Category Archives: Birth Defects

European Study Shows Birth Defects Risks Increase With Depakote

Posted on July 28, 2011 by

According to Seedol, an European study conducted at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands has shown that Depakote increases the risks of several types of birth injuries such as spina bifida, heart defects and craniosynostosis by up to twelve times. The European researchers concluded that women who used Abbott Laboratories anti-seizure drug during their first trimester may have unknowingly increased the risk of birth defects in their infants. Depakote’s birth defects have caused the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to issue a Depakote black box warning in 2006 and have lead to numerous birth injury lawsuits. Birth injury lawyers have argued that Abbott Laboratories failed to warn mothers about the increased risk of Depakote-related brain injury and may be liable for economic damages, non-economic damages and possibly punitive damages in cases where an infant has suffered permanent birth defects. The European study examined nearly 100,000 pregnancies and found that…
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Brain Injury In Infants May Increase Risk of Psychiatric Disorders

Posted on July 26, 2011 by

According to Health Imaging, an infant born prematurely with a brain injury viewable on a neonatal ultrasound may be at higher risk for developing various psychiatric disorders, depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. A study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry found that preterm infants face higher risks of brain injury due to increased vascular and cellular vulnerabilities of the laminar and fetal brain. The researchers studied associations between perinatal brain injury and motor and cognitive deficits. The study followed 1.105 preterm participants who underwent multiple neonatal ultrasounds. The low-birth-weight participants were also followed as part of the Neonatal Brain Hemorrhage Study, with follow-up lasting 16 years and including 458 eligible participants who were evaluated according to the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for children-IV. The DISC-IVP found that many participants showed a threshold of greater than 3 percent within oppositional defiant disorder, specific phobias, ADHD and social phobias. Relative to…
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Burning Coal Indoors May Lead to Birth Defects

Posted on July 13, 2011 by

According to Fox News, burning coal indoors may lead to birth defects. Chinese researchers Zhiwen Li and colleagues at the Peking University Health Science Center found that the odds of having birth defects such as neural tube defects are 60 percent higher for children whose mothers inhaled coal smoke than for the children of unexposed mothers. A World Health Organization report estimated that 90 percent of rural homes use coal for cooking and heating. While coal is inexpensive compared to other energy sources, it has been linked to various illnesses including lung cancer and respiratory diseases. The researchers said that indoor air pollution caused by coal burning at home is a major public health concern. Coal smoke contains chemicals known to cause health problems, including arsenic, carbon monoxide and lead. The Chinese researchers focused on rural counties that rely on use of coal for cooking and heating and where the…
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