gunderson, Read the rest of this entry »
Australian researchers have identified a link between allergic asthma in 3 to 5 year-old children and exposure to folic acid that their birth mothers took as supplements during late pregnancy. They said the timing of when folic acid is taken in pregnancy might be important.
The study was the work of Dr Michael Davies, associate professor with the Research Centre for the Early Origins of Health and Disease at the Robinson Institute in the University of Adelaide, and colleagues, and is published online in the 15 November issue of American Journal of Epidemiology. Read the rest of this entry »
Smoking during pregnancy significantly increases the risk of having a child with behavioural problems, according to UK and US researchers.
Writing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, they say the problems can be evident in children as young as three years old.
They believe smoking in pregnancy may damage the developing structure of the baby’s brain.
One expert said it was another strong reason for mothers to give up smoking. Read the rest of this entry »
White wine can dramatically reduce the chances of a successful pregnancy for women undergoing IVF, scientists have warned.
They also told men to avoid beer to maximise their chances of becoming a father.
A large-scale study of couples in their 30s found that even low levels of alcohol consumption can increase the risk of miscarriage or an embryo not implanting properly in the womb.
Sharing just one bottle of wine a week could cut a couple’s chances of having a baby by 26 per cent. Read the rest of this entry »
UK doctors say a treatment for heavy periods caused by fibroids can seriously harm a subsequent pregnancy.
An Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital study looked at the outcomes of 215 pregnancies following uterine artery embolisation (UAE) treatment.
The researchers found much higher rates of miscarriage, caesareans and heavy bleeding after delivery, and call for caution in recommending the treatment.
The study appears in the journal, The Obstetrician and Gynaecologist.
UAE has been available as a treatment in the UK since 1995. Read the rest of this entry »
