Birth Weight News and Research

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March of Dimes urges all pregnant women to get influenza immunization

Getting a flu shot during pregnancy protects the mom-to-be from what could be a very serious – even fatal – illness and can protect her newborn who is too young to receive his or her own immunization.

7 Sep 2011

Major difference in twin birth weights linked to increased risk of health complications

The first results of a major all-Ireland study of twin pregnancies, led by Perinatal Ireland and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and funded by the Health Research Board, has shown that a major difference in the birth weights among a pair of twin babies results in an increased risk of health complications for both twins.

6 Sep 2011

Urinary protein excretion may contribute to increased risk of kidney failure in blacks

African Americans are four times more likely to develop kidney failure than whites. A new study has found that a condition that occurs when the kidneys are damaged and spill protein into the urine contributes to this increased risk.

26 Aug 2011

Heart Rate Observation System effectively reduces NICU infant mortality

In a long-running randomized study of over 3,000 preterm infants, those whose care included the Heart Rate Observation System, or HeRO monitor, experienced greater than 20 percent reduced mortality, effectively saving one infant's life for every 48 who were monitored.

26 Aug 2011

Children with asthma more likely to have been exposed to tobacco smoking before birth

Children with severe asthma are 3.6 times more likely to have been exposed to tobacco smoking before birth - even without later exposure - than children with a mild form of the disease, according to a multicenter study led by researchers at University of California, San Francisco.

23 Aug 2011

Viewpoints: Brownback's 'snub'; The 'risks' of Medicaid cuts; Congressional alums on debt talks

The governor's inability to stand up to pressure from his own party will slow progress. The rejected grant was also helping to fund information technology intended to make the state's Medicaid eligibility process more efficient and cost effective. Now that project also may be jeopardized (8/11).

12 Aug 2011

Pregnant women lack enough vitamin D despite use of prenatal supplements

Pregnant women taking prenatal supplements may not be getting enough vitamin D, shows a new Vancouver-based study led by the Child & Family Research Institute at BC Children's Hospital that was published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health.

12 Aug 2011

Sexually transmitted diseases more common in women age 40

A Johns Hopkins infectious disease expert is calling for all sexually active American women age 40 and older to get tested for the parasite Trichomonas vaginalis after new study evidence found that the sexually transmitted disease (STD) is more than twice as common in this age group than previously thought.

12 Jul 2011

A 16 pound baby born in Texas

A Texas baby was born with a birth weight of 16 pounds and one ounce. JaMichael Brown's weight was more than double the national average for a newborn and he measures 24 inches long, just a few inches shy of an average one-year-old. He is the biggest baby ever born at Good Shepherd Medical Center in Longview, located on the border between Texas and Louisiana. The hospital has been open since 1938 and last year delivered nearly 2,900 babies.

11 Jul 2011

Study confirms maternal alcohol consumption increases risk of birth outcomes

Heavy alcohol consumption during pregnancy increases the risk of low birth weight, preterm birth and small size for gestational age, confirms a study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

11 Jul 2011

Smoking pregnant mums have smaller unhealthier babies

Professor Nick Macklon of Southampton University says even though most women now understand there is “overwhelming evidence” that smoking during pregnancy is harmful to the developing child, they continue to do so.

7 Jul 2011

Sodium intake during pregnancy alters kidney development in offspring

A new animal study from Europe has drawn an association between pregnant mothers' sodium intake and their newborn's kidney development.

7 Jul 2011

Frozen embryo transfer may not adversely affect neonatal outcome

In the first study, French scientists looked at neonatal outcome in terms of mode of delivery, gestational age, preterm birth rate (less than 37 weeks of gestation), mean child measurements, low birth weight (less than 2,500g) and perinatal mortality. When comparing the cryo singletons to the fresh cohort, the scientists showed that mean birth weight, mean height and head circumference were lower in the fresh population.

6 Jul 2011

Air traffic pollution impacts growth and development of unborn children

A UK academic is calling for a nationwide study into the effects traffic pollution has on asthma sufferers after his own research in Cairo highlighted health problems in children who may even be affected while still in the womb.

6 Jul 2011

Autism Speaks announces significant findings from largest study of twins with ASD

Autism Speaks, the world's largest autism science and advocacy organization, joined in announcing significant findings from the largest known study of twins with autism spectrum disorder.

5 Jul 2011

Anti-depressants during early pregnancy linked to increased risk of autism

Exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors anti-depressants in early pregnancy may modestly increase risk of autism spectrum disorders, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published online in the current issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

5 Jul 2011

New model may help reduce multiple pregnancies in women

Dr Jan Holte told the annual meeting of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology, that if this model were to be applied in all fertility clinics, it had the potential to reduce the twin rates to the level of just under two percent seen in the normal population. Already, another four clinics have started to use the model.

4 Jul 2011

Early metformin treatment may prevent adolescent polycystic ovary syndrome

A recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) found that early, prolonged treatment with the diabetes drug metformin may prevent or delay the development of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in adolescence.

30 Jun 2011

Maternal MS not linked with poor pregnancy or birth outcomes

Canadian researchers have found that maternal multiple sclerosis (MS) is generally not associated with adverse delivery outcomes or risk to their offspring. Full findings now appear in Annals of Neurology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Neurological Association.

27 Jun 2011

Scientists find altering hormone levels change cellular development in brain

In a study that increases the understanding of the link between fetal development and obesity later in life, researchers at Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) found altering the levels of two common hormones, insulin and leptin, in utero changes the cellular development in the region of the brain that regulates appetite.

23 Jun 2011