(Press-News.org) While global attention has for decades been focused on reducing maternal mortality, population-based data on other causes of death among women of reproductive age has been virtually non-existent. A study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that non-communicable diseases accounted for 48 percent of 1,107 investigated female deaths in rural Bangladesh between 2002 and 2007. The findings lend urgency to review global health priorities to address neglected and potentially fatal non-communicable diseases affecting rural women in South Asia. The study is published in the May 2013 edition of the British Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
For the study, researchers surveyed a population of more than 130,000 women of reproductive age in Bangladesh using a pregnancy surveillance system established during the JiVitA-1 community-based maternal vitamin A or beta-carotene supplementation trial. The researchers prospectively recorded deaths among enrolled women. Employing a modified World Health Organization verbal autopsy method, physicians interviewed families at home about the events and circumstances leading up to the death of each woman. A separate set of physicians independently reviewed the verbal autopsies to ascertain the primary cause of death: 22 percent were related to pregnancy, 17 percent due to infection and 9 percent attributable to injuries (both unrelated to pregnancy), while 48 percent of the fatalities were assigned to non-communicable diseases, among which circulatory system diseases and cancer were the top causes.
"While reducing mortality from pregnancy remains a high priority, these findings highlight the need to address and reduce the risk of death unrelated to pregnancy among women of reproductive age. The causes and risk factors need to be better understood to design interventions to reduce risk, likely focusing on nutrition, health education, early screening and health care for rural women in their prime of life," said Alain Labrique, PhD, assistant professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of International Health and lead author of the study.
###
"Beyond pregnancy - the neglected burden of female mortality in young women of reproductive age in Bangladesh: a prospective cohort study" was written by Alain B. Labrique, Shegufta S. Sikder, Lee Wu, Mahbubur Rashid, Hasmot Ali, Barkat Ullah, Abu A. Shamim, Sucheta Mehra, Rolf Klemm, Hashina Banu, Keith P. West, Jr., and Parul Christian. The manuscript can be accessed at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1471-0528.12245/abstract.
Financial support for the research was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the Center for Human Nutrition in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Original trial support came from the U.S. Agency for International Development, with additional support from the Sight and Life Research Institute. Partial support for this data analysis was provided by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health through a Global Field Experience Fund, a Framework Award in Global Health (Center for Global Health), and a Delta Omega Scholarship (Delta Omega Honor Society).
Non-communicable diseases account for half of adult female deaths in rural Bangladesh
2013-05-15
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Penn research helps paint finer picture of massive 1700 earthquake
2013-05-15
In 1700, a massive earthquake struck the west coast of North America. Though it was powerful enough to cause a tsunami as far as Japan, a lack of local documentation has made studying this historic event challenging.
Now, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have helped unlock this geological mystery using a fossil-based technique. Their work provides a finer-grained portrait of this earthquake and the changes in coastal land level it produced, enabling modelers to better prepare for future events.
Penn's team includes Benjamin Horton, associate professor ...
Brazil crack user study finds critical need for intervention
2013-05-15
A Brazilian investigative team, collaborating with a Simon Fraser University researcher, is citing an urgent need for targeted interventions among young crack users in cities throughout Brazil, identified as the world's biggest crack market, and further research to better address the problem.
SFU health sciences professor Benedikt Fischer and his Brazilian collaborators carried out a study of 160 young adult crack users in Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. Its findings paint a somber picture of socially disenfranchised drug users with extensive health problems and involvement ...
Study IDs key protein for cell death
2013-05-15
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- When cells suffer too much DNA damage, they are usually forced to undergo programmed cell death, or apoptosis. However, cancer cells often ignore these signals, flourishing even after chemotherapy drugs have ravaged their DNA.
A new finding from MIT researchers may offer a way to overcome that resistance: The team has identified a key protein involved in an alternative death pathway known as programmed necrosis. Drugs that mimic the effects of this protein could push cancer cells that are resistant to apoptosis into necrosis instead.
While apoptosis ...
Massage therapy shown to improve stress response in preterm infants
2013-05-15
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It seems that even for the smallest of people, a gentle massage may be beneficial. Newborn intensive care units (NICUs) are stressful environments for preterm infants; mechanical ventilation, medical procedures, caregiving activities and maternal separation create these stressful conditions.
Born under-developed, preemies have an immature autonomic nervous system (ANS), which controls stress response and recovery. For a preemie, even a diaper change is stressful and the immature ANS over reacts to these stressors. Since preterm infants can't process ...
UC Riverside scientists discovering new uses for tiny carbon nanotubes
2013-05-15
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (http://www.ucr.edu)— The atom-sized world of carbon nanotubes holds great promise for a future demanding smaller and faster electronic components. Nanotubes are stronger than steel and smaller than any element of silicon-based electronics—the ubiquitous component of today's electrical devices—and have better conductivity, which means they can potentially process information faster while using less energy.
The challenge has been figuring out how to incorporate all those great properties into useful electronic devices. A new discovery by four scientists ...
Evidence of host adaptation of avian-origin influenza A virus
2013-05-15
A novel avian-origin reassortant influenza A (H7N9) virus emerged in China in February 2013, and is associated with severe lower respiratory tract diseases. To date, more than 100 human cases of infection, including at least 20 deaths, have been reported in China. Three early cases of infection were described in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. The general clinical features of the three patients were similar to the previously reported cases in China. Two of the three patients had a history of direct contact with live poultry markets. Interestingly, poultry cage swabs ...
New blood test finds allergies before implant surgery
2013-05-15
Imagine what Paula Spurlock must have been going through. Shortly after having a hip replaced in 2011, the trouble started. "I had horrible itching, really bad migraines and intense pain throughout my body," she said. "I couldn't take it. Every single thing in me itched."
After many months and several trips to specialists, Spurlock was told it could be anything from food allergies to her medication. But no matter what she changed, the symptoms persisted and Spurlock resigned herself to a life of misery. "I just kind of thought that's what life was going to be like," ...
Novel study reports marijuana users have better blood sugar control
2013-05-15
Philadelphia, PA, May 15, 2013 – Regular marijuana use is associated with favorable indices related to diabetic control, say investigators. They found that current marijuana users had significantly lower fasting insulin and were less likely to be insulin resistant, even after excluding patients with a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. Their findings are reported in the current issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
Marijuana (Cannabis sativa) has been used for centuries to relieve pain, improve mood, and increase appetite. Outlawed in the United States in 1937, its ...
Why and when a stepparent may adopt a stepchild in South Carolina
2013-05-15
Why and when a stepparent may adopt a stepchild in South Carolina
Article provided by Williams Hendrix Steigner & Brink, P.A.
Visit us at http://www.whsblawfirm.com
These days, it's not at all uncommon for a husband or a wife to bring children from a previous relationship into a marriage. When two households combine in such a fashion, a strong emotional bond often develops between the stepparent and stepchild.
Yet, however close a stepparent is to his or her stepchildren, legally speaking, stepparents may not be entitled to all the same rights as biological ...
More Americans losing loved ones to car crashes as traffic deaths rise
2013-05-15
More Americans losing loved ones to car crashes as traffic deaths rise
Article provided by Smith Magram Berenato Michaud P.C.
Visit us at http://www.injurylawyernj.com/
For most of the last decade, the United States has made great strides in reducing deaths and injuries from car accidents. But, in May of 2013, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released an official estimate of last year's motor vehicle death total, and it appears the United States has lost some momentum in terms of traffic safety.
More miles traveled, increased motorcycle use ...