Dr. John's Health Matters
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The articles posted here are from various sources who are duly acknowledged. I would appreciate being immediately notified, if any copywritten material needs to be removed. This blog is not intended to replace the qualified advice of a licensed health practitioner. Readers should exercise their own judgment. Enjoy, subscribe, participate and tell others :)
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Posts tagged "fetal"
Monday, Aug 31st, 2009 ↓Home birth with midwife safe as hospital →
Aug 31, 2009 (Cbc.ca)—Giving birth at home with a registered midwife can be as safe as a hospital birth for the infant and the mom, according to a Canadian study released Monday.
Midwives provide round-the-clock care for women during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum in hospitals, birthing centres and at the homes of women.
The rate of deaths was about two per 1,000 for planned home births involving midwives as well as deliveries in hospitals involving either midwives or doctors, the researchers found.
“Women planning birth at home experienced reduced risk for all obstetric interventions measured, and similar or reduced risk for adverse maternal outcomes,” such as electronic fetal monitoring and postpartum hemorrhage, Dr. Patricia Janssen from the University of British Columbia and her co-authors wrote in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: pregnant birth safety midwife hospital infant mom mother delivery fetal monitoring postpartum hemorrhage
Moms-to-be Warned Over Use Of Fetal Heart Rate Monitors →
Aug 21, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Mums-to-be are being advised not to use personal monitors (Doppler devices) to listen to their baby’s heartbeat at home over fears that they may lead to delays in seeking help for reduced fetal movements.
In a recent article in the British Medical Journal, Dr Thomas Aust and colleagues from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Arrowe Park Hospital, Wirral describe the case of a 27 year old woman who presented to their labour ward 32 weeks into her first pregnancy with reduced fetal movements.
She had first noted a reduction in her baby’s activity two days earlier but had used her own Doppler device to listen to the heartbeat and reassured herself that everything was normal.
Further monitoring by the antenatal care team was not reassuring and the baby was delivered by Caesarean section later that evening. The baby remained on the special care baby unit for eight weeks and is making steady progress.
A hand-held Doppler device assesses the presence of fetal heart pulsations only at that moment, and it is used by midwives and obstetricians to check for viability or for intermittent monitoring during labour, explain the authors. In untrained hands it is more likely that blood flow through the placenta or the mother’s main blood vessels will be heard.
For full article see link above.
Tags: baby IVF metabolic disease blood pressure glucose level high obesity fat reproductive genes fetal growth nutrients
Fetal Exposure to Traffic Pollution May Affect Asthma Risk →
CINCINNATI, Feb. 16 09 (Medical news) — The likelihood of a child developing asthma may be influenced by prenatal exposure to traffic pollution that induces changes in gene expression, researchers here found.
Pregnant women who had high exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are derived largely from traffic-related air pollutants, were more likely to show signs of methylation of ACSL3, Shuk-mei Ho, Ph.D., of the University of Cincinnati, and colleagues reported online in PLoS ONE.
For full medical article, see link above.
US FDA Safety Bulletin: Blood Pressure Drug Aceon Causes Birth Defects →
On September 3, the FDA approved safety labeling revisions to advise of the risk for fetal and neonatal harm in patients receiving treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors such as perindopril erbumine (Aceon tablets; Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc).
Drugs that act directly on the renin-angiotensin system can cause fetal and neonatal morbidity and death when used in pregnant women. Such drugs include angiotensin II receptor antagonists, renin inhibitors, and ACE inhibitors.
Use of ACE inhibitors during the second and third trimesters has been associated with several dozen published cases of fetal and neonatal injury, including hypotension, neonatal skull hypoplasia, anuria, reversible and irreversible renal failure, and death. In addition, oligohydramnios has been reported in association with fetal limb contractures, craniofacial deformation, and hypoplastic lung development.
For full medical article, see link above.
Tags: Erbumine Aceon Blood pressure Hypertension women pregnancy fetal birth defect children safety risk
Health Canada Warns of Antidepressant Venlafaxine Overdosage, Increased Risk of Fatal Outcome →
OTTAWA, Ontario — October 30, 2008 — Health Canada, along with the manufacturers of extended release (XR) venlafaxine capsules, are informing healthcare professionals of an association between venlafaxine XR overdosage and the increased risk of fatal outcome compared with that observed with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants, but lower than that of tricyclic antidepressants.
For full medical article, see link above.
Tags: venlaflaxine antidepressant ssri drug safety fetal children pregnancy women suicide
Even Low Maternal Lead Levels Linked With Fetal Risk in Select Pregnant Women →
October 28, 2008 (San Diego) (Medscape) — Even maternal blood lead levels less than 10 µg/dL may raise the risk of prematurity or decreased fetal size in a select group of low-risk pregnant women, according to a study presented here at the American Public Health Association 136th Annual Meeting.
This study involved only women whose blood lead concentration was less than 10 µg/dL, the level at and above which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies as high risk, said Motau Zhu, MD, MS, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Community Medicine/Injury Control Research Center at West Virginia University in Morgantown.
However, other investigators have noted an association between low to moderate maternal lead levels and adverse fetal neurologic development and sexual maturation. “Lead in the maternal blood can cross the placenta and enter the fetal circulation,” Dr. Zhu told Medscape Public Health & Prevention.
For full medical article, see link above.
