Fetal Development

Micro- and nanoplastics accumulate in preterm birth placentas, but not term placentas, and further investigation is needed to fully understand the impact on fetal development and pregnancy outcomes, findings show.

In this video, Sonika Agarwal, MBBS, MD, FAAN, discusses prognostic and diagnostic dilemmas in fetal neurology.

Drinking any amount of alcohol during pregnancy was associated with changes and delays in fetal brain development, according to data presented at the Radiological Society of North America annual meeting.

Compared with infants born before the COVID-19 pandemic, those born during the pandemic had decreased fetal brain development, which researchers found was linked to higher levels of distress in women giving birth during the pandemic.

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus are at double the risk for gestational diabetes during pregnancy compared with those without SLE, according to data published in The Journal of Rheumatology.

Depression or maternal stress episodes during pregnancy were linked with placental gene modifications that can lead to potential fetal brain programming, according to a study published in Epigenomics.

Exposure to cadmium in the womb may impact the development of asthma and allergic diseases in childhood, according to research presented at the virtual European Respiratory Society International Congress.

Efficacy of hydroxychloroquine to reduce recurrence rate of congenital heart block.

In a cohort of pregnant women with prior maternal congenital heart block, hydroxychloroquine successfully reduced the risk for recurrent fetal blocks by more than 50%, according results from the PATCH trial.

Researchers have found the first associations between BP during pregnancy and placental DNA methylation at genes linked to fetal development and CVD later in life.