Prenatal Care
Homelessness during pregnancy tied to poor maternal, infant health outcomes
Women who reported experiencing homelessness during the year before giving birth were more likely to have delayed prenatal care and develop hypertension, diabetes and postpartum depression vs. women who reported adequate housing, data show.
Frequent prenatal care visits may reduce adolescent cigarette use during pregnancy
BOSTON — Adolescent mothers with pre-pregnancy depression were at higher risk for e-cigarette and cigarette use during late pregnancy vs. those without pre-pregnancy depression, according to data presented at the CHEST Annual Meeting.
COVID-19 risk perception lowered prenatal care utilization for Indigenous women
Indigenous pregnant women living in Mexico were less likely to attend antenatal appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic because of perceived fear of infection, according to study results published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.
Iron deficiency ‘very common’ among healthy, low-risk pregnant women
Approximately four of five healthy pregnant women in Ireland were iron deficient during their third trimester despite none of the women presenting as anemic during the first trimester, according to a large longitudinal analysis.
Prenatal cannabis use in California nearly doubled amid legalization from 2012 to 2022
From 2012 to 2022, prenatal cannabis use increased across race, ethnicity and age groups for pregnant women in Northern California, where cannabis was legalized in 2016 and legal cannabis sales began in 2018, according to a research letter.
Study: Metabolic markers at birth may predict risk for sudden infant death syndrome
Researchers identified metabolic markers from routine newborn screenings that were associated with sudden infant death syndrome and built a model that could predict the probability of SIDS, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics.
Spanish-speaking patients place high value on language-concordant prenatal clinicians
Women with Spanish language preferences strongly preferred prenatal care clinicians with the highest level of Spanish language proficiency along with positive clinician-patient interpersonal dynamics, researchers reported.
Lack of prenatal care, testing fueling rise in congenital syphilis-related stillbirths
The number of congenital syphilis-related stillbirths increased annually from 2016 to 2022 in the U.S. while the proportion of cases resulting in stillbirth remained stable, researchers reported in Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Top in women’s health: Drop in births, fertility and prenatal care; fetal antigen test
From 2022 to 2023, U.S. birth and fertility rates dropped while the percentage of women receiving no prenatal care rose, according to a report from the CDC.
CDC: Birth rates falling, with fewer women receiving prenatal care
In the U.S., birth and general fertility rates dropped while the percentage of women receiving no prenatal care rose from 2022 to 2023, according to a recent CDC birth trends report.