Birth defects News

SATURDAY, May 5 (HealthDay News) -- Birth defects are more common after certain infertility treatments, but whether the cause is the assisted reproduction techniques themselves or the underlying biology preventing conception isn't clear, Australia...

FRIDAY, April 6 (HealthDay News) -- Women who'd like to become pregnant -- especially those who are taking medications for chronic conditions -- may need to add something to their to-do list: Plan, plan, plan. That's because some medications are k...

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Infants with birth defects who are born on weekends or at night do just as well as those delivered on a weekday, a new study says. Both groups of infants stayed at the hospital for the same amount of time, ha...

TUESDAY, Jan. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Women who are both overweight and smoke during pregnancy could damage their baby's developing heart, a new study warns. Researchers in the Netherlands looked at nearly 800 fetuses and babies with congenital hea...

MONDAY, Jan. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Pregnant women with HIV can prevent passing the AIDS-causing virus to their babies by taking antiretroviral drugs, but there remains a possibility that some of these medications might cause birth defects, such a...

FRIDAY, Jan. 20 (HealthDay News) -- A new study found no statistically significant link between asthma medication use during pregnancy and common birth defects. However, the study did find a positive association between some rare birth defects and...

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Although pregnant women who have high blood pressure face a higher risk that their baby will be born with birth defects, new research indicates that the medications typically used to treat the condition will ...

MONDAY, Oct. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Certain genetic abnormalities in a man's chromosomes appear to be linked to intellectual disabilities in his offspring, especially if he fathered them late in life, a new study suggests. These abnormalities are c...

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Pregnant women who take ongoing, high doses of the drug fluconazole (brand name Diflucan) may be at increased risk of having babies with birth defects, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned Wednesday. T...

SUNDAY, June 5 (HealthDay News) -- Four of the most frequently prescribed epilepsy drugs appear to increase the risk of serious birth defects when taken early in pregnancy, a new study finds. And the higher the dosage, the greater the risk, the in...

THURSDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- There may be a link between certain types of migraines in children and a common congenital heart defect, a new study suggests. U.S. researchers looked at 109 children aged 6 to 18 who were diagnosed with migr...

FRIDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) -- There are few things more chilling to expectant parents than the possibility that their child might come into the world with a birth defect that threatens the child's health or life. But there's a lot that a woma...

FRIDAY, Feb. 5 (HealthDay News) -- There's a link between a birth defect called gastroschisis and the agricultural chemical atrazine, a new study has found. Gastroschisis is an abdominal wall defect in which the intestines, and sometimes other org...

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Among working women in the United States, teachers seem to have the lowest risk of having babies with birth defects, while those who work as janitors, scientists and electronic-equipment operators appear most...

MONDAY, Dec. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Birth defects, preterm birth, breast-feeding and eating sushi are a few of the many concerns of pregnant women, according to a new March of Dimes survey. The poll of about 1,200 mothers found that the leading ca...

MONDAY, Nov. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Taking antibiotics during pregnancy does not raise the risk for most birth defects, though there are some exceptions, new research has found. Penicillin, which is the most commonly used antibiotic during pregnanc...

THURSDAY, Oct. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Overweight and obese women are more likely to give birth to babies with heart defects, a new study has found. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers analyzed data on 6,440 infants with cong...

FRIDAY, Aug. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Low blood levels of the nutrient choline during pregnancy increases the risk of brain and spinal-cord defects in newborns, U.S. researchers report. They focused on two types of neural tube birth defects -- anenc...

TUESDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- Pesticides may increase the risk of birth defects, say researchers who found that the highest rates of birth defects in U.S. babies occur among those conceived in the spring and summer, the same time that ther...

MONDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- Women who do not have enough vitamin B12 in their blood before and after conception have a greater chance of having a baby with brain or spinal cord defects, a new study says. Most at risk may be vegans and vege...

TUESDAY, Feb. 10 (HealthDay News) -- If you're planning on becoming pregnant, a new study suggests that you should try to shed any extra weight you're carrying before conception. That's because babies born to obese mothers are more likely to have ...