http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/health/research/28birth.html?_r=1
Premature single births have been increasing in the United States, mostly among infants delivered by Caesarean section, researchers are reporting. And they say some of the increase may be due to Caesareans that are not medically necessary.
The trend is worrisome because premature babies are at risk for breathing and feeding disorders, delayed brain development, other health problems and death.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/health/04infant.html
High rates of premature birth are the main reason the United States has higher infant mortality than do many other rich countries, government researchers reported Tuesday in their first detailed analysis of a longstanding problem.
In Sweden, for instance, 6.3 percent of births were premature, compared with 12.4 percent in the United States in 2005, the latest year for which international rankings are available. Infant mortality also differed markedly: for every 1,000 births in the United States, 6.9 infants died before they turned 1, compared with 2.4 in Sweden. Twenty-nine other countries also had lower rates.
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Nutrition, Boston University School of Medicine, and Division of General Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02118, USA.
BACKGROUND: At the turn of the 20th century, women commonly died in childbirth due to rachitic pelvis. Although rickets virtually disappeared with the discovery of the hormone vitamin D, recent reports suggest vitamin D deficiency is widespread in industrialized nations. Poor muscular performance is an established symptom of vitamin D deficiency. The current U.S. cesarean birth rate is at an all-time high of 30.2%. We analyzed the relationship between maternal serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] status, and prevalence of primary cesarean section. METHODS: Between 2005 and 2007, we measured maternal and infant serum 25(OH)D at birth and abstracted demographic and medical data from the maternal medical record at an urban teaching hospital (Boston, MA) with 2500 births per year. We enrolled 253 women, of whom 43 (17%) had a primary cesarean. RESULTS: There was an inverse association with having a cesarean section and serum 25(OH)D levels. We found that 28% of women with serum 25(OH)D less than 37.5 nmol/liter had a cesarean section, compared with only 14% of women with 25(OH)D 37.5nmol/liter or greater (P = 0.012). In multivariable logistic regression analysis controlling for race, age, education level, insurance status, and alcohol use, women with 25(OH)D less than 37.5 nmol/liter were almost 4 times as likely to have a cesarean than women with 25(OH)D 37.5 nmol/liter or greater (adjusted odds ratio 3.84; 95% confidence interval 1.71 to 8.62). CONCLUSION: Vitamin D deficiency was associated with increased odds of primary cesarean section.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19106272?ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
In my midwifery practice, I recently reviewed the records of a client who was transferring her care to us midway through her pregnancy. Along with the routine labs that I always encounter, I saw that her previous doctor had checked her vitamin D levels. That same day, as I waited on hold while calling Quest Diagnostics (who processes our clients’ bloodwork and other labs), I listened to an upbeat promotion of a new blood test for vitamin D deficiency. I wondered whether I had missed something in the literature about the importance of checking vitamin D in pregnant women, or whether this was another case of a new popular test with unproven usefulness but intrinsic appeal to clinicians.
Maybe a little of both? Today, I came across a study in the March issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. The researchers report the findings of a small study of the association between maternal blood levels of vitamin D and the risk of having cesarean surgery. They measured the vitamin D blood levels of 253 women within the first 3 days postpartum, conducted interviews about habits such as prenatal vitamin use and alcohol consumption, and gathered personal, medical, and labor and birth information from medical records. After controlling for many variables that could affect cesarean risk, the researchers reported two significant findings:
http://www.givingbirthwithconfidence.org/?p=246
The upswing in the number of Caesarean sections performed in the United States is being paralleled by another trend: rising rates of serious complications in women giving birth.
By examining hospital discharges nationwide, a team of researchers found that rates of kidney failure, respiratory distress syndrome, shock and ventilator use associated with childbirth climbed more than 20 percent from 1998-99 to 2004-05, while rates for pulmonary embolism and blood transfusions rose 52 percent and 92 percent, respectively.
http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/992810.html
Women living in poor countries are 300 times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than if they lived in rich countries, UNICEF said in a report released Thursday in Johannesburg.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090115/hl_afp/healthchildrenwomenunsafrica
Every day in the United States, thousands of women and families experience one of the most joyous occasions in their lifetime — the birth of a child.
That joy is certainly not as often the case in many parts of the world. Women in the least-developed countries are 300 times more likely to die in childbirth or from complications related to pregnancy than women in developed countries.
Half a million women die due to pregnancy or childbirth complications every year.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/01/22/veneman.childbirth/index.html
Vitamin D deficiency greatly increases a pregnant woman’s likelihood of having a Caesarean delivery, U.S. researchers report.
During the two-year study, Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center researchers examined the relationship between vitamin D levels in pregnant women and Caesarean section. Of the 253 women in the study, 43 (17 percent) had a Caesarean section.
The study found that 28 percent of women with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25 (OH) D] less than 37.5 nmol/L had a Caesarean section, compared to 14 percent of women with 25 (OH) D greater than 37.5 nmol/L.
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2008/12/22/vitamin-d-deficit-in-pregnancy-tied-to–caesarean.html
Performing chorionic villus sampling (CVS) for prenatal diagnosis may lead to an increased rate of blood vessel malformations called hemangiomas in infants, according to a review in the November Journal of Craniofacial Surgery. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry.
Dr. Lewis B. Holmes of Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, Boston, reviews past research on the possible link between CVS and the development of hemangiomas, limb defects, and certain other malformations. According to Dr. Holmes, the findings suggest—but do not prove—some possible ways in which CVS might lead to “vascular disruption defects or hemangiomas.”
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/545659/
A large proteomics study on the brains of newborn mice provides more evidence that numbing drugs often used in obstetric or pediatric medicine can have profound and long-term negative effects, even after minimal exposure.
This study highlights the delicate state of the developing nervous system and reinforces the use of caution when administering sedatives, anesthetics, and anti-convulsants to pregnant women or infants.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081211141936.htm
Late preterm birth puts newborns at increased risk for serious problems, according to U.S. researchers.
Dr. Joann Petrini of the March of Dimes and colleagues studied the neurological development of more than 140,00 preterm to full-term babies born between 2000 and 2004. And they found that late preterm babies (those born between 34 weeks and 36 weeks) were more than three times as likely as full-term babies to be diagnosed with cerebral palsy and were also at increased risk for developmental delay or mental retardation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121101430.html
Babies born via cesarean section are more likely to be asthmatic in comparison to babies delivered naturally, according to an article released on December 2, 2008 in Thorax, one of the BMJ Specialist journals.
In the past decades, asthma rates have increased dramatically, paralleling an increase in cesarean section births. The proportion of these procedures has increased from 5% in the 1970s to more than 30% in 2000. However, studies examining the potential link between asthma and cesarean delivery have been inconclusive.
About 3,000 children were followed until the age of 8 years with regard to respiratory health, and this data was compared to the methods of birth. At age 8, 12.4% (362) had been diagnosed with asthma and thus prescribed inhaled steroids. While only 8.5% (247) of the children were born by cesarean, but these children were nearly 80% more likely to have a diagnosis of asthma, in comparison to the children delivered naturally.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/131547.php
Infants born to mothers who develop diabetes during pregnancy are at increased risk for metabolic changes associated with heart attacks and stroke, Chinese researchers report in the journal Pediatrics.
Such children “had significantly higher blood pressure levels and lower HDL ‘good’ cholesterol levels at follow-up,” lead investigator Dr. Wing Hung Tam told Reuters Health.
Tam of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and colleagues studied 63 children born to mothers with diabetes during pregnancy, or gestational diabetes,” and 101 children whose mothers did not have diabetes.
http://www.healthcentral.com/high-blood-pressure/news-277896-66.html
If you need another reason to quit smoking, consider that it may diminish your chances of being a parent or grandparent. Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found that women exposed to second hand smoke, either as adults or children, were significantly more likely to face fertility problems and suffer miscarriages.
An epidemiologic analysis of more than 4,800 non-smoking women showed those who were exposed to second hand smoke six or more hours per day as children and adults faced a 68 percent greater chance of having difficulty getting pregnant and suffering one or more miscarriages. The study is published online in Tobacco Control and is one of the first publications to demonstrate the lasting effects of second hand smoke exposure on women during childbearing years.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081205113932.htm
During labor, the continued presence of a doula – an experienced non-medical female companion who provides continuous labor support – has significant beneficial effects for middle- and upper-class women in childbirth, even when they have their male partner or other family member with them, according to a new study in the journal Birth.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/109350.php
New research indicates that the rates of cesarean deliveries, gestational diabetes, and other pregnancy-related outcomes differ among Asian, Caucasian, and interracial Asian-Caucasian couples.
“Our study demonstrates that interracial Asian-Caucasian couples represent a population with distinct perinatal risks, with differing risks depending upon which parent is of Asian race,” the researchers state in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE4907JP20081001
Mothers or fathers who smoke during pregnancy may create lasting vascular damage for their children, researchers here found. At about age 28, individuals whose mothers smoked during pregnancy had a carotid artery intima-media thickness 13.4 µm greater than those whose mothers did not smoke (P=0.001), found Cuno Uiterwaal, M.D., Ph.D., of the University Medical Center Utrecht, and colleagues.
Those whose fathers smoked had a carotid artery intima-media thickness 12.4 µm greater (P=0.002), the researchers reported online in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association.
The increased thickness was greatest in participants’ whose parents both smoked during pregnancy (P=0.001).
http://www.medpagetoday.com/OBGYN/Pregnancy/11849
Women who have had a miscarriage could be at greater risk of miscarrying again if they are obese, research suggests. A team from London’s St Mary’s Hospital followed the progress of 696 women whose miscarriages were classed as “unexplained” by a specialist clinic. The team told a conference in Canada the risk of a further miscarriage was raised by 73% if the woman was obese. However, an obesity specialist said it was potentially dangerous to try to lose weight when already pregnant.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7625218.stm
Breastfeeding for at least four months helps children breathe more easily and may curb their susceptibility to asthma, reveals research published ahead of print in the journal Thorax.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/128748.php