Obstetrics News and Research

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Gynecology and obstetrics are twin subjects that deal with the female reproductive system. While obstetrics deals with pregnancy and its associated procedures and complications, gynaecology involves treating women who are not pregnant.

Mother's high beef consumption while pregnant associated with lower sperm counts in her son

Researchers sought to examine the relationship between semen quality and long-term risks from growth hormones and other chemicals in beef.

28 Mar 2007

New procedure to estimate reproductive potential of individual embryos

To address the high rate of multiple births resulting from in-vitro-fertilization (IVF), researchers at Yale School of Medicine and McGill University have developed a procedure that estimates the reproductive potential of individual embryos, possibly leading to a decrease in multiple-infant births and a higher success rate in women undergoing IVF.

19 Mar 2007

New Jersey hospital launches program encouraging expectant couples to bank adult stem cells

Livingston, New Jersey-based Saint Barnabas Medical Center officials on Tuesday announced that the clinic has partnered with LifebankUSA to launch a program devoted to encouraging expectant couples to bank both umbilical cord blood and placental stem cells, the Newark Star-Ledger reports.

11 Mar 2007

Impact of maternal obesity on the NHS

A new study reveals the true costs of the increase in maternal obesity and how it is impinging on service delivery in the NHS

8 Mar 2007

About 26% of U.S. girls, women ages 14 to 59 have HPV

Of U.S. women and girls ages 14 to 59, about 24.9 million women, or 26.8%, have the human papillomavirus, and about 2% of women and girls in the age group have HPV strains 16 or 18, which together cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases, according to a study published in the Feb. 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Wall Street Journal reports.

1 Mar 2007

Vitamin D deficiency widespread among women during pregnancy

Even regular use of prenatal multivitamin supplements is not adequate to prevent vitamin D insufficiency, University of Pittsburgh researchers report in the current issue of the Journal of Nutrition, the publication of the American Society for Nutrition.

28 Feb 2007

Women who donate eggs for stem cell research face few health risks

Women who donate their eggs for stem cell research or in vitro fertilization are not at increased risk of health complications, and most of the risks are a result of the hormones used to stimulate their bodies to release more than one egg, according to a report commissioned by the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine and released by the Institute of Medicine, Bloomberg reports.

13 Feb 2007

After age 40 pregnant mums have three times the risk of stillbirth

According to researchers at Yale School of Medicine in the United States, women who have a baby when they are aged 40 or over are three times more likely to experience a stillbirth.

12 Feb 2007

Prospective cardiac monitoring in fetuses at risk of congenital heart block

There is an increased risk of fetal heart problems when mothers carry particular antibodies associated with rheumatic diseases, according to an abstract presented by Yale School of Medicine researchers at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Conference in San Francisco.

11 Feb 2007

African-American women three times more likely to deliver babies prematurely

African-American women are three times more likely to deliver babies three to 17 weeks prematurely than Caucasian women, according to a review of Missouri birth statistics by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

11 Feb 2007

Pregnancy at 40 and beyond is an independent risk factor for stillbirth

Pregnant patients of advanced maternal age (AMA) are at increased risk for a multitude of pregnancy complications, including gestational diabetes mellitus, preeclampsia, placenta previa and intrauterine growth restriction.

11 Feb 2007

New diagnostic technology for routine prenatal genetic testing

Research studies demonstrating the viability of an approach to routinely detect the presence of fetal DNA in a mother's blood to accurately diagnose or rule out genetic defects -- as early as the first trimester -- was presented today at the 27th Annual Meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine being held in San Francisco.

11 Feb 2007

Current arguments for reform of UK Abortion Act

The 40th anniversary in October this year of the passing of the UK Abortion Act is certain to be marked by attempts to reopen the debate about lowering the upper limit for legal terminations. In a special report in this week's British Medical Journal, journalist Jonathan Gornall examines current arguments for reform.

11 Feb 2007

Spring births increase likelihood of preterm birth

Women who become pregnant in spring are more vulnerable to preterm birth than those who conceive in other seasons, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh.

5 Feb 2007

Poor mums more likely to become obese

A new study in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, reveals how women from economically-disadvantaged backgrounds are most at risk of developing maternal obesity.

4 Feb 2007

Damage to muscle during vaginal deliveries connected with pelvic organ prolapse

An increase among women electing to have caesarean sections in recent years has been due in large part to a concern that giving birth vaginally will lead to a fallen bladder and uterus in later life, and the issue has been hotly debated in the medical community.

31 Jan 2007