Stillbirth News and Research

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Stillbirth refers to the death of a baby before or during delivery and after 24 weeks of pregnancy. If a baby dies before 24 weeks of completed pregnancy, the term “miscarriage” or fetal loss applies instead.

Women with low risk pregnancies should be able to choose where they give birth

Women with low risk pregnancies should be able to choose where they give birth, concludes a study published on bmj.com today. Although it shows that first-time mums who opt for a home birth are at a higher risk of adverse outcomes, the overall risk is low in all birth settings.

24 Nov 2011

GAPPS research into causes of preterm births and development of solutions

Thirteen million babies are born prematurely every year, but new funding announced today will allow for pioneering research into the causes of preterm births and the development of solutions so they can be prevented.

8 Nov 2011

Late pregnancy snoring could harm mother and baby alike

Nearly half of pregnant women may develop snoring by their final trimester and this could lead to dangerous health problems for mother and baby, Australian sleep researchers have shown. According to professor of medicine, Colin Sullivan, research found woman who started snoring during the later stages of pregnancy were at increased risk of developing high blood pressure.

27 Oct 2011

Study explores how internet message boards help women after pregnancy loss

Nearly one in six pregnancies end in miscarriage or stillbirth, but parents' losses are frequently minimized or not acknowledged by friends, family or the community.

20 Oct 2011

Action Medical Research announces grants to investigate conditions affecting babies, children

Action Medical Research - the leading UK-wide medical research charity dedicated to helping babies and children - has today announced grants worth more than £1.3 million for top researchers across the country.

13 Oct 2011

Roundup: Brewer defends request for exchange funds; Calif. governor signs maternity benefit bill

Republican Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona said Thursday that despite opposition from legislators from within her own party, she's seeking money from the federal government to implement a key part of the health care overhaul she opposes in order to prepare her state in case the law is upheld.

7 Oct 2011

Pregnant mums taking miscarriage prevention drug decades ago may have put their girls at risk of infertility and cancers

A new study reveals that a drug that was taken by millions of pregnant women decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems. The study shows that many of these daughters are now over 40 and may not even know of their risk if their mothers never realized or told them they had used the drug, a synthetic estrogen called DES or Diethyl stilbesterol.

6 Oct 2011

Women with prior infant death more likely to have subsequent stillbirth

Women whose first pregnancy ended in infant death are significantly more likely to have a subsequent stillbirth finds new research published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

21 Sep 2011

Roxon plans to propagate tough stands on tobacco packaging

Health Minister Nicola Roxon plans to encourage other countries to follow Australia's push for plain-packaged tobacco at a major United Nations summit on chronic diseases today.

19 Sep 2011

A woman's pregnancy outcome can be an indicator of future health conditions

"A woman's pregnancy outcome can be an indicator of future health conditions," stated George R. Saade, M.D., president of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.

14 Sep 2011

Test for ticking biological clock

Researchers from St Andrews University, Scotland have been able to chart the levels of a vital fertility hormone in women of different ages thus essentially detect their biological clocks.

9 Aug 2011

NanoLogix BNP and BNF Quick Test kits detect, identify Group B Strep in four to six hours

NanoLogix, a biotechnology innovator in the rapid detection and identification of live-cell bacteria and microorganisms, announced today that the American Journal of Perinatology has published a peer-reviewed paper from the University of Texas Health Science Center - Houston confirming NanoLogix BioNanoPore (BNP) and BioNanoFilter (BNF) Quick Test technology detect and identify Group B Strep in four to six hours.

8 Aug 2011

Four-year study to test effectiveness of WHO Safe Childbirth program

Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) has been awarded a $14.1 million, four-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to test the effectiveness of an innovative checklist-based childbirth safety program in reducing deaths and improving outcomes of mothers and infants in 120 hospitals in India.

27 Jul 2011

Maternal smoking during pregnancy causes serious birth defects

To dispel any uncertainty about the serious harm caused by smoking to babies and pregnant women, the first-ever comprehensive systematic review of all studies over the past 50 years has established clearly that maternal smoking causes a range of serious birth defects including heart defects, missing/deformed limbs, clubfoot, gastrointestinal disorders, and facial disorders.

12 Jul 2011

Overall risk of stillbirth low among ART children

The group looked at 60,650 singletons in a common Nordic database from ART registers in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden and compared these to a control group of 360,022 naturally conceived (NC) singletons. In both groups 0.4 % of singletons were stillborn, with a definition of stillbirth as a dead child after 22 weeks of gestation.

6 Jul 2011

Fatty diet during pregnancy linked to increased risk of placental inflammation, stillbirth

Eating a high-fat diet during pregnancy increases the chance of stillbirth, according to new research at Oregon Health & Science University. The new data show eating a typical American diet, which is high in fat, decreases blood flow from the mother to the placenta, the temporary organ that nourishes the unborn fetus.

3 Jun 2011

VIDAS TOXO IgG Avidity assay to test for recent Toxoplasma gondii infection receives FDA clearance

On May 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the first test to help determine whether a pregnant woman or a person with swollen lymph nodes testing positive for toxoplasmosis, sometimes known as cat scratch disease, developed the infection within the past four months.

20 May 2011

Opinions: Eliminating TB; HIV prevention trial; Reducing stillbirths; Foreign aid, global stability; Safe injection sites

In a U.S. News & World Report opinion piece, African Health Ministers Aaron Motsoaledi of South Africa, Mphu Ramatlapeng of Lesotho, and Benedict Xaba of Swaziland call upon the international community to join with them in the fight to rid the world of tuberculosis (TB). "That goal might seem overambitious or unrealistic. [But i]t's not," they write

21 Apr 2011

Study finds abnormal fetal circulation as a risk factor for fetal thrombotic vasculopathy

Examination of the placenta can offer answers to the questions that arise following an adverse perinatal outcome, such as stillbirth or intrauterine growth restriction. A placental lesion known as fetal thrombotic vasculopathy (FTV) has been associated with a number of adverse outcomes. By studying placentas with this lesion, researchers hope to determine the risks of such serious complications that affect fetuses and newborns.

19 Apr 2011

Nearly all 2.6 million stillbirths worldwide occur in low-, middle-income countries, Lancet series says

Approximately 2.6 million pregnancies worldwide end in stillbirth - most commonly defined as death in the final trimester - each year, "with the poorest nations worst affected," according to a series of articles published Thursday in the Lancet, BBC reports.

15 Apr 2011