According to MSNBC, the national rate of pregnancy-related deaths is on the rise. A new government study found that between 1998 and 2005, the rate of pregnancy-related deaths was 14.5 per 100,000 live births. While it may appear low, those figures are higher than the past few decades. In 1979 where were just under 11 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the extent which the rise reflects a true elevation in women is unclear. Chronic medical conditions are exacerbated by pregnancy, including heart disease. Deaths from actual birth such as hemorrhaging are declining. Even high blood pressure that may occur during pregnancy appears to be declining in rates. Another factor is reporting of deaths, as a new cause coding system was implemented in 1999 and a system before it did not have a pregnancy or maternal checkbox. For…
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Pregnancy Related Deaths On the Rise in the U.S.
March 25, 2011Study Finds Women With Rheumatoid Arthritis Have Issues Conceiving
March 24, 2011According to MSNBC, a study by the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute in Oakland California found that rheumatoid arthritis may hinder conception in some women. The study published in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism, included 68,000 Danish women who became pregnant between 1996 and 2002, of those 112 had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis before pregnancy. The lead researcher Dr. Damini Jawaheer said that women who are trying to become pregnant are often told to stop using disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs such as methotrexate and infliximab as some can cause birth defects. The research team said it is unclear if the condition or stopping medication causes a flare-up in rheumatoid arthritis that somehow hinders a woman’s ability to conceive. In general, women with rheumatoid arthritis take longer to conceive and are less likely to get pregnant within 2 months of trying. During the study, 48 percent of women without RA conceived…
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Study Finds No Acupuncture Benefit to Women in Labor
March 23, 2011According to MSNBC, a study published in the obstetrics journal BJOG found evidence that acupuncture may not ease the pain of childbirth. The findings found that among 105 first-time moms having labor induction showed no benefit from acupuncture given to them before contractions started. The study warns new moms-to-be that acupuncture may not be the answer for a drug-free labor. Out of 105 first-time moms, two-thirds ended up requesting epidural pain medication during labor compared to 56 percent of women who received a placebo version of the procedure and 77 percent of those given no acupuncture treatment at all. This study followed two research studies in South Korea and the UK, which analyzed 10 previous clinical trials of acupuncture for labor pain and found no evidence that the procedure eases pain during birthing. The lead researcher on the current study said that he believed overwhelming research done by different groups…
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