PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

New study examines the impact of socioeconomic position and maternal morbidity in Australia

2014-09-17
(Press-News.org) The risk of severe maternal morbidity amongst women in Australia is increased by lower socioeconomic position, suggests a new study published today (17 September) in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Australians generally enjoy high standards of living; however, existing research has concluded that health disparities exist, in particular between indigenous and non indigenous Australians.

This case-control study aimed to explore the independent impact of socioeconomic position on severe maternal morbidities associated with direct maternal death (amniotic fluid embolism, placenta accreta, peripartum hysterectomy, eclampsia or pulmonary embolism) amongst women in Australia. Data were collected through the Australasian Maternity Outcomes Surveillance System. In total, there were 620 cases and 820 controls used.

Results show that socioeconomic status was directly associated with maternal morbidity, with women with severe maternal morbidity being twice as likely to come from the lowest socioeconomic group compared with women who did not have maternal morbidity.

Maternal age was also significantly associated with maternal morbidity, with women aged between 30 and 34 being 1.4 times more likely and women aged 35 and over being 2.3 times more likely to suffer from maternal morbidity.

Furthermore, having given birth previously was found to be protective against maternal morbidity, whereas women who had reported previous pregnancy complications were 1.3 times more likely to experience severe maternal morbidity.

The number of previous caesarean deliveries was also significantly associated with maternal morbidity, with one caesarean delivery having double the risk of morbidity and two caesarean deliveries having four times the risk of severe maternal morbidity compared to women with no previous caesarean delivery.

Additionally, women who were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders were 1.46 times more likely to suffer severe maternal morbidity. However, much of this increased risk is mitigated after adjustment for socioeconomic position, suggesting that socioeconomic factors may play a part in observed inequalities in pregnancy outcomes between indigenous and non-indigenous Australian women.

The authors of the study conclude that the risk of severe maternal morbidity amongst women in Australia is significantly increased by social disadvantage and future efforts in improving maternity care provision and maternal outcomes in Australia should include socioeconomic position as an independent risk factor for adverse outcome.

Professor Marian Knight, from the National Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford and co-author of the study, said:

"Despite universal healthcare in Australia, free at the point of access, socially marginalised women experience poorer maternal health outcomes, in terms of specific severe maternal morbidities, than those from higher socioeconomic groups. This has wide-ranging implications for health policy and the provision of maternity services.

"Identifying high-risk women is critical for the prevention of adverse outcomes as it allows targeted interventions and intensive clinical management of specific groups. Future planning to improve maternity service provision must focus on socially disadvantaged women in order to improve maternal health outcomes.

John Thorp, BJOG Deputy Editor-in-chief said:

"The results of this study provide further evidence to highlight the link between maternal morbidity and other risk factors such as advanced maternal age and previous caesarean delivery. This is the first nationwide study in Australia to investigate the risk of severe maternal morbidity amongst women from different socioeconomic groups.

"Further studies are needed in countries with less accessible healthcare systems to investigate the impact of socioeconomic position and potential factors to improve it. Additionally, further investigation of the outcomes of maternity care amongst different ethnic groups may help to identify actions to reduce other inequalities which have been identified in the UK."

INFORMATION: END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Global change: Trees continue to grow at a faster rate

Global change: Trees continue to grow at a faster rate
2014-09-17
Trees have been growing significantly faster since the 1960s. The typical development phases of trees and stands have barely changed, but they have accelerated -- by as much as 70 percent. This was the outcome of a study carried out by scientists from Technische Universität München based on long-term data from experimental forest plots that have been continuously observed since 1870. Their findings were published recently in Nature Communications. Three decades ago, "forest dieback" was a hot topic, with the very survival of large forest ecosystems seemingly in doubt. ...

Nanoscience makes your wine better

Nanoscience makes your wine better
2014-09-17
One sip of a perfectly poured glass of wine leads to an explosion of flavours in your mouth. Researchers at Aarhus University, Denmark, have now developed a nanosensor that can mimic what happens in your mouth when you drink wine. The sensor measures how you experience the sensation of dryness in the wine. When wine growers turn their grapes into wine, they need to control a number of processes to bring out the desired flavour in the product that ends up in the wine bottle. An important part of the taste is known in wine terminology as astringency, and it is characteristic ...

The mobility model is closely linked to the city's characteristics

The mobility model is closely linked to the citys characteristics
2014-09-17
This news release is available in Spanish and Spanish. As far as the conclusions of the study are concerned, the following aspects, among others, are worth highlighting: the more compact the town or city is, the more concentrated is its population; the more jobs there are in the municipality itself, etc., the less private vehicles are used; the better the offer of public transport, the lower the number of people who use private cars; the higher the per capita income is (in small localities), the greater is the tendency to use the private car. According to Mendiola, ...

Magnetic resonance helps to detect and quantify fat in liver

Magnetic resonance helps to detect and quantify fat in liver
2014-09-17
This news release is available in Spanish. Obesity and overweight affect more than half of the population in our Community. Excess weight causes important alterations in the organism, one of which affects liver function. Fat accumulates in the liver producing hepatic steatosis which, in certain circumstances, causes inflammation, fibrosis and finally, cirrhosis. To date, the most reliable method for determining hepatic fat has been hepatic biopsy. Imaging techniques such as abdominal ecography detect it but are less precise for determining the quantity of fat. But ...

Car hacking: The security threat facing our vehicles

2014-09-17
The car of the future will be safer, smarter and offer greater high-tech gadgets, but be warned without improved security the risk of car hacking is real, according to a QUT road safety expert. Professor Andry Rakotonirainy will speak at the Occupational Safety in Transport Conference (OSIT) on the Gold Coast on September 18-19 on the security threat facing drivers as vehicles become computers on wheels. Professor Rakotonirainy, from QUT's Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS), has researched the security systems of existing fleet, future ...

Survey finds benefits, risks of yoga for bipolar disorder

2014-09-17
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Right now no one can say whether yoga provides clinical benefits to people with bipolar disorder, but in a new article in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice, researchers report survey responses they gathered from scores of people with the condition who practice yoga. What the collective testimony suggests is that yoga can be a substantial help, but it sometimes carries risks, too. "There is no scientific literature on hatha yoga for bipolar disorder," said lead author Lisa Uebelacker, associate professor (research) of psychiatry ...

Cape Cod saltmarsh recovery looks good, falls short

Cape Cod saltmarsh recovery looks good, falls short
2014-09-17
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — After decades of decline, grasses have returned to some once-denuded patches of Cape Cod's saltmarshes. To the eye, the marsh in those places seems healthy again, but a new study makes clear that a key service of the marsh – coastal protection – remains diminished. "We've got the aesthetics back but the ecosystem function hasn't come back," said ecologist Mark Bertness, professor of biology at Brown and senior author of the study in the journal Biological Conservation. "The metric of a recovered habitat should not be 'Does it look ...

Recruiting bacteria to be technology innovation partners

Recruiting bacteria to be technology innovation partners
2014-09-17
For most people biofilms conjure up images of slippery stones in a streambed and dirty drains. While there are plenty of "bad" biofilms around – they even cause pesky dental plaque and a host of other more serious medical problems – a team at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University sees biofilms as a robust new platform for designer nanomaterials that could clean up polluted rivers, manufacture pharmaceutical products, fabricate new textiles, and more. In short, they want to give biofilms a facelift, and have developed a novel protein ...

Phthalates heighten risk for childhood asthma

2014-09-17
Researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health at the Mailman School of Public Health are the first to demonstrate an association between childhood asthma and prenatal exposure to two phthalates used in a diverse array of household products. Results appear online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Children born to mothers exposed during pregnancy to higher levels of the chemicals, butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP) and di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP) had a 72 percent and 78 percent increase in risk of developing asthma between age 5 and 11, ...

New study examines the impact of socioeconomic position & maternal morbidity in Australia

2014-09-17
The risk of severe maternal morbidity amongst women in Australia is increased by lower socioeconomic position, suggests a new study published today (17 September) in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Australians generally enjoy high standards of living; however, existing research has concluded that health disparities exist, in particular between indigenous and non indigenous Australians. This case-control study aimed to explore the independent impact of socioeconomic position on severe maternal morbidities associated with direct maternal ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Drones reveal extreme coral mortality after bleaching

New genetic finding uncovers hidden cause of arsenic resistance in acute promyelocytic leukemia

Native habitats hold the key to the much-loved smashed avocado’s future

Using lightning to make ammonia out of thin air

Machine learning potential-driven insights into pH-dependent CO₂ reduction

Physician associates provide safe care for diagnosed patients when directly supervised by a doctor

How game-play with robots can bring out their human side

Asthma: patient expectations influence the course of the disease

UNM physician tests drug that causes nerve tissue to emit light, enabling faster, safer surgery

New study identifies EMP1 as a key driver of pancreatic cancer progression and poor prognosis

XPR1 identified as a key regulator of ovarian cancer growth through autophagy and immune evasion

Flexible, eco-friendly electronic plastic for wearable tech, sensors

Can the Large Hadron Collider snap string theory?

Stuckeman professor’s new book explores ‘socially sustainable’ architecture

Synthetic DNA nanoparticles for gene therapy

New model to find treatments for an aggressive blood cancer

Special issue of Journal of Intensive Medicine analyzes non-invasive respiratory support

T cells take aim at Chikungunya virus

Gantangqing site in southwest China yields 300,000-year-old wooden tools

Forests can’t keep up: Adaptation will lag behind climate change

Sturgeon reintroduction initiative yields promising first-year survival rate

Study: Babies’ poor vision may help organize visual brain pathways

Research reveals Arctic region was permafrost-free when global temperatures were 4.5˚ C higher than today

Novel insights into chromophobe renal cell carcinoma biology and potential therapeutic strategies

A breakthrough in motor safety: AI-powered warning system enhances capability to uncover hidden winding faults

Research teases apart competing transcription organization models

Connect or reject: Extensive rewiring builds binocular vision in the brain

Benefits and risks: informal use of antibiotics to prevent sexually transmitted infections on the rise in key populations in the Netherlands

New molecular tool sheds light on how cancer cells repair telomeres

First large-scale stem cell bank enables worldwide studies on genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease

[Press-News.org] New study examines the impact of socioeconomic position and maternal morbidity in Australia