Peds/OB/GYN

High blood pressure during pregnancy could elevate the risk of a future stroke
High blood pressure during pregnancy could dramatically raise a woman's lifetime risk of stroke, according to a study presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress.

"We've found that women who had high blood pressure during pregnancy could be at higher risk of stroke, particularly if they had pre-eclampsia, which is a more severe form of high blood pressure," says Dr. Aravind Ganesh, a neurology resident at the University of Calgary. "The elevated risk of stroke could be as high as 40 per cent." Eurekalert!

Maternal smoking may impair infant immunity, causing a broad range of infections
In "Maternal Smoking During pregnancy and Infant Infectious Disease Morbidity and Mortality," published earlier this year in the journal Pediatric Infectious Diseases, researchers reviewed hospitalization records and death certificates of 50,000 infants born in the state of Washington between 1987 and 2004. The case-control study assessed infant hospitalizations and deaths due to respiratory and non-respiratory infectious disease. The infants of mothers who smoked were 50 percent more likely to be admitted to a hospital or die from any of a wide variety of infectious diseases than babies of mothers who did not smoke. Eurekalert!

Infant pertussis hospitalizations lower than expected after teen vaccinations
Widespread vaccination of adolescents for pertussis was associated with lower rates of infant hospitalizations for the respiratory infection than would have been expected had teens not been inoculated according to new research in Pediatrics. Eurekalert!

Study shows buying breast milk online is likely to cause illness in infants
Results from a study led by researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital found more than three-fourths of breast milk samples purchased over the Internet contained bacteria that can cause illness, and frequently exhibited signs of poor collection, storage or shipping practices. Eurekalert!

Kids with ADHD often prone to bowel problems, study finds
Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are significantly more likely to suffer from chronic constipation and fecal incontinence than kids without the neurobehavioral condition, a new study says. The study of more than 700,000 children found that constipation nearly tripled and fecal incontinence increased six-fold among kids with ADHD. MedicalXpress

Kids still spanked, to their detriment, study finds
Spanking can affect a child's behavior and learning ability for years, with the impact of physical discipline reverberating even as kids near adolescence, a new study suggests.

Nine-year-olds who were spanked at least twice a week by their mother at age 3 or 5 are much more likely to break rules and act aggressively than children who weren't spanked, according to the study, which was published online Oct. 21 in the journal Pediatrics. MedicalXpress