For how we live.
An Ontario cohort of 1,035,927 pregnancies found excessive gestational weight gain was linked to more severe maternal morbidity in every BMI category, adjusted rate ratios 1.16 to 1.33 (observational).
In 544 pregnant women followed across Rio de Janeiro state, adverse maternal outcomes hit 18% of confirmed Oropouche infections versus 7% without, with fetal loss and haemorrhage risks roughly tripled.
In nearly 40,000 UK women, abnormal blood pressure six weeks after a hypertensive pregnancy roughly doubled later cardiovascular disease. A Dutch cohort shows pregnancy history sharpens risk prediction.
Among 7,579 pregnancies in people with migraine, anti-CGRP antibody use early in pregnancy carried a 42% higher adjusted risk of spontaneous abortion; propranolol showed no increase. The data are observational.
A prospective UK surveillance study followed 210 pregnancies in 209 women with a pre-pregnancy cardiomyopathy diagnosis over three years. There were no maternal deaths; 10% had heart failure and 8% an arrhythmia.
A 96,000-woman registry emulation found pre-conception GLP-1 or GLP-1/GIP therapy in PCOS tracked with lower pregnancy risk than metformin. It is not a trial, and says nothing about use during pregnancy.
A nationwide study of 624,713 first births found quadrivalent HPV vaccination before pregnancy associated with modestly lower odds of preterm birth and growth restriction, strongest among women vaccinated youngest.
In 1,448 pregnancies, lower early placental growth factor was linked to more preterm births — yet adding it to a prediction model lifted accuracy only from 0.59 to 0.68.
In the MONEAD cohort, six-year-olds whose mothers breastfed while taking antiseizure medicines scored no worse on language or adaptive behaviour — and longer breastfeeding tracked with slightly better scores.
A nationwide Brazilian cohort of 4.1 million children found that babies exposed to Zika in the womb but without congenital Zika syndrome had the same pneumonia-hospitalisation risk as unexposed children.
There has been no reliable way to prevent pre-eclampsia at term. PREVENT-PE screened over 8,000 women late in pregnancy and offered earlier birth to those at highest risk — and pre-eclampsia fell by nearly a third.
A Korean cohort of 1.37 million women found more dementia after hypertensive pregnancies. The association did not survive adjustment for the vascular and metabolic conditions that followed.
A population-linked Australian cohort followed children to school entry after antenatal metformin. The adjusted relative risk of developmental vulnerability was 0.97 — no different from unexposed children.
Heartburn is one of the most common complaints in pregnancy. Diet and posture changes come first; a Cochrane review found antacid-type medicines relieve it, but the trial evidence is thin and drug choice needs care.
Guidelines set weight-gain ranges by starting BMI, not a doubled appetite. A large meta-analysis links gaining outside those ranges to worse outcomes at both ends — smaller and larger babies alike.
For most healthy adults the measured difference is small. But side-sleeping has real evidence in three specific situations: nocturnal reflux, obstructive sleep apnoea and late pregnancy.
Ginger's strongest evidence is unglamorous: it eases nausea in pregnancy and during chemotherapy, and modestly relieves osteoarthritis pain. The trials are small and the quality is moderate at best.
For most women without complications, activity in pregnancy is safe and beneficial. Trials link exercise to lower odds of gestational diabetes and high blood pressure, with a rough dose to aim for.
Nausea in early pregnancy is common and usually mild. Ginger has the best trial support for nausea, vitamin B6 and doxylamine are options, and acupuncture shows no clear benefit.
In the 2,137-participant PrEggNut trial, mothers who ate a diet rich in eggs and peanuts through pregnancy and breastfeeding had infants with the same allergy rate as the comparison group.
Guidelines settle on a limit near 200 mg a day — roughly two mugs of coffee. But the underlying studies are observational, and a vocal minority argues there is no clearly safe level.
Too little iodine, especially in pregnancy, is the world's leading preventable cause of impaired brain development. Salt iodisation fixed most of it — but mild deficiency has crept back in some rich countries.
There is no established safe amount, and UK and US authorities advise not drinking at all. Heavy drinking clearly causes fetal alcohol harm; the data on light drinking are genuinely sparse, not reassuring.
The blood test known as NIPT is a strong screen for Down syndrome but not a diagnosis. In a general-risk population a positive result was correct about 81% of the time — and much less often for rarer conditions.
The largest study, comparing siblings to strip out family confounding, found no link between paracetamol in pregnancy and autism or ADHD. Guidelines still call it the preferred painkiller when one is needed.
A large Cochrane review found fish-oil supplements cut early preterm birth substantially. The biggest single trial since found no effect at all — a genuine split the marketing skips over.
Two large African trials gave anaemic pregnant women intravenous ferric carboxymaltose or oral iron. Neither found less anaemia near term, or heavier babies, with the infusion.
A 4,153-woman trial found progesterone did not raise live births overall. The benefit concentrated in women who were bleeding and had had three or more previous miscarriages.
An individual-participant meta-analysis found metformin given in pregnancy did not lower the odds of gestational diabetes, though it modestly lengthened gestation and reduced preterm birth.
The E-MOTIVE trial, across 80 hospitals and 210,132 births in four African countries, paired objective blood measurement with a first-response bundle — and severe outcomes fell sharply.
Analysing 64.8 million births from 2005 to 2022, researchers found policies such as physician-only requirements and 20-week bans tied to higher odds of preterm birth or low Apgar scores.
In 415,000 New Jersey births, infants of mothers who screened positive for depression died before age one at more than three times the rate, an association steady across race, income and preterm birth.
A Norwegian study of 204,663 children found no raised risk of autism or most neurodevelopmental disorders after maternal COVID in pregnancy — with one exception in the early pandemic.
Screening 2,904 proteins in early pregnancy, researchers found low maternal isthmin-2 was the strongest signal for later preeclampsia or fetal growth restriction, validated in two cohorts.
In 5,520 children across 34 states, prenatal exposure to regulated public-water fluoride showed no association with emotional or behavioural problems overall — with one caveat in a secondary model.
A Chinese birth cohort of 1,278 pairs found higher prenatal temperatures and heatwaves — especially in the second trimester — tracked with higher creatinine and urea in early childhood.
In 2.5 million Swedish births followed to adulthood, mothers' early-pregnancy obesity was linked to a stepwise rise in offspring cardiovascular disease, though sibling analyses temper the size.
The professional guideline now frames recovery as an ongoing process through at least 12 weeks, and one pelvic-floor study found birth injuries still resolving a full year after delivery.
Among 603 RECOVER participants, 118 were classified as likely having Long COVID. The primary analysis found no association with preterm delivery, and one secondary signal that only appeared in a sensitivity analysis.
Each 1 degree C rise in average maximum wet bulb globe temperature across pregnancy was associated with 64% higher odds of a higher stress category — an association, in one cohort, with no mechanism established.
Overall musculoskeletal injury was lower during pregnancy and the year after than in non-pregnant periods. Spine and back injuries were the exception, rising through pregnancy and postpartum.
Whole-genome sequencing of 78 families put the figure at two mutations per year of paternal age. A cohort of 40 million US births found small increases in preterm birth and gestational diabetes.
The FDA's threshold traces to a Health Canada assessment and a 2017 systematic review of 381 studies. It describes a population, not a person, and the variation between people is large.
Two randomised trials tested whether thyroid-hormone tablets help women who carry thyroid antibodies but have normal thyroid function and a history of miscarriage or infertility. Live-birth rates did not move.
Two cohorts published ten days apart. One found the PFAS mixture more than doubling the odds of hypertension at 24 to 28 weeks; the other found lower birth weight, but only in female infants.
Pooling under 11,000 pregnancies, a meta-analysis found no statistically significant association either way, with the three underlying studies disagreeing on which direction the risk even points.
A Finnish registry of over 123,000 women found pre-eclampsia linked to an 11% lower breast cancer risk decades later. Hormone therapy raised risk by a similar amount in both groups.
A 34-million-birth analysis maps how far smoke travels from the fires that make it. A companion review is blunt that what that exposure does, beyond the lungs, is still unsettled.
A 4.5-million-birth analysis found smoke exposure associated with higher birth weight, not lower. A separate cohort linked third-trimester smoke days to autism risk — but only when counting days, not concentration.
An analysis of 104 trials found a 10 to 20 percent reduction under some diagnostic criteria and none under UK criteria. A separate review found a GDM diagnosis is not associated with more stillbirths.
The 27 recommendations cover monitoring, diet and medication for type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes. WHO had guidance on diabetes and guidance on pregnancy, but never on the two together.
The 162 mg group had 14.1% preterm or severe preeclampsia against 17.1% on 81 mg — a difference the trial could not distinguish from chance. Eight placental abruptions occurred on the higher dose and none on the lower.