plus 4, Smoking during pregnancy - Inquirer.net

Smoking during pregnancy - Inquirer.net
The Twin Falls Pregnancy Crisis Center has a few more blankets ... - kmvt
Report: Pregnancy Complication Caused Duggar Baby's Premature Arrival - TheInsider.com
Kaiser Permanente: Women of Chinese and Korean heritage may develop ... - News-Medical.Net
Duggar Baby Born Prematurely Due to Pregnancy Complication - Democratic Underground.com

Posted: 11 Dec 2009 07:20 PM PST

Smoking during pregnancy

Posted December 11, 2009 19:50:00

Rafael Castillo, MD

Philippine Daily Inquirer

SEVERAL months ago, a FilipinaA YOUNG woman, pregnant with her second baby, was referred to me for labile blood pressure. Uncontrolled hypertension is risky both for mother and baby and has to be treated promptly.

Both parents and two elder brothers are hypertensive so there is really a strong family history of hypertension. There's nothing much we could do about the family's genes one inherits. This is a nonmodifiable risk factor. But this patient had one risk factor which is of her own making. At the time she saw me, she was still smoking almost a pack of cigarettes a day.

And what really instantly consumed my usually abundant patience to zero level was the fact that after an exhaustive lecture, or probably sermon, on the ill effects of smoking on both her and her baby, she was still not apparently convinced to lick the habit. She even said sarcastically, "But doctor, I was smoking all throughout my first pregnancy, and our baby is okay." That was one of the few times I saw red in front of a patient and told her, "You don't deserve to become a mother."

Obviously she took offense and has not seen me again. She has also not gone back to the obstetrician who referred her to me. She was due to deliver last week of November this year, and I hope she and her baby are doing well. I hope too that she understands that sometimes a doctor has to give an unreasonably stubborn patient a jolt to detach her from a potentially fatal attachment to some vices which define the modern unhealthy lifestyle.

Smoking during pregnancy really drains a physician's patience and compassion for the patient because it not only affects the person holding on to the vice but an innocent victim which the unborn baby is. It affects the mother and the baby's health before, during, and after the birth of the baby.

Harmful effects

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

The Twin Falls Pregnancy Crisis Center has a few more blankets ... - kmvt

Posted: 11 Dec 2009 08:45 PM PST

12/11/09

The Twin Falls Pregnancy Crisis Center has a few more blankets to give to women, thanks to children at St. Edward's Catholic School.

Third and fourth graders earned money at home, to purchase flannel material, which they cut and made into baby blankets.

Twenty of these blankets were then given to the crisis center. The center will give the blankets away, at no charge, to expectant mothers.

Each blanket is handmade, colorful, and unique. The school presented the blankets to the Pregnancy Crisis Center Volunteer Friday morning.

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

Report: Pregnancy Complication Caused Duggar Baby's Premature Arrival - TheInsider.com

Posted: 11 Dec 2009 07:27 PM PST

Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar's 19th baby was born prematurely on Thursday night due to a rare condition that Michelle suffered while pregnant, according to a new report.

Citing Michelle's doctor, People.com reports that Michelle suffered from a condition called Preeclampsia, which caused her to have high blood pressure and ultimately have to give birth to daughter Josie Brooklyn prematurely.

According to People, the condition was discovered when Michelle was taken to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for a gall-bladder problem that brought on pain.

"The obstetrical and neonatal teams reached the collaborative decision [Thursday] that Mrs. Duggar needed an emergency C-section to ensure the blood pressure problem would not be detrimental to her or the baby," Dr.Paul Wendel told People.

"Michelle is recovering well from surgery," Wendel also told the mag. Baby Josie, who weighs 1 lb., 6 oz, is in stable condition.

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

Kaiser Permanente: Women of Chinese and Korean heritage may develop ... - News-Medical.Net

Posted: 11 Dec 2009 08:38 PM PST

More than 10 percent of women of Chinese and Korean heritage may be at risk for developing diabetes during pregnancy, according to a Kaiser Permanente study of 16,000 women in Hawaii that appears in the December issue of the Ethnicity and Disease journal. The study also found that Korean-American and Chinese-American women's gestational diabetes risk is one-third higher than average - and more than double that of Caucasian and African-American women.

Funded by the American Diabetes Association, the study found that Pacific Islanders, Filipinos, Puerto Ricans, and Samoans are also at higher-than-average risk - while Caucasian, Native-American, and African-American women have a lower-than-average risk.

Untreated gestational diabetes mellitus, commonly known as GDM, can lead to serious pregnancy and birthing complications, including early delivery and C-sections. It can also increase the child's risk of developing obesity later in life.

While previous studies have shown that GDM is more prevalent among Asian women and Pacific Islanders, this is the first study to separate those ethnic groups into sub-categories to find out who is at higher risk. Researchers chose Hawaii for the study because it has one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the world.

Researchers divided Asians into five ethnic sub-groups and found some striking differences: Korean and Chinese women have the greatest risk of developing GDM. Filipinos are next, but Japanese and Vietnamese women have the same risk as the rest of the population. Among three groups of Pacific Islanders, Samoans and other Pacific Islanders (including women from Fiji and Tahiti) have a higher-than-average risk, while women classified as Native Hawaiians are at average risk.* Caucasian, Native-American, and African-American women have the lowest risk for developing GDM.

"This study has important implications for diagnosis and treatment of gestational diabetes," said study lead author Kathryn Pedula, MS, a researcher at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research. "All pregnant women and their caregivers need to be educated about gestational diabetes, but it is especially important for women in these ethnic groups at higher risk."

"Many previous studies have lumped all Asians and Pacific Islanders together - we now know that the risk for developing GDM varies greatly depending on your specific ethnic background," said study co-author Teresa Hillier, MD, MS, an endocrinologist and senior investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research. "Future studies should also look at whether women in these higher risk groups also have more complications."

This study involved 16,757 women aged 13-39, who gave birth in the Kaiser Permanente Health Plan in Hawaii between 1995 and 2003. Some women had more than one child during that time, bringing the total number of pregnancies to 22,110. Researchers obtained ethnic classification from the mothers' birth certificates on file with the Hawaii Department of Health.

All women in the Kaiser Permanente system are screened for gestational diabetes between 24-28 weeks of pregnancy. If they have GDM, they are treated as part of routine care. More than 20 percent of women in the study had elevated glucose levels, and 6.7 percent of women met the Carpenter and Coustan threshold for gestational diabetes.

"This study underscores Kaiser Permanente's commitment to identify differences in risk and clinical outcomes for different ethnic and racial groups," said Winston F. Wong, MD, MS, medical director of Kaiser Permanente's Community Benefit Disparities Improvement and Quality Initiatives. "While we cannot eliminate the increased risk of prenatal diabetes among our Korean and Chinese patients, we use this kind of research to alert and empower our health care professionals and physicians to reduce disparities and achieve the best possible outcomes for our patients and their children."

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

Duggar Baby Born Prematurely Due to Pregnancy Complication - Democratic Underground.com

Posted: 11 Dec 2009 04:28 PM PST

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fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger