Breast Cancer :: Hip size of mothers linked to breast cancer in daughters

In a study of the maternity records of more than 6,000 women, David J.P. Barker, M.D., Ph.D., and Kent Thornburg, Ph.D., of Oregon Health & Science University discovered a strong correlation between the size and shape of a woman’s hips and her daughter’s risk of breast cancer. Wide, round hips, the researchers postulated, represent markers of high sex hormone concentrations in the mother, which increase her daughter’s vulnerability to breast cancer.

Pregnancy :: Eating fish during pregnancy safe for pregnant women

Today a Maternal Nutrition Group comprised of top professors of obstetrics and doctors of nutrition from across the country, in partnership with the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB), unveiled recommendations for seafood consumption during pregnancy.

Child Health :: U of M chosen as local lead for largest-ever National Children’s Health Study, US

The University of Minnesota has been awarded nearly $14 million dollars over five years to be a lead study center in the National Children’s Study to assess the effects of environmental and genetic factors on child and human health in the United States. The study center will manage local participant recruitment and data collection in the largest and most comprehensive study of child and human health ever conducted in the United States.

Breast Cancer :: Women who bear children have a reduced risk of developing breast cancer

The benefits of motherhood: Fetal Cell “Transplant” could be a hidden link between childbirth and reduced risk of breast cancer. Some benefits of motherhood are intangible, but one has been validated through biostatistical research: women who bear children have a reduced risk of developing breast cancer.

Psychology :: ACOG Supports Domestic Violence Awareness Month

During Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) calls attention to the 2 million women in the US who are physically or sexually assaulted by an intimate partner each year. Domestic, or intimate partner, violence is an ongoing public health problem that accounts for 22% of all violent crimes against women.

Pregnancy :: Routine thyroid screening not recommended for pregnant women

In response to a debate over whether all pregnant women should be screened for subclinical hypothyroid disease, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommended against routine screening in a Committee Opinion in the October issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.