Author Interviews, Baylor College of Medicine Houston, JAMA, OBGYNE, Vaccine Studies / 16.05.2014

Flor M. Munoz, MD Department of Pediatrics Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Flor M. Munoz, MD Department of Pediatrics Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Munoz: 1. Tdap vaccine was safe and well tolerated during pregnancy 2. Women who are pregnant have adequate responses to the Tdap vaccine, similar to those of women who are not pregnant. 3. Antibodies to pertussis are efficiently transferred to the fetus through the placenta so that babies of mothers who were vaccinated during pregnancy had significantly higher concentrations of antibody at birth and up to 2 months of age, when compared to infants of mothers who were vaccinated post-partum. 4. Higher antibody concentrations in the first two months of life are likely to provide protection against pertussis during this period of high vulnerability 5. Infants of mothers who were vaccinated during pregnancy had adequate responses to their routine pertussis vaccines at 2, 4, and 6 months of age, and had expected and adequate responses to their 4th dose of vaccine at 1 year of age. The absolute concentration of antibodies to some of the pertussis antigens might be modestly lower after the primary series of vaccines in some infants of mothers who were vaccinated during pregnancy, but this difference does not persist after the 4th dose. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, CMAJ, OBGYNE / 13.05.2014

Professor, Full SGS Member Director, Clinical Epidemiology Unit Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre G106-2075 Bayview Avenue Toronto, ON Dr. Donald Redelmeier, MD Professor, Full SGS Member Director, Clinical Epidemiology Unit Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Toronto, ON MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Redelmeier: We identified every woman in Ontario, Canada, who gave birth to a newborn baby between 2006 and 2011 and then evaluated each driver for the months before, during, and after pregnancy.  This amounted to about half a million women who accounted for almost 8000 serious crashes that sent the driver to hospital.  We found that the second trimester of pregnancy led to a 42% increase in the risk of a serious motor vehicle crash.  The increased risk included diverse populations, distinct obstetrical cases, different crash characteristics. The risk equated to about twice the population norm but was still below male drivers at this age. (more…)
Author Interviews, Nutrition, OBGYNE / 05.05.2014

Jessica A. Grieger (BSc(hons), R Nutr, PhD) Post-doctoral research fellow Robinson Research Institute, University of AdelaideMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jessica A. Grieger (BSc(hons), R Nutr, PhD) Post-doctoral research fellow Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide   MedicalResearch:  What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Grieger: The study aimed to identify associations between maternal dietary patterns in the 12 months before conception on fetal growth and preterm delivery. We report that a one standard deviation increase in the scores on the high-protein/fruit pattern was associated with decreased likelihood for preterm birth, whereas a one standard deviation increase on the high-fat/sugar/takeaway pattern was associated with increased likelihood for preterm birth as well as shorter gestation and birth length. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, BMJ, OBGYNE / 30.04.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Kate Bramham Division of Women's Health King's College London Women's Health Academic Centre KHP London, SE1 7ER MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Bramham: This meta-analysis of nearly 800,000 pregnancies from 55 studies has shown that women with chronic hypertension have a significantly increased incidence of pregnancy complications including superimposed pre-eclampsia, preterm delivery, low birth weight infants, perinatal loss and neonatal unit admission. (more…)
Author Interviews, CMAJ, OBGYNE / 28.04.2014

Professor Khalid Khan MMEd, MRCOG, MSc, FCPS, MBBS Women's Health Research Unit | Multi-disciplinary Evidence Synthesis Hub The Blizard Institute | 58 Turner Street | London | E1 2ABMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Khalid Khan MMEd, MRCOG, MSc, FCPS, MBBS Women's Health Research Unit | Multi-disciplinary Evidence Synthesis Hub The Blizard Institute | 58 Turner Street | London | E1 2AB MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Prof. Khan: The risk of cesarean section was 12% lower among women undergoing induction of labor in comparison to the one that were managed expectantly. The subgroup comparison showed that the effect was significant in term and post-term however not in preterm gestations. Furthermore, induction of labor was associated with 50% and 14% reduction in risk of fetal death and admission to a neonatal intensive care unit, respectively. (more…)
Author Interviews, OBGYNE, Weight Research / 18.04.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sneha Sridhar, MPH Kaiser Permanente, Division of Research 2000 Broadway, 3rd Floor Oakland, CA  94612 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?   Answer: We found that women whose weight gain during pregnancy exceeded the current Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations were 46% more likely to have an overweight or obese child at ages 2-5, compared to women who met the recommendations. The association was stronger among women who were of normal weight before pregnancy. These normal weight women were more likely to have an overweight or obese child if they gained either below or above the IOM recommendations. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lancet, OBGYNE / 17.04.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Nestor E. Vain M.D. Professor of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires Vice-President, FUNDASAMIN (Foundation for Maternal Infant Health), Argentina Director, Neonatology, Hospital Sanatorio de la Trinidad Palermo and San Isidro, Buenos Aires MedicalResearch.com: What is the background of this study? Prof. Vain: Delayed umbilical cord clamping (DCC) is currently recommended by many professional associations. The main reason is that it decreases the incidence of iron deficiency in infancy, a very serious public health problem in developing countries, but also prevalent in the USA and in western Europe. Besides it has other advantages in premature infants such as better adaptation of the cardiovascular system to extra-uterine life. How does Delayed umbilical cord clamping work?. Approximately 30% of the fetal blood volume is in the placenta at the time of delivery. Waiting for a couple of minutes before clamping the cord allows for a large part of that blood volume to return to the infant. (this process is known as placental transfusion) Despite of these well known facts, and the absence of serious complications, the compliance with the recommendation of delayed umbilical cord clamping is low. Why is that? There may be a variety of reasons but we are certain that one very important one is that the majority of obstetricians and neonatologists believe that to achieve an efficient placental transfusion and to avoid a negative effect from gravity, it is necessary to hold the infant at or below the level of the vagina during those 2 minutes. In that way the procedure is cumbersome and it prolongs unwillingly a separation between the infant and the mother. The believe that the infant needs to be at that low level is based on small studies performed more than 35 years ago. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, OBGYNE, Weight Research / 15.04.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dagfinn Aune MS Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics School of Public Health Imperial College London St. Mary's Campus Norfolk Place, Paddington, London W2 1PG, UK MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining the association between maternal body mass index (BMI) and risk of fetal death, stillbirth, neonatal, perinatal and infant death. We found that the risk of all these outcomes increased with greater BMI in a dose-response fashion. For example even within the high end of what is considered the normal BMI range (BMI of 24-25) there was a 10-20% increase in the relative risk, but the strongest relations were seen for those who were obese and morbidly obese with 30-60% and 2-3 fold increases in the relative risk respectively (depending on the outcome examined). (more…)
OBGYNE, Ovarian Cancer / 15.04.2014

Barbara A. Cohn, Ph.D. Director, Child Health and Development Studies A Project of the Public Health Institute Berkeley, CA 94709MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Barbara A. Cohn, Ph.D. Director, Child Health and Development Studies A Project of the Public Health Institute Berkeley, CA 94709   MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
  • Women with irregular menses had a statistically significant 2.4 fold increase in risk of death due to any form ovarian cancer, and a statistically significant 3-fold increase in risk of death due to late stage serous disease. Consistent with these findings, the incidence of late stage disease at diagnosis, and late stage serous cancer was increased about 2-fold in women with irregular menses.
  • Irregular menses was defined as irregular cycles (variation of 10 days or more) or infrequent cycles (>35 days) or history of annovulatory cycles identified during an in-person interview with women at an average age of 26 years or mentioned in their medical records. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lancet, OBGYNE / 09.04.2014

Enrique F. Schisterman, Ph.D. Chief and Senior Investigator Epidemiology Branch, DIPHR Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Rockville, MD 20854MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Enrique F. Schisterman, Ph.D. Chief and Senior Investigator Epidemiology Branch, DIPHR Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Rockville, MD 20854 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Schisterman: Our results indicate that aspirin is not effective for reducing the chances of pregnancy loss in most cases. For the total number of women in the study, 13 percent of women who took aspirin and became pregnant subsequently experienced another loss, compared with 12 percent who took the placebo. Ultimately, 58 percent of women taking aspirin and 53 percent of the placebo group got pregnant and later gave birth. However, additional research is needed to investigate the finding that women who had experienced a single, recent pregnancy loss (before 4 1/2 months of pregnancy and within the past year) had an increased rate of pregnancy and live birth while on aspirin therapy. Among this group, 78 percent of those who took aspirin became pregnant, compared with 66 percent of those who took the placebo. For this subset of women, 62 percent of the aspirin group and 53 percent of the placebo group gave birth. (more…)
Author Interviews, NEJM, OBGYNE / 27.03.2014

Dr. Hong-Mei Xiao M.D.,Ph.D. Cognition Section Professor of Gynecology，Reproductive Medicine The Institute of Reproduction and Stem Cell Engineering Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University Vice director, Reproduction and Genetics Hospital of CITIC-Xiangya China, Changsha, Tel: 86-731-84373557(O)MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Hong-Mei Xiao  M.D.,Ph.D. Cognition Section Professor of Gynecology，Reproductive Medicine The Institute of Reproduction and Stem Cell Engineering Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University Vice director, Reproduction and Genetics Hospital of CITIC-Xiangya China, Changsha

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Xiao:  The study presents the first cases of human primary infertility due to mutation in a zona pellucida gene. We have identified a homozygous frameshift mutation in ZP1 ( GenBank accession number, KJ489454) resulting in the aberrant ZP1, which affects the formation of zona pellucida. We detected an autosomal-recessive pattern of inherited infertility. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, OBGYNE, Weight Research / 25.03.2014

Dr. Kristy Ward Department of Reproductive Medicine UCSD School of MedicineMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Kristy Ward Department of Reproductive Medicine UCSD School of Medicine   MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of this study? Dr. Ward: As the second leading cause of preventable death, obesity is one of the nation’s most serious public health problems.  Over two-thirds of the US population is currently overweight or obese and the prevalence continues to increase.  A number of studies have linked obesity with an overall elevated risk of cancer and with many individual cancer types. Among obesity related cancers in women, endometrial cancer is most strongly associated with increasing body mass, with 39% of cases in the US attributable to obesity. In patients with clinically severe obesity (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m2), bariatric surgery results in rapid weight loss and has greater long-term success when compared to non-surgical weight loss methods. Surgical weight loss procedures have been found to reduce obesity-related comorbidites and improve outcomes in clinically severe obese populations. In addition to improved cardiovascular risk factors and mitigation of physical symptoms, there is increasing evidence that cancer risk is reduced after bariatric surgery. (more…)
Author Interviews, OBGYNE / 25.03.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with Michael Kimlin Professor of Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation Queensland University of Technology AustraliaMichael Kimlin Professor of Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation Queensland University of Technology Australia MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: The main findings of this study were that women who where classified as having the highest level of sun exposure in our sample had a significantly larger drop in blood folate levels compared to women with lower sun exposures. This was quite a powerful finding, as all women were supplemented with folate and tested so that so that we knew that each sun exposure group had similar average levels of blood folate at the start of the study. We then measured their sun exposure over a week and took a sample of blood at the end of this week to see how the degree of sun exposure affected folate levels. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, JAMA, OBGYNE / 19.03.2014

Shamez Ladhani, MRCPCH PhD Health Protection Services, Immunisation, Hepatitis, and Blood Safety Department, Public Health England, LondonMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Shamez Ladhani, MRCPCH PhD Health Protection Services, Immunisation, Hepatitis, and Blood Safety Department, Public Health England, London   MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Ladhani: Pregnancy was associated with an increased of serious infection by a bacterium called Haemophilus influenzae which is usually associated with respiratory tract infections. Nearly all the H. influenzae were unencapsulated; that is, they did not have an outer sugar capsule which is often required to make the bacterium more virulent. The encapsulated H. influenzae type b (Hib), for example, was the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in your children prior to routine immunisation. We also found that infection with unencapsulated H. influenzae was associated with poor pregnancy outcomes, including miscarriages, stillbirth and premature birth. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Diabetes, Heart Disease, OBGYNE / 18.03.2014

Erica P. Gunderson, PhD, MS, MPH Senior Research Scientist, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Section Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California Oakland, CA 94612-2304MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Erica P. Gunderson, PhD, MS, MPH Senior Research Scientist, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Section Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California Oakland, CA 94612-2304 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Gunderson: The study found that: -   Gestational diabetes is a pregnancy complication that reveals a woman’s greater risk of future heart disease. -   Women who experience gestational diabetes face an increased risk of subclinical atherosclerosis (early heart disease) even if they do not develop type 2 diabetes or the metabolic syndrome years after pregnancy. -   Study participants with a history of gestational diabetes who did not develop diabetes or metabolic syndrome showed a greater carotid artery wall thickness (marker of early atherosclerosis) compared to those who never experienced gestational diabetes.  The vessel narrowing also could not be attributed to obesity or other risk factors for heart disease that were measured before pregnancy. -   Weight gain and blood pressure elevations in women with gestational diabetes were responsible for these differences in the artery wall thickness. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, OBGYNE / 12.03.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Josefin Vikström Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine Faculty of Health Sciences Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Vikström: Our study showed that women with a female infertility factor were more than two times more likely to have been born with a low birth weight (less than 2500g) or small for gestational age compared to women where the cause of infertility was unknown and/or male. (more…)
Alcohol, Author Interviews, BMJ, OBGYNE / 12.03.2014

Camilla Nykjaer, PhD Student School of Food Science and Nutrition University of Leeds, Leeds, UKMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Camilla Nykjaer, PhD Student School of Food Science and Nutrition University of Leeds, Leeds, UK   MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: In our study, there was an association between the mother drinking alcohol during early pregnancy and being born preterm or small for gestational age. Babies of women who drank more than 2 units of alcohol per week in the first trimester were more likely to be born preterm, small for gestational age and with lower birth weight compared to non-drinkers, even after adjusting for a range of confounders including cotinine levels as a biomarker for smoking status. The association with preterm birth was present even in those mothers who reported drinking less than 2 units/week. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Nutrition, OBGYNE / 05.03.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Linda Englund-Ögge Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Institute of Clinical Sciences Sahlgrenska Academy, Sahlgrenska University Hospital Gothenburg, SwedenDr Linda Englund-Ögge Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Institute of Clinical Sciences Sahlgrenska Academy, Sahlgrenska University Hospital Gothenburg, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Women adhering to a prudent* or a traditional** dietary pattern during pregnancy had a significantly reduced risk of preterm delivery, even after adjusting for a range of confounders. The prudent pattern was also significantly associated to lower risk in the nulliparous, in spontaneous and in late preterm delivery. *, characterized by high intake of e.g. vegetables, fruit, whole grains and water to drink. **, characterized by high intake of e.g. boiled potatoes, fish and cooked vegetables. (more…)
Author Interviews, OBGYNE, PLoS / 21.02.2014

Prof. Nicholas J. Wald Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry Queen Mary University of London London, United KingdomMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Nicholas J. Wald Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry Queen Mary University of London London, United Kingdom MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Prof Wald: The percentage of women who become pregnant without having taken folic acid supplements to reduce the risk of a neural tube defect declined from a relatively low proportion (35%) to an even lower one (31%) between 1999 and 2012. Moreover such use of folic acid in some groups of the population is much lower for example 17% in Afro-Caribbean women and 6% in women aged under 20. (more…)
Clots - Coagulation, OBGYNE, Stroke / 20.02.2014

Dr.Hooman Kamel MD Department of Neurology and the Brain and Mind Research Institute Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr.Hooman Kamel MD Department of Neurology and the Brain and Mind Research Institute Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Kamel: The risk of thrombotic events remains higher than normal for twice as long after childbirth as previously thought. However, the absolute risk in any given patient is low, especially after the first 6 weeks. (more…)
Alcohol, Author Interviews, OBGYNE, PLoS / 18.02.2014

MedicalResearch.com: Interview with: Sylvia Lui Tommy’s Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre The University of Manchester MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: The research shows women who drink alcohol at moderate or heavy levels in the early stages of their pregnancy might damage the growth and function of their placenta – the organ responsible for supplying everything that a developing infant needs until birth (more…)
Author Interviews, CMAJ, OBGYNE / 10.02.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Sharon Daniel MD, MPH Physician, Intern in pediatrics at Soroka Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel PhD Candidate and Prof. Amalia Levy (MPH, PhD Epidemiologist, Head of the Department of Public Health Principle Investigator. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel, MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: We tested the risk for miscarriage following the use of NSAIDs (ibuprofen, diclofenac, naproxen, indomethacin, etodolac) on the first trimester of pregnancy. We did not find increased risk among women who took those drugs during the first trimester of pregnancy, although we did find increased risk after the use of indomethacin. We found higher risk after the use of specific NSAIDs (Celecoxib, Rofecoxib, Etoricoxib) which are usually used to treat inflammatory diseases, only the exposure group was very small. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, OBGYNE, Pediatrics / 16.01.2014

Sophie Grigoriadis, MD, MA, PhD, FRCPC Head, Women's Mood and Anxiety Clinic: Reproductive Transitions, Fellowship Director, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Scientist, Sunnybrook Research Institute Adjunct Scientist, Women's College Research Institute, Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of TorontoMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sophie Grigoriadis, MD, MA, PhD, FRCPC Head, Women's Mood and Anxiety Clinic:  Reproductive Transitions, Fellowship Director, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Scientist, Sunnybrook Research Institute Adjunct Scientist, Women's College Research Institute, Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Grigoriadis: Infants of women exposed to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during late pregnancy (but not early) are at risk for developing persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN). PPHN is a condition in which blood pressure remains high in the lungs following birth and which results in breathing difficulties.  The symptoms can range from mild to severe, but the condition can be managed successfully typically after SSRI exposure. It is important to note that the baseline risk for PPHN in the general population is low (about 2 per 1,000 live births), and so the increase in risk with SSRIs still represents a low overall risk for developing PPHN following SSRI exposure in late pregnancy (increasing to approximately 5 per 1,000 live births). This increased risk means that 286 to 351 women would have to be treated with an SSRI during late pregnancy in order to result in 1 additional case of PPHN. (more…)
Author Interviews, MRSA, OBGYNE / 10.01.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Andrea Parriott MPH, PhD Department of Epidemiology Fielding School of Public Health University of California Los Angeles

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Parriott:  We wanted to know whether hospital and provider volume (i.e. the number of deliveries performed by each hospital and provider per quarter) and cesarean section rates were predictors of the risk of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection before discharge from the hospital (after delivering a baby). We did not find an association between any of these variables and risk of MRSA infection. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, JAMA, OBGYNE / 29.12.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael C. Young, M.D. Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics Harvard Medical School Division of Allergy & Immunology Children's Hospital Boston MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Young: We found an association between increased maternal peripregnancy consumption of peanuts/ tree nuts and reduced risk of nut allergies in the offspring. (more…)
Author Interviews, OBGYNE / 21.12.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jean-Louis Serre EA 2493 ‘Pathologie Cellulaire and Génétique, de la Conception à la Naissance’, Université de Versailles, Saint Quentin en Yvelines, France SFGH (Société Française de Génétique Humaine), Villejuif, France and Jean-Pierre Siffroi Commission de Génétique, Fédération Française des CECOS, UMR S933 INSERM/Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris, France MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answers:
  • Anonymous sperm donation may lead to unions between relatives, especially between half-siblings and to an increase of both consanguinity and the frequencies of recessive diseases. We made an evaluation of the actual consequences of anonymous sperm donation in France and we concluded that they can be considered as negligible when compared to those due to false paternities, four times higher.
  • The risk of inadvertent unions between half-sibs is often advocated and we showed that it may be estimated to as few as one case every 10 years. Consequently, the main level of consanguinity in the French population is not modified and unions between first cousins within the sub-population from Mediterranean origin remain the main source of consanguinity.
(more…)
Author Interviews, Mental Health Research, OBGYNE / 19.12.2013

Rada K. Dagher, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, University of Maryland School of Public Health Department of Health Services Administration College Park, MD 20742MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rada K. Dagher, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, University of Maryland School of Public Health Department of Health Services Administration College Park, MD 20742 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Dagher: The main finding of this study is that taking leave from work up to six months after childbirth is associated with a decrease in maternal postpartum depressive symptoms; thus longer maternity leaves may protect against the risk of postpartum depression. We conclude that the 12 week leave duration provided by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 may not be sufficient for women who are at risk or experiencing postpartum depression. Moreover, the unpaid nature of the FMLA makes it harder for mothers with limited financial means to take longer leaves; thus, many of these mothers may have to take leaves that are much shorter in duration than 12 weeks. (more…)
Author Interviews, NEJM, OBGYNE / 06.12.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Aniket D. Kulkarni, M.B., B.S., M.P.H Women's Health and Fertility Branch Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, Georgia MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Kulkarni: Our study estimates the contribution of fertility treatments and natural conception to multiple births. Fertility treatments include IVF and non-IVF treatments. Non-IVF treatments primarily include ovulation induction and ovarian stimulation coupled with timed intercourse or intrauterine insemination (IUI). All estimated proportions were adjusted for maternal age which makes this study unique. The incidence of twin births nearly doubled and the incidence of triplet and higher-order births quadrupled over the last 4 decades. Our study estimates that by 2011, a total of 36% of twin births and 77% of triplet and higher-order births resulted from conception assisted by fertility treatments, after adjusting for maternal age. After initial increase, the incidence of triplet and higher order births decreased by 29% from 1998 to 2011. The decrease in triplet and higher order births has coincided with a 70% reduction in the transfer of 3 or more embryos during IVF and a 33% decrease in the proportion of triplet and higher order births attributable to IVF. The decline in the number of embryos transferred during IVF became possible due to monitoring of ART treatments and outcomes and the work of professional societies, which have repeatedly revised practice guidelines to include recommendations for lowering the number of embryos transferred. In contrast, non-IVF fertility treatments of ovulation induction and ovarian stimulation are estimated to contribute the increasing number of multiple births. Hence there is a need for surveillance of births from non-IVF fertility treatments. (more…)
Author Interviews, Autism, OBGYNE / 01.12.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jakob Christensen Department of Neurology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark; Merete Juul Sørensen Regional Centre of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Aarhus University Hospital Risskov, Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: We found that the risk of autism spectrum disorder was increased by 50% in children of mothers who took antidepressants during pregnancy. However, when we controlled for other factors related to the medication, by comparing with children of mothers with a diagnosis of depression or with un-exposed siblings, the risk was smaller and not significantly increased. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, General Medicine, JAMA, OBGYNE / 26.11.2013

dr_Deanna-KepkaMedicalResearch.com Interview with Deanna Kepka, PhD, MPH   Assistant Professor College of Nursing & Huntsman Cancer Institute University of Utah MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Kepka: Nearly two-thirds, 64.8% (95% CI: 62.2% - 67.3%) of women reporting a hysterectomy also reported a recent Pap test since their hysterectomy and more than half,  58.4% (95% CI: 55.3% - 61.4%)  of women age 65 years and older without a hysterectomy reported a Pap test in the past three years.  Together, this represents approximately 14 million in the United States. (more…)