HomeObstetrics
Obstetrics
Extreme heat in pregnancy can affect future life of baby – SA review
Climate change is a massive public health threat, with increasing temperatures being linked to deteriorating health, especially in vulnerable populations and including pregnant women...
UK flags risks of epilepsy drug during pregnancy
After a major safety review triggered by a recent study in Europe, Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MRHA) has prohibited the dispensing of migraine...
Heat in sub-Saharan Africa tied to miscarriage risk – UKZN study
A study by University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) scientists has found evidence linking maternal heat exposure – during the month before conception – with miscarriage,...
Rahima Moosa Hospital again under fire over patient treatment
Gauteng Health has denied allegations that a pregnant patient was badly treated or forced to sleep in chairs and on the floor at Rahima...
Florida passes law allowing C-sections out of hospitals
American doctors have warned of safely risks after a law recently passed in Florida that will allow some Caesarean sections to take place outside...
Second antibiotic not needed after C-section – Pretoria study
A local study that investigated the impact of kefazolin plus metronidazole compared with kefazolin alone on postpartum infection rates in women undergoing Caesarean section...
EMA suspends preterm birth drugs over possible cancer risk
The European Medicine Agency’s safety committee has recommended the suspension of the marketing authorisations for medicines containing 17-hydroxyprogesterone caproate (17-OHPC) in the European Union, after reviews...
Written consent now a must for pelvic exams at US hospitals
American hospitals must now obtain written informed consent from patients before they undergo intimate physical exams, including those performed under anaesthesia – otherwise they...
UK inquiry hears of mothers' maternity trauma
A British parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma has called for a national plan to improve maternity care, declaring that good care is “the exception rather than the...
SA’s 'too high' Caesarean birth rate must be reversed
Although a Caesarean section can save the lives of mother and baby – and is essential in complicated labours or if the baby is...
Health Department weather alert app warns pregnant women
Negative effects of climate change are predicted to intensify as the world continues to warm up, and in efforts to alert pregnant women –...
Hormones safe for menopause – US study dispels old flawed findings
The benefits of hormone therapy for the treatment of menopause symptoms outweigh the risks, and what is available now is very different from two...
Depression risk ‘40% higher’ in perimenopause – UK meta-analysis
British researchers have suggested that women who are approaching menopause have a 40% higher risk of suffering from anxiety and depression than those with...
Top job for disgraced former hospital CEO
Former Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital CEO Dr Nozuko Mkabayi, slammed by former Health Ombudsman Professor Malegapuru Makgoba for her appalling performance during her...
Alarm as syphilis rates rise worldwide, including in SA
One of the oldest diseases in the world, syphilis is making an alarming comeback, with leading scientists describing it as a public health crisis...
Huge IVF cost disparities between private and public sectors
As more women choose to have children later in life, and with the increase of same-sex marriages, there has been an rise in the...
Woman (81) dies after removal of ‘stone baby’ foetus
A Brazilian woman has died after surgery to remove an ultra-rare “stone baby” she had been carrying inside her for around 56 years, the...
Social media fuels birth control backlash
Medical experts are becoming increasingly concerned about searches for “birth control” on TikTok or Instagram unleashing a cascade of misleading videos vilifying hormonal contraception...
Autism risk may rise with in-utero anti-seizure meds – US study
A study by American researchers suggests that the incidence of autism spectrum disorder is higher among children exposed to topiramate in the second half...
Plunging global fertility rates will lead to big world divide
Fertility rates in nearly all countries will be too low to sustain population levels by the end of the century, and most of the...
SA's maternal mortality rate declines, health barometer shows
The Western Cape is the only province that meets the UN Sustainable Development Goal target of reducing maternal mortality to below 70 maternal deaths...
Are pregnant women taking too many supplements?
Antenatal care providers should reconsider widespread prescriptions for pregnancy supplements, and promote whole food diets in pregnancy instead, write Linda Gallo and Shelley Wilkinson...
Covid-19’s tragic impact on maternal care in SA
In 2021, pregnant South African women died at a rate not seen for almost a decade, shows a new government report that exposes the...
How Kenyan midwives help prevent postpartum haemorrhaging
Every year, about 14m women lose so much blood during childbirth that they could die: about 70 000 do.
The condition – postpartum haemorrhage (PPH)...
New look at why placenta may not separate at birth – UCLA study
Research by a team from the University of California might change how clinicians and scientists understand, diagnose and treat placenta accreta spectrum disorder, a...
Benzodiazepine in pregnancy tied to miscarriage risk – Taiwan study
A nationwide study in Taiwan found that benzodiazepine use during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of miscarriage – for both long-acting and...
Low rate of Down’s syndrome screening in SA , say experts
South African researchers have suggested that the rate of prenatal screening for trisomy 21 (the chromosomal defect that leads to the condition Down’s syndrome)...
Two-minute delay in cord clamping helps preterm babies' survival rates, experts find
Recent research shows that if doctors wait at least two minutes after a baby’s birth to clamp the umbilical cord, they significantly improve in-hospital...
UK women undergo simultaneous Caesarean and cancer surgery
In a documented first, four women giving birth by Caesarean section at a London hospital had surgery – at the same time – to...
Excessive pregnancy kilos linked to earlier deaths – US study
Researchers, who analysed more than 50 years of pregnancy and mortality data, found that excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) was linked to increased risk...
Placenta-eating trend takes off with gummies and smoothies
American Allie Landis makes a living dehydrating placentas for new mothers to eat. As founder of Lancaster Placenta Company, a lab in her Pennsylvania...
Smoking in pregnancy triples risk of prem babies – UK study
Smoking during pregnancy is twice as bad as previously thought, with a threefold risk of premature birth and with babies born to these mothers...
Gynaes ‘play it safe’ as medico-legal claims rise
Each time Dr Franelise Hofmeyr has a consultation with a patient at Cape Town’s Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital she doesn’t simply jot down...
Bara stillbirth rate 17 times the national average – Wits study
Neonatal deaths at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital were as much as 12 times the national average, while the stillbirth rate among mothers whose pregnancy...
Little benefit from magnesium for preterm birth CP risk – NZ study
Researchers suggest there is little benefit in using intravenous magnesium sulphate preterm birth – at 30 to 34 weeks’ gestation – after their randomised...
Call for more action as one premature baby born every two seconds globally
Preterm birth has long been a huge, worldwide health issue, which can have serious health consequences – like respiratory and cardiac problems, among others...
Malawi study explores injectable versus oral iron for anaemia in pregnancy
Numerous meta-analyses show possible greater haematological benefit of intravenous (or injectable) iron compared with oral iron, which is the more common therapy for treatment...
US approves blood test to predict pre-eclampsia in pregnancy
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a blood test that can identify pregnant women who are at imminent risk of developing...
Tokophobia levels rise, linked to early births – US study
Preterm births have, for the first time, been linked to tokophobia – a pathological fear of childbirth – with an online survey finding that...
Recall of foetal scalp electrodes poses risks, warn experts
A global shortage of foetal scalp electrodes could reduce access to internal heart rate monitoring, potentially leading to more perinatal deaths and other complications,...