With two out of three Americans overweight today, it's getting harder to believe that all this extra fat is a simple problem of self-indulgence or poor personal discipline. In fact, researchers and clinicians from various sciences say unequivocally that it's not.
Light to moderate consumption of alcohol during early pregnancy does not seem to increase the risk for behavioral problems among offspring, according to study findings.
Although scientists and clinicians long have suspected that stress influences fertility, a recent study provides evidence that high levels of a biologic marker for stress, alpha-amylase, reduce a woman's chances of conceiving.
Nearly half of women 18 to 44 years old use prescription drugs. Therefore clinicians must be prepared to counsel these patients regarding medication use during conception and pregnancy.
A Virginia woman was treated by her gynecologist for abdominal pain and other symptoms related to endometriosis and underwent abdominal laparoscopy.
Researchers from West Los Angeles Medical Center studied 541,000 population-based records from Kaiser Permanente Southern California to determine whether gestational diabetes mellitus recurred in subsequent pregnancies and whether recurrence was modified by race or ethnicity.
Being born even a few weeks early increases the risk for respiratory distress syndrome, and other respiratory morbidities, according to new study findings.
Women who conceive again within 6 months of a miscarriage have better odds of a successful second pregnancy than women who wait longer, according to a retrospective, population-based study from the United Kingdom.
More than half of all obstetricians and gynecologists have been sued for medical malpractice before reaching the age of 40, according to an AMA survey.
Investigators at the consortium Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network have developed a new system to assign the cause of death in stillbirths.
A New York woman delivered her child in 2003 with a shoulder dystocia. After delivery, the infant was diagnosed with a brachial plexus injury and subsequently was found to have brain damage, with delays in speech and swallowing. In her lawsuit, the woman claimed that the 8 or 9 minutes that it took to relieve the dystocia resulted in asphyxiation of the infant.
According to the findings of the 5-year, randomized, controlled, multicenter embolization versus hysterectomy (EMMY) trial, uterine artery embolization may be an alternative to hysterectomy for some women with symptomatic uterine fibroids.
The more weight a woman gains during pregnancy, the heavier her baby will be at birth, regardless of genetic factors, according to a population-based cohort study.
Urinary tract injuries complicate approximately 1% of all gynecologic procedures, with a ratio of 5 bladder injuries to each ureteral injury. Additionally, urinary tract injuries occur in 0.28% of all cesarean deliveries with a 3-fold risk in repeat cesarean delivery.
Although cigarette smoking decreases slightly the risk for developing preeclampsia, a new study by Canadian researchers suggests that smokers who do develop the condition are at higher risk for the complications associated with the disorder.
After my colleagues and I implemented a highly successful obstetric safety program at Yale New Haven Hospital to reduce adverse outcomes, we naively thought we could easily duplicate our safety efforts in the operating room for gynecologic surgeries by implementing a checklist such as one we had read about in an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The 6-month postponement of the proposed 21% reduction in Medicare physician rates should have gone farther, according to ACOG leaders.
Compared with planned hospital births, planned home births are associated with fewer maternal interventions such as operative delivery, episiostomy, epidural analgesia, and electronic fetal heart rate monitoring.
Contraceptive counseling is a frequent and essential component of clinical care delivered by ob/gyns. It is critical for an ob/gyn to not only counsel women on the efficacy of various contraceptive methods but also to discuss the return to fertility after cessation of those contraceptives.
Postmenopausal women who take fish oil supplements may have a one-third lower risk for developing breast cancer than those who don't use supplements, according to study results.
A plaintiff in one case alleged that the defendants were negligent by failing to monitor fetal growth and appropriately estimate fetal weight and position; failing to perform a caesarean delivery and prevent birth trauma during labor and delivery; failing to recognize the signs and symptoms of fetal distress; and negligently using oxytocin in the presence of fetal distress.
New guideslines proposed by the US Preventive Services Task Force sponsored by the Agency for Health Research and Quality would increase the number of women eligible for bone density tests to detect osteoporosis.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology has issued updated guidelines on the use of aromatase inhibitors and tamoxifen for women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.
Among menopausal women who are overweight or obese, an intensive diet and exercise program can significantly reduce the incidence and severity of hot flushes, according to a trial.
A microbicide gel may become the new tool for AIDS and herpes prevention among high-risk women, according to results of a groundbreaking study.
Women with unintended pregnancies are more likely than women with intentional pregnancies to continue or initiate unhealthy behaviors after they know they are pregnant.
Older adults simultaneously taking beta blockers and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, widely prescribed for urinary tract infections, appeared to be more at risk for hyperkalemia requiring hospitalization than cohorts taking beta blockers and amoxicillin.
The oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug dexketoprofen (approved for use in the United Kingdom) given preoperatively and intrauterine lidocaine work equally well to relieve the pain associated with fractional curettage, research shows.
The first potential new prescription weight-loss pill to reach the US market in more than a decade is effective and well tolerated, according to a manufacturer's new drug application, but potential safety issues have stalled its approval by the FDA.
There is no evidence that prescribing cholesterol-lowering statins to patients at risk for, but without, heart disease reduces their chances for early death, according to a meta-analysis.