Prenatal News and Research

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Negative impacts of the pandemic, discrimination contribute to decline in infant vaccinations

A new study summarized in a research letter published in JAMA Pediatrics reveals that a number of factors, including negative impacts from the pandemic during pregnancy, health care experiences, and reports of discrimination, made it less likely that infants received their recommended vaccinations in the first months of their lives.

22 Nov 2021

Mothers' caregiving may erase negative effects of stress during pregnancy on infants

A study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry suggests that mothers' sensitive caregiving after giving birth may erase some of the negative effects of stress during pregnancy on newborns.

17 Nov 2021

How low can they go? Rural hospitals weigh keeping obstetric units when births decline

As rural hospitals struggle to stay financially stable, their leaders watch other small facilities close obstetrics units to cut costs.

12 Nov 2021

Study finds significant increase in cannabis use disorder during pregnancy

As more states legalize cannabis (now 37) for medical or recreational purposes its use during pregnancy is increasing, along with the potential for abuse or dependence.

3 Nov 2021

MyHealthyPregnancy app could provide a more nuanced understanding of aspirin use for preeclampsia

Low-dose aspirin during pregnancy can help prevent preeclampsia, a serious, yet common, hypertension disorder - but it is underused among high-risk pregnant patients, potentially due to a communication gap with providers, according to a new study published today in JAMA Network Open.

29 Oct 2021

Postpartum women's experience of social restrictions during COVID-19

A new study published on the medRxiv* preprint server has focused on the effect of various social restrictions or lack of social support on women who delivered and raised babies during the pandemic.

27 Oct 2021

Women and pregnant people understated in studies used to draw up the nutritional guidance

Women and pregnant people are underrepresented in the studies used to draw up the nutritional guidance provided to Americans and Canadians, according to a paper published today in Science Advances.

25 Oct 2021

Depression, anxiety in pregnant women may increase the likelihood of cesarean deliveries

Depression and anxiety in pregnant women may be connected to the type of delivery they have, new research suggests.

20 Oct 2021

Pregnancy constantly overshadowed by insecurity and loneliness during the pandemic

A pregnancy constantly overshadowed by the unknown. That is how women in Sweden who have been pregnant during the pandemic describe it.

18 Oct 2021

Research receives $1.74 million to explore how prenatal alcohol exposure leads to 'anxious' offspring

A researcher at Binghamton University, State University of New York has received a $1.74 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to explore how prenatal alcohol exposure leads to 'anxious' offspring.

15 Oct 2021

UC San Diego researchers receive NIH award to expand the study of developing brains

The National Institutes of Health has awarded researchers at University of California San Diego approximately $30 million over five years to expand and deepen longitudinal studies of the developing brain in children.

14 Oct 2021

Prescriptions for prenatal substance use disorder treatment fell in US during COVID-19 pandemic

Researchers have shown that the number of prescriptions filled out for a treatment associated with improved pregnancy outcomes among individuals with substance use disorder declined in the United States as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continued.

12 Oct 2021

Prenatal maternal distress during COVID linked to alterations in infant brain development

A new study discusses the effects of stress during pregnancy in the pandemic on the developing brain of the infant.

10 Oct 2021

New Maternal and Child Health Research Institute launched to improve national health in Singapore

The SingHealth Duke-NUS Maternal and Child Health Research Institute was launched at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) today by Masagos Zulkifli, Singapore's Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for Health.

8 Oct 2021

Racism a strong factor in Black women’s high rate of premature births, study finds

The tipping point for Dr. Paula Braveman came when a longtime patient of hers at a community clinic in San Francisco's Mission District slipped past the front desk and knocked on her office door to say goodbye. He wouldn't be coming to the clinic anymore, he told her, because he could no longer afford it.

5 Oct 2021

Study reveals how the blood and immune systems develop in prenatal bone marrow

The first comprehensive analysis of how the blood and immune systems develop in prenatal bone marrow has been conducted by scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Newcastle University and their collaborators.

1 Oct 2021

Researchers find potential cure for a previously unknown childhood genetic condition

Describing a previously unknown genetic condition that affects children, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine say they also found a potential method to prevent the gene mutation by administering a drug during pregnancy.

29 Sep 2021

Study finds increase in cannabis use by pregnant women during the pandemic

A Kaiser Permanente analysis of more than 100,000 pregnancies in Northern California finds a 25% increase in the rate of cannabis use early in pregnancy after the pandemic began in spring 2020.

27 Sep 2021

New discovery may offer a promising avenue for study of multiple sclerosis

A surprising discovery may offer a promising new direction in the study of multiple sclerosis and other diseases of hypomyelination – when axons of neurons are not covered sufficiently in fatty sheaths (myelin), which disrupts communication between nerve cells.

23 Sep 2021

Pregnant women who receive COVID-19 vaccine pass high levels of antibodies to their babies

Women who receive the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy pass high levels of antibodies to their babies, a new study finds.

22 Sep 2021