Women who conceive less than 11 months after giving birth have a higher chance of going into labour or being medically induced before 37 weeks of gestation. In addition, the odds of a premature birth are also increased for those who wait three years to have another baby, suggests a new study published in BJOG: An [...]
A study has revealed a new link between low levels of the thyroid hormone thyroxine during pregnancy and risk of schizophrenia in the offspring. Low levels of free thyroxine in pregnant women, referred to as hypothyroxinemia, are associated with abnormalities in cognitive development similar to those in schizophrenia, a neurodevelopmental disorder. Hypothyroxinemia is also associated [...]
Scientists at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have concluded, after careful review of existing evidence, that Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects. In the report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the CDC authors describe a rigorous weighing of evidence using established scientific [...]
Avoidable maternal and child deaths could be greatly reduced in a generation by rapid expansion of essential, highly-cost effective health interventions and services according new research published in The Lancet. Improving pregnancy and delivery care is just one of the three integrated packages of proven interventions which the researchers say will focus on a range [...]
The first set of plans for a new state-of-the-art unit to care for very sick and premature babies in North Wales have been approved by the Welsh government. The outline business case for the new Sub Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Centre (SuRNICC), which will be based at Glan Clwyd Hospital, has been given the green [...]
The conclusions of a three-year project by Public Health Wales’ Health Protection team has been published. The Teenage Pregnancy Reduction report describes a programme of work carried out between 2011 and 2015 aimed at reducing teenage conceptions in Wales. Teenage pregnancy is a possible cause and a consequence of child poverty, which therefore increases the likelihood [...]
The Public Health Wales Observatory has developed a new easy-to-use interactive tool about health and wellbeing in pregnancy and childhood. The Pregnancy and Childhood Surveillance Tool provides information about pregnancy at health board level, and about childhood at local authority level. The tool is an easy way for users to look at indicators like the percentage [...]
