Dr. John's Health Matters
Welcome to Dr. John's Health Matters blog.
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 "pregnant"
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
Exercise is Healthy for Mother and Child During Pregnancy →
Aug 8, 2009 (Mercola.com)—Physicians should recommend low to moderate levels of exercise to their pregnant patients, even if they have not exercised prior to pregnancy, according to a new report. Exercise can strengthen and improve overall musculoskeletal and physiologic health as well as pregnancy related symptoms.
Exercise such as aerobics, impact and nonimpact activities, resistance training and swimming:
- Eases back and other musculoskeletal pain
- Lowers maternal blood pressure
- Reduces swelling
- Improves post-partum mood, including sadness
Sources: 
Eurekalert August 3, 2009
Tags: exercise pregnant pregnancy fetus physical activity strength musculoskeletal aerobic resistance training swimming pain back blood pressure swelling sadness
Pregnancy: Summer Heat Increases Risk Of Amniotic Fluid Level Deficiency →
July 30, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Pregnant women have a higher incidence of insufficient amniotic fluid levels (oligohydramnios) in the summer months due to dehydration, according to a study conducted by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU).
The retrospective population-based study was published in the July issue of Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics. The main objective of the study was to determine whether the summer season is a risk factor for oligohydramnios, by comparing the frequency of amniotic fluid loss during the summer months versus its frequency during the rest of the year.
In the study at Soroka University Medical Center in Beer-Sheva, Israel, the researchers evaluated pregnancies of patients with oligohydramnios that delivered from May to August during the years 1988-2007.
After excluding other causes of fluid loss, such as premature rupture of membranes, intra-uterine growth restriction or malformations, the study determined that higher rates of oligohydramnios were found in the summer months as compared to the rest of the year.
For full article see link above.
Tags: pregnant pregnacy amniotic fluid oligohydramnios summer dehydration loss premature rupture membrane intra-uterine growth restriction malformation water drink
Weight-gain Guidelines For Women Pregnant With Twins →
July 23, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Healthy, normal-weight women pregnant with twins should gain between 37 and 54 pounds, according to research from a Michigan State University professor who helped shape the recently released national guidelines on gestational weight gain.
Barbara Luke, a professor in the College of Human Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology and Department of Epidemiology, helped create the guidelines for the Institute of Medicine. Her research also found overweight women should gain between 31 and 50 pounds, while obese women should gain 25 to 42 pounds.
The parameters are based on a woman’s prepregnancy body mass index.
“This amount and pattern of weight gain has been shown to be associated with the best growth before birth and the healthiest mothers throughout pregnancy,” Luke said. “By setting weight gain goals based on a woman’s prepregnancy BMI, it will be possible to maintain a trajectory of fetal growth for twins that results in more optimal birth weight with lower neonatal morbidity.
For full article see link above.
Risk Of Liver Cancer In Women With Hepatitis B Virus Infection Varies With Number Of Pregnancies →
July 3, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Risk for hepatocellular carcinoma, a primary malignancy of the liver, was statistically significantly higher among women with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection than among women without the virus, according to a new study.
Because hepatocellular carcinoma mostly occurs in men, few women have been included in long-term studies of the association between HBV infection and this carcinoma.
In this study, Chien-Jen Chen, Sc.D., of the Genomics Research Center in Taipei, Taiwan, and colleagues used a nationwide cohort of more than 1.5 million pregnant Taiwanese women tested from 1983 to 2000 to study relationships of HBV infection and parity with hepatocellular risk.
The researchers found that risk for hepatocellular carcinoma during follow-up was statistically significantly higher among pregnant women who had chronic, active, or persistent HBV infections (and even in those who had seroclearance for hepatitis B surface antigen during follow-up) than among women who were not carriers of hepatitis B surface antigen at study entry.
For full article see link above.
