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Obstetrics
Toward more optimal birth outcomes
A new study from Penn Nursing is the first to assess hospital vaginal birth rates rather than cesarean rates, which can further quality improvement initiatives that focus on encouraging vaginal birth rather than on decreasing the cesarean birth rate.
No change in preterm birth or stillbirth in Philadelphia during pandemic
Challenging earlier reports, a CHOP-Penn Medicine study employed a rigorous analysis of a diverse, urban pregnancy cohort and found no significant changes.
Pregnant Black and Hispanic women more likely to be exposed to coronavirus
Penn researchers found the rate of virus exposure among pregnant Black and Hispanic women to be five times higher than among white and Asian women.
Can spending time in nature prevent or lessen postpartum depression?
Nurtured in Nature, a pilot project in Black communities conducted by Penn Medicine’s Eugenia South, aims to find out.
Pregnant in the pandemic: How Penn Medicine supports new and expectant parents
Medical staff in Penn’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology are meeting the challenge of optimizing care for pregnant patients during the pandemic.
A cost-effective drug combination for women suffering miscarriage
A pretreatment medication for women who suffer miscarriages called mifepristone is not only more clinically effective when combined with misoprostol, but also more cost effective
Penn Medicine birth marks a milestone in uterus transplant clinical trial
The birth is Penn’s first as part of its uterus transplant clinical trial, and second in the United States following a deceased donor transplant.
If you’re black and pregnant, heart disease diagnosis may come too late
A Penn study finds black women are diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy significantly later than white women, which likely explains disparities in outcomes.
Why are so many women still dying from childbirth?
Experts from Penn discuss the role that social determinants, socioeconomics, and racism play, and how the University is addressing the maternal mortality crisis head on.
Battle of the bacteria: Studying the causes of and protectors against premature birth
Seven types of bacteria and certain immune factors in a woman’s vagina and cervix may be responsible for increasing the risk of spontaneous preterm birth or protecting against it.
In the News
I’m a pregnant doctor. Should I get the COVID vaccine?
Michal Elovitz of the Perelman School of Medicine said it’s possible that an mRNA-based vaccine could potentially cause harm to a developing fetus, but that there’s not enough data to know for sure. “To avoid having pregnant people guess, we should be advocating for more preclinical and clinical research focused on pregnant patients,” she said.
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