News Related to Health & Pregnancy

U.S. Gets 'D' in Preterm Birth Report Card

Nov. 17, 2009 -- Seven states improved their grades and two dropped a letter to "F" in the 2009 March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card, in which the U.S. as a whole earned a "D" for the second straight year, a new report says. Idaho, Utah, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts improved their grades from
Read Full Article
Preemies Raise U.S. Infant Mortality Rate

Nov. 3, 2009 -- The high percentage of preterm babies is the main cause of the high infant mortality rate in the U.S., the CDC says in a new report. The U.S. “does a good job of saving babies when they are born preterm,” Marian F. MacDorman, PhD, of the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, t
Read Full Article
Progress in Quest for Group B Strep Vaccine

Oct. 30, 2009 (Philadelphia) -- Researchers are a step closer to developing a vaccine to protect pregnant women against a serious bacterial infection that is a leading cause of death and disability in newborns. The bug is called group B streptococcus, more commonly referred to as group B strep. Preg
Read Full Article
Artificial Insemination Works Better This Way

Oct. 30, 2009 -- Women undergoing artificial insemination who lie on their backs for 15 minutes after the procedure may increase their chances of getting pregnant, according to a new study. During the procedure, officially called intrauterine insemination, the male’s sperm is inseminated into the ut
Read Full Article
Obese Women Retain More Pregnancy Weight

Oct. 21, 2009 -- Gaining no weight during pregnancy or even losing a little weight may be healthier for obese women and their babies than gaining too much weight. In research made public today, the investigators from Kaiser Permanente confirmed that obese women who gain more weight than they should
Read Full Article
U.S. Pregnancy Rate Is Dropping

Oct. 14, 2009 -- The U.S. pregnancy rate dropped by 11% from 1990 to 2005, a new CDC report shows. According to that report, there were an estimated 6.4 million pregnancies in the U.S. in 2005, which works out to a rate of 103.2 pregnancies per 1,000 women ages 15-44, compared to a rate of 115.8 pre
Read Full Article
Aggression in Girls May Be Linked to BPA

Oct. 6, 2009 -- New research suggests a link between prenatal exposure to the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) and increased aggression in girls, but not boys, at age 2. The finding is far from conclusive, but the study is the first human trial to attempt to examine whether BPA exposure in the womb influe
Read Full Article
Heart Defects, Mom's Weight May Be Linked

Oct. 1, 2009 -- Women who are overweight or obese before getting pregnant may be more likely than leaner women to have babies born with heart defects, a new study shows. The study, published in the advance online edition of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, included the mothers of 6
Read Full Article
Treat Gestational Diabetes for Baby's Sake

Sept. 30, 2009 -- Treating pregnant women who have even mild gestational diabetes helps reduce the risk of complications in infants and the women's own risk of blood pressure problems, according to a new study. While gestational diabetes -- defined as having glucose intolerance that first shows up d
Read Full Article
Pregnant Woman Pregnant Again? Maybe Not

Sept. 25, 2009 -- The media have been buzzing with reports of a pregnant woman in Arkansas getting pregnant again, with her babies conceived two and a half weeks apart. Her case might be a rare example of "superfetation," in which a pregnant woman ovulates and winds up with a second pregnancy. But t
Read Full Article