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Women who are vegans and vegetarians most affected, study says
Women who do not have enough vitamin B12 in their blood before and after conception have a greater chance of having a baby with brain or spinal cord defects, a new study says.
Most at risk may be vegans and vegetarians, since B12 is far more common [...]

Pregnant women who develop breast cancer have the same risks as other young breast cancer patients that their cancer will recur, spread or lead to death, according to a study published Monday in the journal Cancer, the AP/Arizona Daily Star reports. The study, which is the largest to examine the impact of breast cancer on [...]

A new study finds women who develop breast cancer while pregnant or soon afterwards do not experience any differences in disease severity or likelihood of survival compared to other women with breast cancer. The study is published in the March 15, 2009 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
So-called pregnancy-associated breast [...]

Babies born via cesarean section are more likely to be asthmatic in comparison to babies delivered naturally, according to an article released on December 2, 2008 in Thorax, one of the BMJ Specialist journals.
In the past decades, asthma rates have increased dramatically, paralleling an increase in cesarean section births. The proportion of these procedures has [...]

Cryptorchidism, the congenital birth defect in which one or both testicles fail to descend into the scrotum, has been associated with certain genetic mutations, including a syndrome which is also a common cause of infertility, according to a study released on November 19, 2008 in JAMA.
As the most common congenital birth defect in male children, [...]

A stunning discovery based on epigenetics (the inheritance of propensities acquired in the womb) reveals that consuming choline – a nutrient found in eggs and other foods – during pregnancy may significantly affect breast cancer outcomes for a mother’s offspring. This finding by a team of biologists at Boston University is the first to link [...]

The Australian government, newly led by the Labor Party, will begin monitoring the performance of a government-funded pregnancy helpline operated by McKesson Asia-Pacific, the Australian reports. Former Health Minister Tony Abbott last year established the helpline with a four-year grant of 15.5 million Australian dollars, or about $13.6 million, with the aim of reducing the [...]

HHS and CDC officials on Wednesday said they are encouraged that the mortality rate of women and infants at the HHS-funded Rabia Balkhi Women’s Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, can be reduced, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. A team of experts — led by Mary Lou Valdez, deputy director of HHS’ Office of Global Health Affairs — [...]

A group of UK doctors have called on the UK government to proceed with folic acid fortification of flour to prevent neural tube defects in pregnancies, and not to be delayed by two papers which they say do not prove any connection between folic acid and colorectal cancer.
Dr Roger Bayston, Association for Spina Bifida and [...]

A popular epilepsy drug taken by pregnant women with epilepsy because of its mild risk of birth defects has been linked to increased seizure activity in up to 75 percent of pregnancies. Now, new research shows that monitoring the level of the drug in the blood helps to reduce the increased seizure activity associated with [...]