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An Aspirin a Day?
A small dose of aspirin in pregnancy can help prevent high blood pressure complications, expert guidance for the NHS in England and Wales says. High blood pressure in pregnancy is linked to pre-eclampsia - a leading cause of maternal death in the UK.
Light exercise during pregnancy may improve the future health of a child by controlling weight in the womb, New Zealand and US researchers say. Overweight or obese mums are more likely to have larger babies which could be at higher risk of health problems later in life.
The first direct evidence of a genetic link to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder has been found, a study says. Scientists from Cardiff University, writing in The Lancet, said the disorder was a brain problem like autism - not due to bad parenting. They analysed stretches of DNA from 366 children who had been diagnosed with the disorder.
Pregnant women are three times more likely to suffer from severe morning sickness if their mothers did, say Norwegian researchers. Around 2% of women suffer excessive nausea and vomiting in pregnancy - known as hyperemesis gravidarum - which can require hospital treatment.
More needs to be done to establish which are safe and effective ways to relieve morning sickness, experts say. There is reluctance to use pharmaceutical products in pregnancy due to Thalidomide, the 1960s anti-nausea drug which led to birth defects. But there is little evidence to suggest that alternative therapies have any real impact, the international group of researchers Cochrane found.
