(Press-News.org) UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL: Feb. 14, 2024, 11:45 AM EST
Media Contacts: Karen Addis, APR, karen@addispr.com, +1 (301) 787-2394; Kerri Wade, MPA, kwade@smfm.org, +1 (202) 236-1780
National Harbor, Md. -- Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention demonstrate that Black women in the United States are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than are white women. Health disparities among people of color are the result of broader social and economic inequities rooted in racism and discrimination.
In a new study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting™, researchers will unveil findings that suggest that pregnant people who are Black may prefer to have an obstetrician who is also Black.
The qualitative study explored Black birthing people’s lived experiences with obstetric care and their perspectives on having an obstetric care provider who is also Black.
Researchers conducted 16 one-on-one interviews and five focus groups with individuals who self-identified as Black or African American. The researchers who conducted the interviews and focus groups also identified as Black women. The mean age of the study’s 32 participants was 34, nearly two-thirds (63 percent) were married, and nearly three-quarters (72 percent) had a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Five common themes emerged during the interviews: 1) participants’ desire for a Black obstetric care provider, 2) their difficulty finding a Black obstetric care provider, 3) their experiences of being stereotyped while receiving obstetric care, 4) their feelings about not being heard by obstetric providers and healthcare staff, and 5) their fear of dying while pregnant or during childbirth.
A sampling of participant responses:
“I was actually a little hesitant to see the providers who were white…because of the…discrimination that I have experienced throughout my lifetime and the discrimination that I see my friends and my family experience….”
“I did not feel heard. I didn’t feel like they were taking me seriously.”
“This one nurse…kept asking me, ‘Do I need a social worker?’ ‘Do I need WIC [a federal government that provides assistance to low-income pregnant women, infants, and children]?’ And I’m like, what, what in my profile is making you ask these questions, are these normal questions? Or are you asking me this because I’m Black?”
“There has been a lot of research describing racial disparities in obstetric outcomes,” says the study’s lead author Nicole Teal, MD, MPH, who is currently a maternal-fetal medicine subspecialist at UC San Diego Health and assistant professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, though her research was conducted when she was a maternal-fetal medicine fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“What is novel about our study is there is very limited rigorous research looking at the issue from the patient perspective and what increased diversity in obstetric providers might mean for health outcomes for Black birthing people,” said Teal. “Our findings suggest increasing racial diversity among providers may be one strategy to address inequities in obstetric care. Other strategies recommended by our study participants included increasing continuity with prenatal care providers, eradicating stereotypes of Black mothers, and increasing respectful care in general.”
The abstract was published in the January 2024 supplement of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Additional news releases about select SMFM research being presented are posted on AAAS’s EurekAlert (subscription needed) approximately one week in advance of embargo lifting. Embargoes lift on the date and start time of the abstract presentation.
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About the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), founded in 1977, is the medical professional society for maternal-fetal medicine subspecialists, who are obstetricians with additional training in high-risk pregnancies. SMFM represents more than 6,000 members who care for high-risk pregnant people and provides education, promotes research, and engages in advocacy to advance optimal and equitable perinatal outcomes for all people who desire and experience pregnancy. For more information, visit SMFM.org and connect with the organization on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For the latest 2024 Annual Meeting news and updates, follow the hashtag #SMFM24.
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Boston, MA (February 13, 2024) – Science and technology awards were announced during the SLAS2024 International Conference and Exhibition, the annual flagship event of the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening, which attracted a record-setting 7500 attendees and 400 exhibitors. Each year SLAS recognizes several exceptional presenters and exhibitors who represent the best of the Society’s programs and mission. The complete list of the 2024 award descriptions and winners follow:
SLAS Innovation Award
The most ...
Global warming may be interacting with regional rainfall and deforestation to accelerate forest loss in the Amazon, pushing it towards partial or total collapse.
Research published today [14 February 2024] in Nature, has identified the potential thresholds of these stressors, showing where their combined effects could produce a ‘tipping point’ - in which the forest is so fragile that just a small disturbance could cause an abrupt shift in the state of the ecosystem.
The study was led by the Federal University ...
About The Study: The findings of this survey study of U.S. adults suggest that cognitive symptoms are common among individuals with post–COVID-19 condition and associated with greater self-reported functional impairment, lesser likelihood of full-time employment, and greater depressive symptom severity. Screening for and addressing cognitive symptoms is an important component of the public health response to post–COVID-19 condition.
Authors: Roy H. Perlis, M.D., M.Sc., of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, is the corresponding ...
About The Study: In this study of 251,000 pregnant patients with Tennessee Medicaid and without opioid use disorder, a positive association was found between total prescription opioid dose dispensed and the odds of spontaneous preterm birth. These findings support guidance to minimize opioid exposure during pregnancy and prescribe the lowest dose necessary.
Authors: Sarah S. Osmundson, M.D., M.S., of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media ...
New York, NY [February 14, 2024]—Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in collaboration with the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium of the National Institutes of Health, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and others, have unveiled a detailed understanding of immune responses in cancer, marking a significant development in the field. The findings were published in the February ...
There is now a new addition to the magnetic family: thanks to experiments at the Swiss Light Source SLS, researchers have proved the existence of altermagnetism. The experimental discovery of this new branch of magnetism is reported in Nature and signifies new fundamental physics, with major implications for spintronics.
Magnetism is a lot more than just things that stick to the fridge. This understanding came with the discovery of antiferromagnets nearly a century ago. Since then, the family of magnetic materials has been divided into two fundamental phases: the ferromagnetic branch known for several millennia and the antiferromagnetic branch. The experimental proof of a third branch of ...
In the realm of quantum mechanics, the ability to observe and control quantum phenomena at room temperature has long been elusive, especially on a large or “macroscopic” scale. Traditionally, such observations have been confined to environments near absolute zero, where quantum effects are easier to detect. But the requirement for extreme cold has been a major hurdle, limiting practical applications of quantum technologies.
Now, a study led by Tobias J. Kippenberg and Nils Johan Engelsen at EPFL, redefines the boundaries of what’s ...
The Amazon rainforest could approach a tipping point, which could lead to a large-scale collapse with serious implications for the global climate system. A new Nature study by an international research team including scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact research (PIK) reveals that up to 47 percent of the Amazonian forest is threatened and identifies climatic and land-use thresholds that should not be breached to keep the Amazon resilient.
“The Southeastern Amazon has already shifted from a carbon sink to a source –meaning that the current amount of human pressure is too high for the region to maintain its status as a rainforest over the long term. But ...
Nearly 150 years ago, scientists discovered that specialized blood cells serve a vital role in immune system protection against infection and illness.
Certain groups of these white blood cells, now known as neutrophils, feature a nucleus that is structured strikingly different than most nuclei. The majority of cells feature round- or oval-shaped nuclei that are rigid, but neutrophils differ in that their nuclei adopt multiple lobular structures akin to that of flower petal arrangements.
These unique nuclear shapes permit neutrophils to travel all over the body to identify and combat invading ...
A picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes, and research has shown that the human brain does indeed better retain information from images than from text. These days, we are taking in more visual content than ever as we peruse picture-packed news sites and social media platforms.
And much of that visual content, according to new Berkeley Haas research published in the journal Nature, is reinforcing powerful gender stereotypes.
Through a series of experiments, observations, and the help of large language models, professors Douglas Guilbeault and Solène Delecourt found that female and male gender associations are more extreme among Google Images than within text ...
