Maternal

Maternal mental health is a critical, under-recognized factor in the rising maternal mortality rates in the United States, with conditions such as depression and overdose significantly contributing to new mothers’ deaths. Immediate action is required to prioritize and address maternal mental health in healthcare policies.Policy changes, resources essential to reverse public health crisis driving “demise of mothers.”Painting a sobering picture, a research team led by Children’s National Hospital culled years of data…

Five weeks after giving birth to her son, the singer-songwriter Lucy Rose had a pressing question for the other new mothers at her NCT baby group. “I was like: is anyone else’s back killing them?” None of the women were able to empathise but Rose still managed to persuade herself that the excruciating pain she was in must be a normal part of the gruelling postpartum experience.Until a few days later. Rose was lifting her son Otis out of his cot, when “my whole body collapsed, then my back started spasming. That’s probably…

An orca matriarch known as "one of the most prolific female killer whales" on record is presumed dead after nearly a year without a sighting on the West Coast, according to B.C. researchers.T46, also known as Wake, was a transient or Bigg's killer whale thought to have been born in 1966.Jared Towers, a research technician with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and executive director of Bay Cetology, said Wake birthed eight calves during her reproductive years. Her daughters gave birth to 15 grandchildren, and her granddaughters…

Research from the University of Cambridge has found a strong link between Group B Streptococcus (GBS) in the placenta and increased neonatal unit admissions. This challenges the UK’s selective screening approach, contrasting with the routine screening in the USA. An innovative PCR test developed by the researchers could lead to more effective detection and treatment of GBS. A University of Cambridge study reveals that Group B Streptococcus (GBS) in the placenta significantly raises the risk of newborns being admitted to…

This story is part of CBC Health's Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here.The impacts of climate change hit Canada hard in recent years, from the deadly heat dome of 2021 to the country's worst-ever wildfire season last summer. And those devastating environmental disasters provoked a lot of anxiety among pregnant individuals."Pregnancy, even without heat and smoke, is a time when…

Donna Richardson’s pregnancy should have ticked all the boxes for a smooth delivery. At the time, she was a physically active, 30-year-old traffic officer with no underlying health conditions. Her water broke at 40 weeks, the sweet spot for labor and delivery, and her home in Washington State was a quick 15-minute drive away from the hospital. But as Richardson’s contractions intensified, her discomfort quickly escalated into piercing chest pains. “I was screaming at my husband, the nurse, really anyone who would listen,…

Estimates of the effect of employment on well-being (left panel) and self-rated health (right panel) with 95% confidence intervals. The results for single mothers are shown in orange, and the results for partnered mothers are shown in purple. The first row displays the results of our main analysis. The second and third rows show the results for West Germany and East Germany; the fourth and fifth rows show the results for the period from 2005 to 2016…

A committee of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday voted unanimously that a vaccine from Pfizer, given as an injection during pregnancy, is efficacious at protecting infants from severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) disease during the first 6 months of life. If approved by the agency, the vaccine would be a major advance against a disease that is the leading cause of hospitalization of U.S. infants. But troubled by side effect…

Maternal mental health refers to the emotional and psychological well-being of women during pregnancy and after childbirth. It is a critical aspect of women’s health that often goes overlooked, yet can have a profound impact on the mother, the baby, and the family as a whole.The Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health, working in partnership with George Washington University, is releasing the inaugural assessment of state initiatives to tackle maternal mental health. The findings reveal that 42 states have received a…

The analysis reveals that the average length of US pregnancies declined by 0.6 weeks from 1990 to 2020 (from 39.1 to 38.5 weeks) and is shorter than England and the Netherlands. In 2020, only 23% of US births took place at 40+ weeks, compared to 44% in the Netherlands and 40% in England.A recent multi-country analysis of the average pregnancy length and timing of birth in the US, England, and the Netherlands suggests that the US could enhance maternity care outcomes by reducing medical interventions during childbirth.The…