Results for search "Premature Birth".
27 Sep
Women who experience pregnancy-related anxiety are more likely to give birth prematurely, researchers say.
Advisors to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will weigh the possibilities and parameters of experiments with artificial wombs for premature human babies.
Scientists have already had some success with the concept in animals.
Infants born three to six weeks early -- considered late preterm -- are at risk for learning problems, but they can be overcome, researchers say.
Preschool attendance and sensitive parenting can help them bridge the gap academically, a new study shows.
"Our findings highlight an opportunity for pediatric providers to offer prevention strategies to parents of late preterm infants to...
About 1 in 5 newborns hospitalized for surgery to treat a life-threatening bowel infection are given opioids for pain relief and some then need methadone to wean off the addictive drugs.
But there is wide variability in use of opioids after surgery in infants, and babies who need methadone tend to remain in the hospital a lot longer, a new study shows.
“Nobody wants a baby to be i...
Black women have significantly more preterm births than white women do, and though almost a third of these extra cases can be explained by heart issues and social factors, the rest remain a mystery.
However, targeting those known factors could improve birth outcomes, a new study suggests. Social determinants of health include factors such as income, education, insurance and access to care...
Steroids are often unnecessarily prescribed to pregnant women thought to be at risk of preterm birth, a new evidence review contends.
As a result, millions of babies are needlessly exposed to long-term health problems associated with steroid use in gestation, such as increased risk of infection and delayed brain development, researchers say.
Steroids can't prevent preterm birth, but...
It's not only a mother's mental health that is tied to the risk for preterm birth — the father's matters, too.
New research found that the risk of premature birth was higher for infants whose mothers or fathers had a psychiatric diagnosis than for those whose parents did not.
Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden analyzed data on all live births to Nordic parents in ...
About half of extremely preterm babies have at least one life-threatening bacterial infection in their bloodstream after 72 hours of life.
Now, new research points to the babies' own gut microbiomes as the source.
Knowing that the most common bacteria in bloodstream infections are also commonly found to colonize the gut without causing disease at first, researchers set out to test...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday formally withdrew its approval of a drug that was meant to prevent preterm births.
Sold as Makena, the drug was first approved in 2011 under the FDA's accelerated approval program, but subsequent research questioned the medication's effectiveness and noted serious side effects that included blood clots and depression.
"It is tragic t...
While an incubator can save the life of a premature baby, it may be contributing to hearing loss in these vulnerable infants.
A new study published March 27 in Frontiers in Pediatrics assessed the sounds in the neonatal intensive care unit, evaluating the impact on newborns.
“The motivation of our multidisciplinary research team concerns the question: why many more premat...
Jennifer Canvasser had never heard of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) before she gave birth to twins three months prematurely in 2011, but she has since devoted her life to raising awareness about this potentially fatal intestinal disease.
Her son Micah developed NEC when he was 6 weeks old and died of complications in December 2012.
He got sick quickly, and there were many ups and ...
Pregnant women will no longer have any drug to prevent preterm birth after the maker of the only available treatment announced Tuesday that it will withdraw its product, Makena, from the market.
Covis Pharma Group's decision follows a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel vote last October that concluded the drug does not actually benefit newborns.
“While we stand by M...
Premature births dropped during lockdowns in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A groundbreaking study, which included a group of mostly high-income countries — including the United States, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Denmark and Switzerland — found there were about 4% fewer preterm births than would...
Pregnant girls who are especially young, those only 10 to 15 years old, face increased risks for complications that include preeclampsia and C-section, according to new research.
Investigators from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas also found that these young patients are more likely to have problems during pregnancy that are made worse by obesity.
Exposure to wildfire smoke can increase the risk of premature birth, new research suggests.
For the study, the researchers reviewed birth certificates and hospital delivery data for more than 2.5 million pregnant women in California from 2007 to 2012, and used satellite images and ZIP codes to compare daily estimates of wildfire smoke intensity.
The study found that from the four we...
Major pregnancy complications, such as preeclampsia and preterm birth, should be recognized as lifelong risk factors for women's heart disease, new research suggests.
Women who experience any of the five major pregnancy complications have an increased risk of ischemic heart disease up to 46 years after delivery, says the study published Feb. 1 in the BMJ.
The five compl...
By the time they're teenagers, babies born prematurely may be getting poorer school grades than their non-preemie peers.
Researchers found that babies born before 34 weeks of pregnancy had lower scores on math and language tests during their teen years compared to kids born at 40 weeks.
However, the study did not find a significant difference in later brain function in babies born b...
Kids who are the youngest in their grade may be overmedicated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a Norwegian researcher who studied prescribing data.
Those who were also born preterm were at particular risk of being overmedicated, said Dr. Christine Strand...
Babies born prematurely who are fed formula may need iron supplementation like their breastfed counterparts, new research suggests.
“Just because a baby is on iron-rich formula, we should not assume all of their iron needs are being met, since iron from the formula may not have the same absorption as iron from breast milk,” said researcher Grace Power. She is a third-year medical stu...
More than 1 in every 10 births in the United States now occur prematurely, and the number of these more dangerous deliveries jumped by 4% during 2021, a new report from the March of Dimes shows.
The premature birth rate has now reached 10.5% of all births — the highest level since 2007, according to the organization focused on maternal and infant health.
In fact, rates of prematu...
A hormone therapy commonly used to prevent preterm births probably isn't effective, a new study reports.
Doctors have been prescribing vaginal progesterone treatments to help at-risk pregnant women delay delivery for as long as possible, researchers said.
But a new study involving more than 1,600 pregnant women with a history of early delivery revealed that vaginal progesterone had ...
Protecting pregnant women from air pollution may improve the birth weight of their babies, a new study suggests.
This is especially important for stressed-out mothers who live in neighborhoods burdened by poor air quality.
In a three-day hearing that began Monday, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee will give the maker of a drug meant to prevent premature births a chance to show why its drug should not be pulled off the market.
FDA officials have
Too much anxiety isn't good for anyone, but a new study suggests it is particularly perilous for pregnant women because it can raise the chances of their child being born early.
Given that finding, the researchers recommended that doctors screen for anxiety during the...
While babies born prematurely may lag behind their elementary school peers, they eventually catch up, British researchers report.
By the end of high school, only the kids born before 32 weeks of gestation were continuing to struggle, according to a new study published online Aug. 17 in the journal
Children born a little early -- before 39 weeks of pregnancy -- are more likely to have symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), new research suggests.
While birth before 37 weeks' gestation has known links to hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention, this study inve...
Women who have inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) should work with a doctor to get it into remission before pregnancy, a new study indicates.
Researchers found that women with Crohn's disease and
Numerous studies have found discrimination can hurt aspects of human health.
Now, new research adds to that the impact of discrimination on the youngest humans by linking discrimination with a heightened risk of underweight and premature infants.
Maternal death rates amo...
A COVID-19 infection might put pregnant women at risk of premature birth, but only if they're in their last trimester, Israeli researchers report.
"The results are encouraging and reassuring that COVID-19 infection during pregnancy is not associated with any type of pregnancy loss," said Dr. Tal Patalon, head of the Kahn-Sagol-Maccabi Research and Innovation Center in Tel Aviv.
Her ...
Decades of research have shown the power of skin-to-skin contact between preemies and their moms, but would the same technique, dubbed "kangaroo care," work with fathers?
Yes, claims a new Australian study that found when dads held their premature babies close to their bare chest, they reported feeling a "s...
Phthalates, chemicals that are typically used to strengthen plastics, are in millions of products people use every day, but a new analysis confirms their link to a higher risk for preterm births.
The largest study to date o...
Preterm infants who are breastfed do better in school and are less likely to develop attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), says a new study.
Preemies have a higher risk of doing poorly in math, reading and other academic skills, previous studies have shown. They're also at greater risk for ADHD.
But starting them off with lots of breast milk appears to blunt this risk an...
A small preliminary study suggests that the health of an expectant mother's gums may affect her likelihood of a preterm birth.
The study compared oral inflammation and microbes in 33 women whose babies were born before 37 weeks of pregnancy, considered
Rates of dangerous high blood pressure problems during pregnancy more than doubled in the United States between 2007 and 2019, a new study finds.
"The increase in pregnancy complications is alarming because these adverse pregnancy outcomes - including hypertension [high blood pressure] in pregnancy, preterm birth and a low birth weight infant - not only adversely influence both mom and ch...
Gum disease has been linked to an increased risk for preterm birth, and now new research suggests that chewing sugar-free gum with xylitol during pregnancy may lower this risk.
The study took place in Malawi, Africa, which has one of the world's highest rates of preterm delivery. Experts are quick t...
So, you're pregnant and battling nausea every day. What harm could come from smoking a joint to settle your stomach?
Plenty, according to a new study that suggests women who use pot while expecting put their infants at risk for some serious health problems.
The problems included
Unvaccinated pregnant women are putting themselves and their baby at risk for serious complications of COVID-19, according to new research out of Scotland.
For women who have the virus within 28 days of their delivery date, those complications include preterm births, stillbirths and newborn deaths. Infant deaths are four times higher among unvaccinated women,
Babies conceived through infertility treatment are more likely to be born early and small.
But there are reasons other than medically assisted reproduction to explain this difference, a
A simple blood test may help spot pregnant women who are at risk for developing preeclampsia -- dangerously high blood pressure during pregnancy -- before it becomes a threat to both mother and child.
Marked by a sudden spike in blood pressure, protein in urine or other problems during pregnancy, preeclampsia occurs in about 1 in 25 pregnancies in the United States, according to the lates...
Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is safe in pregnancy, experts have been saying for months.
Now, a new study adds evidence to support that advice.
"Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is important for preventing severe illness in pregnant people," said study author Dr. Heather Lipkind, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the Yale School of Medic...
When a child has severe health problems, the suffering often extends to the entire family, new research finds.
Using data from a single health insurance provider, the study authors assessed nearly 7,000 children with life-threatening conditions and their families, and compared them to a control group of more than 18,600 children without a life-threatening condition and their families.
...Pregnant women who use hair dyes or straighteners may have relatively lower levels of pregnancy-supporting hormones, a recent study suggests.
Researchers found that among more than 1,000 pregnant women they followed, those who used certain hair products -- dyes, bleaches, relaxers or mous...
Two placenta-related markers could reveal older women's risk of serious pregnancy problems such as stillbirth and premature or very small babies, British researchers say.
They analyzed blood samples and medical data from 527 pregnant U.K. women, including 158 in their 20s; 212 in their 30s; and 157 in their 40s.
A two-minute test can accurately detect vaginal bacteria associated with preterm birth, researchers have found, pointing to a possible way to identify pregnant women at increased risk of early delivery.
In the United States, about one in 10 babies are born preterm, according to the nonprofit March of Dimes. Babies born preterm (before the 37th week of pregnancy) are at increased risk of h...
While anxiety and depression in pregnant women have already been linked to low birth weight and preterm birth, they may also contribute to higher rates of cesarean deliveries.
Researchers called the study among the largest to document a link between mood and anxiety disorders and first-time C-sections among low-risk pregnant women.
"Our findings reinforce the importance of better id...
Pregnant women suffering from COVID-19 with symptoms are more likely to experience complications that call for an emergency delivery, a new study suggests.
On top of facing a slightly higher risk for needing an unexpected cesarean section, women with symptomatic COVID-19 were more likely to need oxygen support and their infants were more likely to need care in a neonatal intensive care un...
Air pollution impacts the youngest humans, with new research linking dirty air to almost 6 million premature births and almost 3 million underweight babies worldwide in 2019.
More than 90% of the world's population lives with polluted outdoor air, a new study points out. And its effects continue through the years: Preemies or children with low birth weight have higher rates of major illne...
Pregnant women at risk for a serious high blood pressure disorder called preeclampsia should take low-dose aspirin after their first trimester, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).
The recommendation, announced Sept. 28, updates and is consistent with the task force's 2014 sta...
Metformin, a commonly prescribed diabetes drug, may help stave off preterm birth among women who develop pregnancy-related high blood pressure.
Preeclampsia is marked by a sudden spike in blood pressure, protein in urine, or other problems during pregnancy. Preterm preeclampsia occurs between 26 and 32 weeks of pregnancy and often leads to early delivery, putting babies at risk. Preemies ...