Pregnant Women

Many women seeking treatment for opioid use disorder, particularly pregnant women, face significant barriers to receiving treatment, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.

COVID-19 may increase the risk for blot clots in women who are pregnant or taking estrogen with birth control or hormone therapy, and more research is needed on the underlying mechanisms that could potentially drive risk, researchers wrote.

“Hepatitis-free future.” is this year’s World Hepatitis Day theme. The focus is the prevention of hepatitis B transmission between mothers and newborns.

The results of five randomized controlled trials showed greater and faster rates of virologic suppression among pregnant women with HIV who took dolutegravir compared to those who took efavirenz, researchers reported at AIDS 2020.

More pregnant women and new mothers are experiencing anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to survey results published in Frontiers in Global Women’s Health.

Women with severe or recurrent depression were more likely to relapse during pregnancy after antidepressant discontinuation, according to results of a systematic review and meta-analysis published in Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Less than 3% of asymptomatic pregnant women who presented for childbirth at one of three hospitals in southern Connecticut tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, according to a research letter published in JAMA.

Postpartum women were more likely to use fatal suicide attempt methods and have more distinct and serious psychopathology than pregnant women, according to results of a study conducted in Japan and published in Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

This month’s cover story on pregnant women with inflammatory bowel disease covered all the relevant points. The important message is that the “enemy” here is not the medication — it’s the active Crohn’s disease or active ulcerative colitis. Treating the inflammation is of paramount importance, to maximize the chance of good pregnancy outcomes. The physicians interviewed said to develop a plan where you’re continuing the biologic throughout pregnancy. Trying to develop a plan to hold the drug in the last half of pregnancy makes things more complex, so it’s easier for patients and for providers to remember to just continue the biologic throughout pregnancy. There is a safety concern that if you do hold the biologic during the last half or last third of pregnancy, that will increase the risk for postpartum flare. The last thing a new mother needs is a flare of her IBD. It’s better all-around to just continue the medication. The main exceptions to this recommendation are methotrexate, which is totally contraindicated, and then to a lesser extent tofacitinib (Xeljanz, Pfizer) just because we don’t have enough data on it.

Inflammatory bowel disease is somewhat unique compared with other immune-mediated diseases. Its closest cousins, like rheumatoid arthritis, usually affect patients later in life.