Stillbirth News and Research

RSS

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.

Study reveals safety data for using antimalarials during first trimester of pregnancy

Malaria is more common and severe in pregnant women, increasing their risk of miscarriage and other adverse outcomes. The adverse consequences of malaria in pregnancy require prompt, safe, and effective treatment.

3 May 2017

Collaboration between Hamilton Robotics and Illumina creates noninvasive streamlined prenatal testing solution

Hamilton Robotics continues to strengthen their ongoing partnership with Illumina, Inc. through the collaborative development of the VeriSeq™ NIPT Solution for high-throughput noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT).

From Hamilton Company 14 Apr 2017

Scientists grow womb lining models that could shed light on early pregnancy events

Scientists from the University of Cambridge have grown miniature functional models of the womb lining in culture, representing a major step forwards in the study of early-stage pregnancy and conditions such as endometriosis.

11 Apr 2017

Miniature models of ‘womb lining’ could provide insights into early pregnancy and menstrual cycle

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have succeeded in growing miniature functional models of the lining of the womb (uterus) in culture.

10 Apr 2017

Treating pregnant women for mild thyroid dysfunction provides no benefit, study finds

A large national study suggests that treating pregnant women for mildly low thyroid function does not improve the IQs of their babies or reduce preterm births or other negative outcomes.

2 Mar 2017

Listeria may pose severe risk of miscarriage in early stages of pregnancy

Listeria, a common food-borne bacterium, may pose a greater risk of miscarriage in the early stages of pregnancy than appreciated, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine studying how pathogens affect fetal development and change the outcome of pregnancy.

21 Feb 2017

Women who participate in clinical trials experience improved health outcomes, research finds

Women who participate in obstetric and gynaecology clinical trials experience improved health outcomes compared to those who are not involved in trials, according to research by Queen Mary University of London.

14 Feb 2017

Childhood obesity starts in the womb?

There is incontrovertible evidence that some harmful drugs and toxins can affect lifelong health. For example, if women take certain drugs in pregnancy, such as thalidomide, there are well documented effects on lifelong health. These have obvious and dramatic effects on the child...

11 Jan 2017

Additional MRI scan during pregnancy could help accurately detect foetal abnormalities

An additional MRI scan during pregnancy could help to more accurately detect foetal abnormalities and give more certainty for parents whose 20-week ultrasound scan showed a potential problem, according to new research by scientists at the University of Sheffield.

15 Dec 2016

Antidepressant use in early pregnancy may increase risk of congenital anomalies in babies or stillbirths

Academics at Swansea University have carried out a dose-response analysis which suggests that pregnant women who take a specific type of antidepressant in early pregnancy have a small but significantly greater risk of having babies with major congenital anomalies (sometimes referred to as birth defects) or stillbirths compared with those who did not take these antidepressants.

2 Dec 2016

Researchers test new drug that shows promise to prevent pre-term birth

Researchers from the University of Adelaide have successfully tested a drug that is showing some early promise in efforts to prevent pre-term birth.

7 Nov 2016

Research highlights need to improve post mortem techniques to better detect cause of stillbirth

Analysis by a Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) led team looking at the effectiveness of different elements of the post mortem process shows that, despite full standard investigation, in the majority of cases of stillbirth the cause remains unknown. The papers highlight the need for further research to improve post mortem techniques to better detect a cause of death.

26 Oct 2016

Doctors urge medical journals to incentivise academics to improve health information on Wikipedia

Wikipedia is the most read source of medical information by the general public, as well as medical students, doctors, and policymakers. Ensuring that it is accurate and complete is therefore of the utmost importance for global health since its content has immediate real-world health consequences.

19 Oct 2016

Making parents healthier before conception could be key to preventing obesity in future generations

The key to preventing obesity in future generations is to make their parents healthier before they conceive, leading health researchers suggest.

13 Oct 2016

Study evaluates long-term safety of infants after maternal MRI exposure

In an analysis that included more than 1.4 million births, exposure to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) during the first trimester of pregnancy compared with nonexposure was not associated with increased risk of harm to the fetus or in early childhood, although gadolinium MRI at any time during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of a broad set of rheumatological, inflammatory, or skin conditions and, possibly, for stillbirth or neonatal death, according to a study appearing in the September 6 issue of JAMA.

6 Sep 2016

Study to evaluate magnitude of health risks caused by Zika virus in pregnant women, infants

The National Institutes of Health and Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, a national scientific research organization linked to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, have begun a multi-country study to evaluate the magnitude of health risks that Zika virus infection poses to pregnant women and their developing fetuses and infants.

22 Jun 2016

Study finds link between pontosubicular necrosis and placental pathology

Pediatric and Developmental Pathology – A stillbirth occurs when a baby is born without any signs of life. Placental pathology is found to be related to the cause of death in a significant number of pregnancies that result in stillbirth

20 Jun 2016

Adequate maternal folate may protect children from future obesity risk

Proper maternal folate levels during pregnancy may protect children from a future risk of obesity, especially those born to obese mothers, according to a study led by researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health.

14 Jun 2016

Seasonal trivalent influenza vaccination during pregnancy may guard against stillbirth

Seasonal influenza vaccination may guard against stillbirth, a new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online suggests. Researchers in Western Australia analyzed data from nearly 60,000 births that occurred during the southern hemisphere's 2012 and 2013 seasonal influenza epidemics, and found that women who received the trivalent influenza vaccine during pregnancy were 51 percent less likely to experience a stillbirth than unvaccinated mothers.

2 Apr 2016

Study assesses acceptability of alternative drug to prevent malaria among pregnant women in Kenya

Researchers at LSTM, working with colleagues at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention USA, the Kenya Medical Research Institute, and from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, have completed a study to assess the acceptability among pregnant women and health providers in Kenya of a new drug as an alternative to the standard drug used to prevent malaria in pregnancy.

21 Mar 2016