An interesting study out out of the US has found that women who drink tea have an increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. The study, which looked at data from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study database, examined the effects of coffee and tea consumption on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Read the rest of this entry »
Womens Health
with Kristie McNealy M.D.
Kristie is a medical doctor turned freelance writer and medical blogger. You can find her blogging about women’s health here at Family Health Guide.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Drinking Tea Ups Arthritis Risk
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010Even Slightly Early Arrivals Up Special Education Risks
Sunday, June 20th, 2010According to the results of a new study performed in Scotland, babies born between 37 and 39 weeks have a 16% higher risk of having special educational needs, when compared to babies born at a full 40 weeks gestation. It’s clear that babies born very preterm are at great risk of having longterm physical and developmental problems. What we didn’t know is exactly how the risk of these issues changed over the full range of gestational ages from 24 to 40 weeks.
A new study studied at over 400,000 school-aged children, looking at their special education needs, and the gestational age at which they were born. A child was considered to have special educational needs if they had either a learning difficulty, such as dyslexia or autism, or a physical difficulty, such as poor vision or deafness that requires special educational help.
Surprisingly, the results of the studied showed an increased risk of special educational needs in early term births (those births occurring between 37 and 39 weeks gestation). In fact, because they are so common, early term births accounted for more cases of special educational needs than preterm births did.
The results of this study are interesting, because they highlight yet another risk of elective deliveries (c-sections and inductions) before a full 40 weeks of pregnancy has been completed. We worry about physical issues like lung maturity when we plan a delivery before a woman’s due date. Now we know we should give consideration to long term developmental and educational issues as well. Unfortunately, we don’t have a test for that, like an amnio to assess fetal lung maturity.
Doctors planning elective deliveries should consider the results of this study when scheduling deliveries. Mothers should also be informed about these results, especially when it comes to decisions about managing late preterm labor, or deciding to schedule an early term birth. When we have the power to change an outcome and extend a healthy pregnancy where neither the mom or baby is at risk, this study should give both moms and doctors more motivation to do so!
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References:
- MacKay, D et al. Gestational Age at Delivery and Special Educational Need: Retrospective Cohort Study of 407,503 Schoolchildren. PLoS Med 7(6): e1000289. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000289
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More from Dr Kristie McNealy:
10 Things You Can Do Now to Help Prevent Alzheimer’s
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010Alzheimer’s is among the most dreaded diseases of aging. Cognitive decline, causing loss of memory and independence, has a devastating effect on Alzheimer’s patients and their families. While there has been limited success in treating Alzheimer’s disease, prevention of dementia is key to a long independent life.
