Increased time to pregnancy linked to child's neurological development

Impaired fertility, rather than fertility treatment, may be key, say researchers

2013-03-26

(Press-News.org) Taking a long time to get pregnant may be linked to minor neurodevelopmental problems in the child, suggests a small study published online in the Fetal & Neonatal Edition of Archives of Disease in Childhood.

This suggests that impaired fertility itself - defined as failing to become pregnant after 12 months - rather than fertility treatment, may be a key factor in any subsequent developmental problems in the child, say the authors.

It is well known that children conceived as a result of fertility treatment are at a higher risk of premature birth and low birthweight, but evidence is beginning to suggest that it may be impaired fertility itself that is the culprit, rather than fertility treatment, say the authors.

They assessed the neurological development of 209 children when they were two years old. All had been born to parents who had struggled to conceive, and most of whom had had fertility treatment.

Domains assessed included movement (fine and gross motor functions), posture and muscle tone, reflexes, and eye-hand coordination (visuomotor function).

Mild neurological problems were evident in 17 (just under 8%) of the children, and were significantly more common among those whose parents had taken longer to conceive.

The time taken to get pregnant among their parents averaged just over four years, but ranged from 1.6 to just over 13 years.

Parents whose children did not have these problems took an average of two years and 8 months to conceive, but ranging from one month to 13 years.

After taking account of influential factors, such as the parents' ages, the analysis indicated that longer time to pregnancy was associated with a 30% increased risk of giving birth to a child with mild neurodevelopmental problems.

"In conclusion, the present data suggest that increased time to pregnancy is associated with suboptimal neurological development," write the authors. "This implies that factors associated with subfertility may play a role in the genesis of neurodevelopmental problems."

Further research will be needed before couples can be counselled accordingly, they add.

### [Increased time to pregnancy is associated with suboptimal neurological condition of 2-year olds Online First doi 10.1136/archdischild-2012-303366]

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

5 year-olds who watch TV for 3+ hours a day more likely to be antisocial

2013-03-26

Five year-olds who watch TV for three or more hours a day are increasingly likely to develop antisocial behaviours, such as fighting or stealing by the age of seven, indicates research published online in Archives of Disease in Childhood. But the risk is very small, say the authors, who additionally found that time spent playing computer/electronic games had no impact on behaviour. Prolonged screen viewing time has been linked to various behavioural and emotional problems in children, say the authors, but most research has focused exclusively on television, and almost ...

What a bunch of dodos!

2013-03-26

Research carried out by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and collaborators reveals that the last region on earth to be colonised by humans was home to more than 1,000 species of birds that went extinct soon after people reached their island homes. The paper was published today (25th) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. Almost 4,000 years ago, tropical Pacific Islands were an untouched paradise, but the arrival of the first people in places like Hawaii and Fiji caused irreversible damage to these natural havens, due to overhunting ...

Requests for lower-back MRIs often unnecessary: Alberta & Ontario medical research

2013-03-26

More than half of lower-back MRIs ordered at two Canadian hospitals were either inappropriate or of questionable value for patients. And family doctors were more apt to order these unnecessary tests compared to other specialists, demonstrates newly published medical research from Alberta and Ontario teams. The findings are important because in some parts of the country, MRI tests for the lower back account for about one-third of all MRI requests. Across the country, wait times for MRIs are long and patient access is limited. The findings were published online in the peer-reviewed ...

Reducing smokers' exposure to cigarette smoke toxicants -- our first clinical study results

2013-03-26

We have shown in our first clinical study of our novel prototype cigarettes that it is possible to reduce smokers' exposure to certain smoke toxicants. The only way to be certain of avoiding the risks of smoking is not to smoke. And reducing the health risks of smoking has been the overriding aim of tobacco research for many years. It is known that the risk of developing smoking-related disease is greater in people who smoke more cigarettes per day and for longer periods. We have spent several decades researching the nature of tobacco smoke, identifying key toxicants ...

Hunger-spiking neurons could help control autoimmune diseases

2013-03-26

Neurons that control hunger in the central nervous system also regulate immune cell functions, implicating eating behavior as a defense against infections and autoimmune disease development, Yale School of Medicine researchers have found in a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Autoimmune diseases have been on a steady rise in the United States. These illnesses develop when the body's immune system turns on itself and begins attacking its own tissues. The interactions between different kinds of T cells are at the heart of ...

Wang's technology may answer host of medical questions

2013-03-26

VIDEO: This video is a real-time look at red blood cells moving through the capillaries taken using a technique called photoacoustic flowoxigraphy. Click here for more information. In an engineering breakthrough, a Washington University in St. Louis biomedical researcher has discovered a way to use light and color to measure oxygen in individual red blood cells in real time. The technology, developed by Lihong Wang, PhD, the Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor of Biomedical ...

RI Hospital researchers discover new strategy to effectively treat, prevent osteoarthritis

2013-03-26

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Think new discoveries are the bee's knees? This one is even better -- this research out of Rhode Island Hospital is the mice's knees. Researchers have found that adding lubricin, a protein that our bodies naturally produce, to the fluid in our joints may reduce the risk of or even prevent osteoarthritis (OA). The findings, in a paper by Gregory D. Jay, M.D., Ph.D., of the department of emergency medicine, is published online in advance of print in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The discoveries were made in part by studying ...

Decoding the genetic history of the Texas longhorn

2013-03-26

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Longhorn cattle have a hybrid global ancestry, according to a study by University of Texas at Austin researchers published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study of the genome of the Longhorn and related breeds tells a fascinating global history of human and cattle migration. It traces back through Christopher Columbus' second voyage to the New World, the Moorish invasion of Spain and the ancient domestication of the aurochs in the Middle East and India. "It's a real Texas story, an American story," said Emily ...

Higher soy intake prior to lung cancer diagnosis linked to longer survival in women

2013-03-26

In this News Digest: Summary of a study being published online March 25, 2013 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, reports that Chinese women who consumed more soy before being diagnosed with lung cancer lived longer compared with those who consumed less soy. Quote for attribution to Jyoti Patel, MD, American Society of Clinical Oncology Cancer Communications Committee member and lung cancer expert Links to additional information on Cancer.Net, ASCO's cancer information Website New results from a large observational follow-up study conducted in Shanghai, China, ...

Predictions of climate impacts on fisheries can be a mirage

2013-03-26

In the early 1940s, California fishermen hauled in a historic bounty of sardine at a time that set the backdrop for John Steinbeck's "Cannery Row" novel. But by the end of the decade the nets came up empty and the fishery collapsed. Where did they all go? According to a new study led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, the forces behind the sardine mystery are a dynamic and interconnected moving target. Publishing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Scripps graduate student Ethan Deyle, professor George Sugihara, and ...

Gene Brown, MD, RPh, announced as President of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and its Foundation

SNU researchers develop innovative heating and cooling technology using ‘a single material’ to stay cool in summer and warm in winter without electricity

SNU researchers outline a roadmap for next-generation 2D semiconductor 'gate stack' technology

The fundamental traditional Chinese medicine constitution theory serves as a crucial basis for the development and application of food and medicine homology products

[Press-News.org] Increased time to pregnancy linked to child's neurological development
Impaired fertility, rather than fertility treatment, may be key, say researchers

Increased time to pregnancy linked to child's neurological development

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: