BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth

Bangladesh has made laudable progress in maternal and child health (MCH). Maternal and child mortalities have reduced substantially accompanied by stellar rise in immunization and contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR). However, such success is distributed unevenly throughout and the country is among one of the top ten countries with highest number of neonatal and under-five children mortalities. Rural Bangladesh is home to more than half of the country's total population. Yet, disparity in access to healthcare services and information are overt in these areas...

BACKGROUND: Women with pre-pregnancy obesity have an increased risk of retaining or gaining weight postpartum and may benefit from weight loss treatment. However, evidence is lacking for weight loss strategies in women with BMIs in the higher obesity classes. A dietary treatment for postpartum weight loss resulted in a 10% weight reduction in lactating women with a mean BMI of 30 kg/m2 . We aimed to examine the effects of this dietary treatment on changes in weight, markers of lipid and glucose metabolism, waist and hip circumference and postpartum weight retention (PPWR) in postpartum women with higher BMIs than tested previously...

BACKGROUND: Since 2007 all pregnant women in the Netherlands are offered the second-trimester anomaly scan (SAS) in a nationwide prenatal screening program. This study aims to assess the level of informed choice of women opting for the SAS and to evaluate the presence of routinization 16 years after its implementation. It further explores decisional conflict and women's decision making. METHODS: This prospective national survey study consisted of an online questionnaire which was completed after prenatal counseling and before undergoing the SAS...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Adequate antenatal care services (ANC) use is critical to identifying and reducing pregnancy risks. Despite the importance placed on adequate antenatal care service utilization, women in Uganda continue to underutilize antenatal care services. The primary goal of this study is to identify the factors associated with women's adequate utilization of antenatal care services in Uganda. METHODS: Secondary data from the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey were used in this study...

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy complicated with endometrial atypical hyperplasia, which is often observed during early pregnancy, is extremely rare. CASE PRESENTATION: The patient was a 30-year-old woman who had premature delivery at 30+ 1 weeks gestation, and endometrial atypical hyperplasia was discovered by placental examination. CONCLUSIONS: For patients who undergo fertility-sparing treatment for endometrial atypical hyperplasia, the evaluation of the decidua via the placental pathological examination is particularly important...

BACKGROUND: Primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) can increase the risk of neonatal thrombocytopenia (NT). This study aimed to investigate the key factors for predicting the risk of NT. METHODS: Data were retrospectively collected from all pregnant women with ITP from 2015 to 2021. Newborns were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of NT. The parameters between the two groups were then compared. Next, the correlation between maternal platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and neonatal platelet count was analyzed by logistic regression and generalized additive model...

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have established that negative or traumatic childbirth can create childbirth-related post-traumatic stress disorder (CB-PTSD). Because of the negative implications of CB-PTSD for mothers, children, and families, global qualitative research on traumatic or negative childbirth has risen in recent years. However, few studies have been conducted in South Korea. This study aims to explore women's various perceptions of traumatic childbirth in South Korea. METHODS: This qualitative descriptive study examined nine women who were at high risk of PTSD (IES-R-K > 24) at the time of the interview, between 1 and 11 years after childbirth...

BACKGROUND: Given the rapid growth of digital media resources, it is worth exploring childbearing women's use of digital media to address their information needs. The aim of this study was to explore the use of digital media during pregnancy and birth in the local population of Western Victorian women in Melbourne, Australia. METHODS: A descriptive exploratory approach was used. An online survey consisted of both quantitative and qualitative questions to identify and measure digital media use in pregnancy and the birthing period...

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals' decision of not admitting pregnant women's partner or support person, and pregnant women's fear of contracting COVID-19 in hospitals may disrupt prenatal care. We aimed to examine whether prenatal care utilization in South Carolina varied before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether the variation was different by race. METHODS: We utilized 2018-2021 statewide birth certificate data using a pre-post design, including all women who delivered a live birth in South Carolina...

BACKGROUND: Perceived stress is related to poor diet quality and unhealthy dietary patterns in women of reproductive age. Eating competence represents a variety of contextual skills reflecting a comfortable and flexible approach to eating and is associated with diet quality and health related behavior. In non-pregnant samples, perceived stress is negatively associated with eating competence. Given that pregnancy and the postpartum period can be periods of high stress, we hypothesized that higher stress in pregnancy would result in lower pregnancy eating competence...

OBJECTIVE: To translate the Maternal Postpartum Stress Scale (MPSS) into Chinese and validate its psychometric properties in postpartum women. METHODS: A total of 406 postpartum women were recruited from six hospitals in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China. Cronbach's α co-efficient, split-half reliability, and test-retest reliability were used to evaluate the reliability of the translated scale. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to evaluate the structural validity of the scale...

BACKGROUND: Trial of Labor After Cesarean is an important strategy for reducing the overall rate of cesarean delivery. Offering the option of vaginal delivery to a woman with a history of cesarean section requires the ability to manage a potential uterine rupture quickly and effectively. This requires infrastructure and organization of the maternity unit so that the decision-to-delivery interval is as short as possible when uterine rupture is suspected. We hypothesize that the organizational characteristics of maternity units in Belgium have an impact on their proposal and success rates of trial of labour after cesarean section...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Ventricular septal defect (VSD) is the most common subtype of congenital heart disease. In the present study, we aimed to determine whether chromosome aberration was associated with the occurrence of VSD and evaluate the association of VSD size, location and chromosome aberration with adverse outcomes in the Chinese fetuses. METHODS: Fetuses with VSD and comprehensive follow-up data were included and evaluated retrospectively. Medical records were used to collect epidemiological data and foetal outcomes...

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PPGP) is a common condition worldwide. Women report being unprepared about PPGP, and state they receive little recognition and support from healthcare professionals. Situated within the Common-Sense Model and Convergent Care Theory, this study sought to gain a conceptual understanding of the perceptions, beliefs and experiences of healthcare professionals who provide routine care for women with PPGP in Australia. METHODS: A qualitative research design, using individual, semi-structured interviews with purposive sampling of healthcare professionals (N=27) consisting of doctors (N=9), midwives (N=9) and physiotherapists (N=9)...

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization recommends that Assisted Reproductive Technology be complementary to other ethically acceptable solutions to infertility. Whereas fertility centres are increasing in number in urban regions of Africa, published reports of their performance are sparse. We present a 10-year review of assisted reproductive technology performed in a public tertiary centre in Lagos, Nigeria. METHODS: This was a hospital-based, retrospective, cross-sectional review of 604 women, over a 10-year period that had in-vitro fertilization or in-vitro fertilization with intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection at the Institute of Fertility Medicine, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital...

BACKGROUND: Patients with omphalocele, a midline abdominal wall defect at the umbilical cord base, have a low survival rate. However, the long-term outcomes of fetuses with prenatally diagnosed omphalocele have scarcely been studied. Therefore, we investigated the ultrasonographic features, genetic characteristics, and maternal and fetal outcomes of fetuses with omphalocele and provided a reference for the perinatal management of such cases. METHODS: A total of 120 pregnant females with fetal omphalocele were diagnosed using prenatal ultrasonography at the Fujian Provincial Maternity and Child Health Hospital from January 2015 to March 2022...

BACKGROUND: Physical activity has been utilized as an effective strategy to prevent gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). However, most pregnant women with high risk for GDM did not achieve the recommended physical activity level. Furthermore, relevant physical activity protocols have varied without theory-guided and evidence-based tailored to pregnant women with high risk for GDM. This study aimed to develop and pilot test a theory-guided and evidence-based physical activity intervention protocol for pregnant women with high risk for GDM...

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of intensive nutrition education and counseling on hemoglobin level during pregnancy. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The study was a one year two-arm parallel design cluster randomized controlled trial in East Shoa zone, Ethiopia. End-line data were collected from 163 intervention and 163 control group pregnant women. The intervention was a three consecutive trimester based counseling sessions using health belief model, weekly regular SMS sent on mobile phone containing core message and providing leaflet with food menu of Iron rich diet...