Obstetrics

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) taken by a woman during pregnancy do not impact her infant's growth during the first year of life, reports a new small study.

Experts convened by the National Institutes of Health for a Consensus Development Conference on Diagnosing Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) have proposed maintaining the current 2-step approach to diagnosis rather than a 1-step process. The panel, comprising 15 experts and 19 speakers, met March 4-9 in Bethesda to examine a report prepared through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Evidence-based Practice Centers program. The assessment was sponsored by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Office of Disease Prevention.

When a patient’s pregnancy test is positive but ultrasound is inconclusive, a stepwise approach is essential to make an accurate-and timely-diagnosis.

Women whose pregnancies are complicated by hyperemesis gravidarum in the second trimester are at a much higher risk of placental dysfunction disorders such as placental abruption and small-for-gestational age (SGA) babies, according to a study appearing in the January 30, 2013, issue of BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

A study presented on February 16 at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) annual meeting in San Francisco, California, found that around-the-clock labor and delivery (L & D) coverage decreased the odds of cesarean delivery in certain populations of patients in California.

A new American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) committee opinion (no. 554) addresses the detection and prevention of sexual coercion and violence within women’s relationships. The opinion was developed by the Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women.

Interventions intended to help pregnant women lose weight may not prevent large-for-gestational-age (LGA) newborns, a study of 2618 women has found.

Healthcare providers aren't giving overweight women proper advice on healthy gestational weight gain and physical activity.

Long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) are not only highly effective, they are appropriate under a variety of conditions. Here, the authors present 3 scenarios in which patients would benefit from LARC methods.

Rh disease may get all the headlines, but immunologic reactions to the Kell antigen can be just as lethal to a K1-positive fetus-if not more so.

Once a common cause of perinatal death, Rhesus (Rh) disease is now quite rare in pregnant women, thanks in large part to advances in ultrasound and DNA technology. But the fact that roughly 7 out of every 1,000 liveborn infants are delivered by Rh-sensitized women emphasizes the need for more vigorous preventive efforts and up-to-date management skills.