Extreme temperatures may increase risk for low birth weight at term, study suggests

NIH: Extreme hot or cold temperatures during pregnancy may increase the risk that infants born at term will be of low birth weight, according to a study of U.S. women by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. The study was published in Environmental Research. The authors found that exposure to atypically cold temperature during the entire pregnancy, or just during the second trimester and third trimester, increased the risk for low birth weight. Exposure to atypically hot temperatures during the whole pregnancy, or during the third trimester, also increased this risk. The odds for low term birth weight were highest when the whole pregnancy was exposed to extreme temperatures.

Lower Birth Weight Associated with Proximity of Mother’s Home to Gas Wells

Pittsburgh: Pregnant women living close to a high density of natural gas wells drilled with hydraulic fracturing were more likely to have babies with lower birth weights than women living farther from such wells, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health analysis of southwestern Pennsylvania birth records. The finding does not prove that the proximity to the wells caused the lower birth weights, but it is a concerning association that warrants further investigation, the researchers concluded. The study was funded by The Heinz Endowments and published in the current issue of PLOS ONE.

Biological explanation of lower birth weight from smoking during pregnancy

Groningen: New-born babies of smoking mothers weigh on average 200 grams less than the babies of non-smoking mothers. Nearly 20 percent of this lower birth weight can be accounted for by the change in DNA methylation of the GFI1 gene as a result of smoking during pregnancy. This is the conclusion of a study conducted at the University Medical Center Groningen. According to the study, these findings are confirmed by research conducted by the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam and the University of Bristol in England. The researchers are publishing their results this week in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Ibuprofen for the treatment of patent ductus arteriosus in preterm or low birth weight (or both) infants

Cochrane: Is the use of ibuprofen compared with indomethacin, other cyclo-oxygenase inhibitors, placebo or no intervention for closing a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) safe and effective in improving the rate of ductal closure and other important clinical outcomes in preterm or low birth weight (or both) infants?