Can we encourage patients to continue taking complementary and alternative (CAM) treatments for antenatal depression or should we be firmly discouraging them from doing so? We already know from surveys that 11% of primary care patients with anxiety and depression are taking complementary or alternative therapies, which is around the same proportion of people who [read the full story…]
Postpartum haemorrhages are serious birth complications that represent one of the leading causes of maternal mortality and morbidity. While incidences of postpartum haemorrhages have risen steadily in the past decades (in the US alone, numbers increased from 2.3% to 2.9% from 1994 to 2006), there is little evidence as to why. Antidepressants – especially selective [read the full story…]
We often hear about postnatal depression, a well-recognised depressive episode in mothers occurring after the birth of their baby. However, 54.2% of women suffering from postnatal depression actually developed their depressive symptoms before or during pregnancy (Burt and Quezada, 2009). Around 10% of pregnant mothers have depression and this number increases each trimester. Women are less likely [read the full story…]
30% of domestic violence (DV) begins during pregnancy and is most prevalent within the working and lower middle socio-economic classes. It is a major public health concern and abuse during pregnancy is of particular concern due to the health risks to both mother and child. It can cause physical and psychological harm to women, and [read the full story…]
The prevalence of autistic spectrum disorders has risen dramatically in the last thirty years, with recent estimates suggesting that 1 in 88 children in the United States have an autistic spectrum disorder. This increasing prevalence could simply be due to changes in the diagnosis of such disorders and so be of little interest. However, there [read the full story…]
The risks of congenital malformations and impact of cognitive development after foetal exposure to anti-epileptic drugs has been known for some time. Sodium valproate is a frequently used drug for epilepsy and other disorders (including bipolar disorder and migraine). The researchers aimed to examine the link between foetal exposure and subsequent development of autism. Methods [read the full story…]
The potential dangers of illegal drug use are never far from the media spotlight, and drug use during pregnancy may be associated with particular health problems both for the Mother and baby. Drug use during pregnancy has been linked with a number of negative outcomes, for example, cocaine use has been linked with an increased [read the full story…]
Human pregnancy is considered to be full-term when it lasts between 37-42 weeks. Anything shorter is considered to be a pre-term birth and anything longer is considered post-term. Longer pregnancies can be a risk to both the mother and infant and so labour tends to be induced if a pregnancy goes on past 42 weeks. [read the full story…]
For many mums-to-be it is advised that taking regular folic acid supplements during pregnancy, and whilst trying to conceive, has significant health benefits for their unborn baby, namely around reducing the risk of neural tube defects such as spina bifida (NHS, 2013). However, do these supplements also affect the risk of the unborn baby developing [read the full story…]
For many mums-to-be it is advised that taking regular folic acid supplements during pregnancy, and whilst trying to conceive, has significant health benefits for their unborn baby, namely around reducing the risk of neural tube defects such as spina bifida (NHS, 2013). However, do these supplements also affect the risk of the unborn baby developing [read the full story…]
