pregnancy

According to a recent report by America’s Health Rankings, Georgia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation. Other studies have found that women who are admitted into a hospital on a weekend for delivery have a greater risk of suffering complications and injuries compared to the rest of the week. According to these studies, maternal complication risks are highest during weekends, holidays and during night shifts when compared to weekday or day time births.

The results of the study are concerning, but not exactly surprising. Researchers have also found that there is a combination of several factors that can impact safety risks for patients admitted into the hospital during these risky times for a variety of conditions. For example, earlier studies have found that cardiac patients admitted into the hospital on weekends have a higher risk of complications or reduced care that impacts their survival risks. In 2016, a study published in the BMJ Quality and Safety found that heart attack survival odds for patients who were admitted into the hospital on weekends and night times were considerably reduced.

A major factor that impacts the quality of care when pregnant women are admitted into the hospital on weekends or on night times is reduced staffing. There are fewer staff members on duty during weekends and on holidays, and that can increase pressure on staff members which in turn reduces the quality of care. Night shifts also see a lower nurse-to-patient ratio which can impact the reading of test results or monitoring of the patient. In the case of a pregnant woman awaiting delivery, lower staffing ratios mean that critical foetal cardiac rate monitoring may be irregular, leading to maternal and foetal health complications.

Women who are exposed to power lines and other sources of magnetic fields are at a much higher risk of giving birth to children who develop asthma later.The results of a study which have just been published in the Archives Of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, are very disconcerting. Although personal injury lawyershave been concerned about the issue of exposure to power lines, other studies have dismissed the issue.

The researchers used 801 pregnant women from Southern California in the study.These women were required to wear a monitoring device twenty-four hours a day.The device measured their exposure to magnetic fields.The women were required to wear the devices during the first and second trimester of pregnancy.The device measured magnetic exposure from a number of appliances, including vacuum cleaners and dryers.

After the women gave birth to their children, the researchers began to monitor the children over the next thirteen years.Over this thirteen-year period, the researchers found that 130 children developed asthma, most of them being diagnosed with asthma before they turned five.What’s more, the researchers found that each one milligaus increase in exposure to magnetic fields resulted in a 15 percent increase in asthma risks in children born to these women.

Articles Tagged with pregnancy

Greater Risk of Childbirth Injuries, Errors during Weekends

Pregnant Women’s Exposure to Power Lines Increases Asthma Risks in Children