Pregnancy News
March 14, 2007
Douching Before Pregnancy May Prevent Preterm Birth
Preliminary results from a new study suggest that African American women who douche 6 months before – not during – pregnancy may reduce their risk of giving birth prematurely. The study was inspired by the fact that – although the numbers of decreasing – about half of all African American women still douche regularly. This reflects the generally larger number of women who douche amongst minority and low-income women, which the researchers hint could play a role in the disparities of pregnancy outcomes for these women. Dr. Dawn P. Misra of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, and Britton Trabert of the University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle speculated that poorer pregnancy outcome would be seen in the women who douched, as the practice has been shown to increase the rate of infection by introducing bacteria into the reproductive tracts. What they found was that vaginal douching fewer than three times per month, 6 months before pregnancy was associated with a 37% reduced risk of preterm birth when compared with women who did not douche at all. On the other hand, women who continued the practice during pregnancy were again at increased risk of preterm delivery.
Source: Reuters.com
March 13, 2007
Routine Interventions Cause More Harm Than Good
The results of a two-year review of the effects of maternity care show that routine interventions in a woman’s pregnancy and birth, including continuous electronic fetal monitoring, labor induction and cesarean surgery, fail to improve the health of expectant mothers and their babies and in fact may even put them at risk. The primary findings of the review are as follows:
- When women are induced without medical necessity are at greater risk of suffering from intrapartum fever, needing forceps, vacuum extraction and cesarean section.
- Inducing labor presents additional risks to the baby – increasing the risk of fetal distress, a serious labor complication called shoulder dystocia, jaundice and breathing difficulties.
- Electronic fetal monitors is common for low-risk women, despite the fact that they fail to prevent fetal death, incidences of cerebral palsy and the number of admissions to the neonatal intensive care unit more generally. Continuous monitoring can also put pregnant women at increased risk for instrumental delivery, cesarean section and infection.
- Cesarean sections have been found to increase the risk of infection, hemorrhage requiring transfusion, surgical injuries, and complications from anesthesia, chronic pain, adhesions, hysterectomy, pulmonary embolism, placental problems with future pregnancies and even death.
Source: MedicalNewsToday.com
March 11, 2007
Overweight Couples Less Likely to Become Pregnant
According to a new study published in the European medical journal, Human Reproduction, couples in which both partners are obese are more likely to have difficulty getting pregnant than couples whose weight falls under the normal range. The study, conducted in Denmark, followed 47,835 couples between 1996 and 2002. Of the croup, 6.8% were obese men, 8.2% were obese women, and 1.4% of couples were both obese; on the other hand, 53% were men of normal weight, and 68% were women of a normal weight. What they found was that when both couples were obese, the likelihood that they would have to wait for than one year to achieve pregnancy was nearly three times higher than for couples in which both partners were of a normal weight. If both partners were overweight, they were still some 1.4 times more likely to have to wait to become pregnant. Cecilia Ramlau-Hansen, who led the study, discussed the findings: “We found there was a relationship between the BMI (body mass index) of the couple and their fertility among the men and women in different BMI combinations. We found a higher risk of sub-fertility related to overweight and obesity for both men and women, particularly for couples where both were overweight.” However, she also added that “Underweight combined with obese partners, especially underweight men, seemed to cause additional pregnancy delays. The combination of an underweight man and obese woman was associated with a risk of sub-fertility nearly four times higher (3.79) compared to a normal weight couple, although we have to treat this figure with caution as there were only 22 couples in this category.” However, she did conceed that more research is needed to ensure no other factors – such as genetics or disease – are at play.
Source: MedicalNewsToday.com
