Pregnancy News and Research

Latest Pregnancy News and Research

Over $1.6 million grants to support research on opioid pain medication use during pregnancy

An interdisciplinary team of experts from Indiana University, along with other researchers across the U.S. and Sweden, have received grants totaling over $1.6 million to study the effects that opioid pain medications prescribed during pregnancy have on children.

8 Aug 2019

Wearable motion sensors could potentially reduce stillbirths

The thump, thump of a baby's heartbeat is a milestone in any pregnancy. Now, researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology have developed a technique that could allow expectant parents to hear their baby's heartbeat continuously at home with a non-invasive and safe device that is potentially more accurate than any fetal heartrate monitor currently available in the market.

7 Aug 2019

Developing safe imaging tools to better identify the risk of preterm birth

Dr. Helen Feltovich is a high-risk obstetrician, also known as a maternal-fetal doctor, and she sees women when they are at risk of a preterm birth. Preterm birth recently surpassed infectious diseases as the leading cause of death in children under five years old. It's a critical global problem, with no easy fix.

7 Aug 2019

Specialized psychiatric care helps woman with bipolar depression to achieve motherhood

Rebecca Jo Manzella, 31, of Mount Clemens, was diagnosed with bipolar depression her junior year of high school. Lithium, the medication doctors prescribed for her, was the game changer. Its therapeutic benefits allowed her to return to her studies and continue to maintain healthy relationships with family and friends.

6 Aug 2019

Questionnaire-based algorithm predicts preeclampsia risk in pregnant woman

Research presented today at the 71st AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo shows that a questionnaire-based algorithm predicts the risk of a pregnant woman developing preeclampsia.

6 Aug 2019

Expectant parents' emotional struggles linked to behavioral problems in 2-year-olds

Expectant parents' emotional struggles predict emotional and behavioral problems in 2-year-olds, new research shows. The same study reveals, for the first time, that couple conflict helps explain emotional problems in very young children.

5 Aug 2019

iTHRIV and community groups partner to address health needs across Virginia

Four biomedical research projects to improve the health of Virginians will be funded by the integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (iTHRIV), a Clinical Translational Science Award Hub.

5 Aug 2019

Winter babies at 'higher risk of mental health disorders'

Babies born in winter may be at an increased risk of developing mental health disorders, as expectant mothers have higher levels of salivary cortisol.

5 Aug 2019

Study shows urgent need for long-term follow up of Zika-exposed infants

Even as the Zika virus raged in Brazil, clinicians observed a curious phenomenon: all babies born to mothers infected with the virus during pregnancy were not affected with the characteristic birth anomalies caused by this infection.

5 Aug 2019

Paradoxical outcomes for infants exposed to Zika in utero

In the midst of an unprecedented Zika crisis in Brazil, there were a few flickers of hope: Some babies appeared to be normal at birth, free of devastating birth defects that affected other Brazilian children exposed to the virus in utero.

5 Aug 2019

Study shows how 'natural-killer' cells may help women avoid placental accreta

One of the most dangerous risks expectant mothers face as their delivery date approaches is a surprisingly common condition with a little-known name: placental accreta.

5 Aug 2019

Study finds worrisome increase in medical imaging during pregnancy

Use of medical imaging during pregnancy increased significantly in the United States, a new study has found, with nearly a four-fold rise over the last two decades in the number of women undergoing computed tomography CT scans, which expose mothers and fetuses to radiation. Pregnant women are warned to minimize radiation exposure.

1 Aug 2019

Early neuroimaging essential for Zika-exposed infants

Seventy-one of 110 Brazilian infants at the highest risk for experiencing problems due to exposure to the Zika virus in the womb experienced a wide spectrum of brain abnormalities, including calcifications and malformations in cortical development, according to a study published July 31, 2019 in JAMA Network Open.

31 Jul 2019

Women with preeclampsia five times more likely to have end-stage kidney disease

Women with preeclampsia during pregnancy have a five-fold increased risk of end stage kidney disease (ESKD) later in life compared to women who don’t develop preeclampsia during pregnancy, according to a new study published this week in PLOS Medicine by Ali Khashan of University College Cork, Ireland, and colleagues at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden and Liverpool University, UK.

From PLOS ONE 31 Jul 2019