Smoking in pregnancy 'could make unborn sons infertile'

Mothers who smoke early in pregnancy may sow the seeds of infertility in their unborn sons by arresting the development of sperm cells, new research suggests.

Psychological Violence During Pregnancy Linked To Postnatal Depression Risk

Psychological violence by an intimate partner during pregnancy, independent of physical violence, has been linked to a higher risk of developing postnatal depression, also known as postpartum depression, according to an article published in the medical journal The Lancet. As most social policies focus on the treatment and prevention of physical violence, this study has important policy ...

Anxiety & Depression for Mothers May Produce Small Babies

Anxiety and depression have been linked to low birth weight in babies by researchers in Sweden and Bangladesh. Researchers at the Karolinska Instituet in Sweden and at the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee tracked 720 women in rural Bangladesh -- beginning in the women's third trimester of pregnancy and up to eight months after their babies was born. They found 18 percent suffered from ...

Smoking damages men's sperm and also the numbers of germ and somatic cells in developing embryos

Two new studies have shed more light on how smoking may damage fertility, and give further weight to advice that mothers and fathers-to-be should stop smoking before attempting to conceive. The first shows that a mother's smoking reduces the numbers of germ and somatic cells in the testes of developing embryos; the second study shows that men's smoking affects the levels of two proteins ...

AHRQ releases free evidence-based guides for eight health conditions

HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality today released a series of free evidence-based guides designed to help Spanish speakers understand and compare the risks, benefits and side effects of treatments for eight health conditions.