Prenatal infection may up leukemia risk in child
A mother who contracts influenza, pneumonia, or a sexually transmitted disease around the time of pregnancy appears to be at increased risk of having a child that will develop leukemia, new research shows.
These observations “suggest that maternal infection might contribute to the develop of childhood leukemia, which has been postulated to have an infectious origin,” Dr. Marilyn L. Kwan, from the Division of Research at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California told Reuters Health.
Schizophrenia drug helps anorexia patients
The antipsychotic drug quetiapine may help ease symptoms in patients with anorexia nervosa, a small new study shows.
Nine of 19 anorexia patients in the study gained weight after 10 weeks on the drug, Dr. Pauline S. Powers and colleagues from the University of South Florida in Tampa report.
Mortality risk higher for children of mentally ill
A Danish population-based study suggests that the relative risk of death is statistically raised among children with one or two mentally ill parents, although the absolute risk is still low.
Principal investigator Roger T. Webb, research fellow at the University of Manchester Division of Psychiatry, UK, and colleagues analyzed the risk of death from any cause in children whose mother or father had been admitted for psychiatric treatment and compared them against mortality risks in the general population.
Counseling may cut risk of drinking in pregnancy
Women who drink often and fail to use reliable birth control are at high risk of drinking during pregnancy. But a new study suggests that just a few counseling sessions can reduce those odds.
Researchers found that five brief counseling sessions helped high-risk women to both reduce their drinking and start using effective birth control.
Prenatal antidepressants seem not to affect child
The use of antidepressant drugs during pregnancy does not appear to have a significant effect on the behavior of the child, Canadian and Korean researchers report in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Dr. Tim F. Oberlander of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and colleagues compared behaviors of 22 children who were prenatally exposed to a selective serotonin uptake inhibitor (SSRI), one of a relatively new class of antidepressant drugs including Prozac and Zoloft, along with 14 unexposed children.
