Health News

No HIV Risk with Hormonal Injections
Sexually active women may wonder which form of birth control is the best way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. Condom use is the most effective way to prevent HIV infection, says the nation’s top health agency.
New Liver Won't Prevent a New Baby
Being an organ transplant recipient can mean major changes in your life. Fortunately for women with liver transplants, the possibility of having children isn't one of these.
Non-invasive Down Syndrome Test Is Accurate
For most women, prenatal screening is important. Prenatal screening enables doctors to detect diseases or conditions in a growing baby before it is born.
Pregnancy and Multiple Sclerosis: Are Drugs Safe?
Living with a chronic disease can be difficult. Multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord, is a condition that’s becoming easier to treat because of advances in medicine. Still, many women worry that the disease could prevent them from having children. MS occurs when the body’s immune system eats away at the protective sheath, called myelin, that covers nerves, which results in irreversible deterioration of the nerves. The condition is more common among women, especially women between the ages of 20 and 40 – during childbearing age. ...
Young Teens More Likely to Have Vaginal Delivery
Parents, you can breathe a sigh of relief: teenage pregnancy is becoming less common in the U.S., which is good news because there are many risks associated with teen pregnancy.
Muscular Pregnant Women Have Healthier Placenta
Most women want a shapely, muscular body to enhance their looks. A new study reports that those firm, hard-won muscles also improve placental health in pregnant women.
Mom's Weight & Kids' Test Scores
Shedding pounds before getting pregnant can reduce a number of health risks - but it may also add a few points to your child's reading and math scores. A recent study has found a link between a mother's weight before pregnancy and their children's cognitive skills: obese women's children score lower on math and reading tests when they were 5 to 7 years old. Get to a healthy weight before becoming pregnant. Lead author Rika Tanda , a nursing doctoral candidate at Ohio State University, and colleagues wanted to investigate potential connections between a mother's pre-pregnancy ob...
Test Tube Babies Have More Defects
Advances in fertility medicine have been a blessing for parents who struggled to have children on their own. But one hitch has been a higher rate of birth defects among test tube babies. A large recent study has found an increased rate of birth defects among babies born through assisted reproduction, though different types of assisted reproduction had different higher rates of congenital problems. Discuss the risks of any fertility treatment with your doctor. Michael Davies, PhD, an associate professor at the University of Adelaide's Robinson Institute and School of Paediatrics ...
Reduce Serious Birth Defects
Adding folic acid to tortillas and other products can reduce the risk for birth defects, says a new petition recently filed with a federal agency.  A petition filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) argues that fortifying corn masa flour products with the B vitamin folic acid can help reduce serious birth defects of the brain and spine. The groups behind the petition believe that mandating folic acid fortification of the products will especially help prevent birth defects in one high-risk group: Hispanic babies. Since 1998, when the FDA started regulating folic a...
Better Nurses Produce Healthier Preemies
Every pregnant mom wants to receive quality care from doctors and nurses. According to a new study, delivering your baby at a hospital that’s recognized for nursing excellence can impact your baby’s health. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing studied more than 72,000 very low-birth-weight ( VLBW ) infants (less than 3.3 pounds at birth).   They found that that babies born at hospitals recognized for nursing excellence ( RNE ) were less likely to suffer certain complications, compared to babies at hospitals that haven’t been recognized for nursing...