Babies born by elective Caesarean are more likely to die than those born naturally, a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has found.

According to the findings of the research, babies born by elective Caesarean are three times more likely to die following delivery than those delivered vaginally.

It has been long established that babies delivered by Caesarean have a higher rate of post-delivery death than those born naturally, but it had been assumed that these higher death rates were a result of medical complications and conditions that led to the necessity of Caesarean delivery. This study is the first to examine death rates of babies born by elective Caesarean, or when there is no medical need for the procedure.

Study leader Marian MacDorman of the CDC said: “Neonatal deaths are rare for low-risk women — of the order of one death per 1,000 live births. But even after we adjusted for socioeconomic and medical risk factors, the difference persisted.

“These findings should be of concern for clinicians and policymakers who are observing the rapid growth in the number of primary Caesareans to mothers without a medical indication.”

In the study, published in the journal Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care, scientists from the CDC examined more than 5.7 million births and 12,000 infant deaths that occurred in the United States between 1998 and 2001. The deaths examined were neonatal deaths, defined as those where the infant died within 28 days of birth.

In women defined as low-risk, the average rate of neonatal death was 0.62 per 1,000 vaginal births. In Caesarean births, however, low-risk mothers were nearly three times more likely to lose their child, at a rate of 1.77 per 1,000 births.

Michael Molloy, a co-author of the study, was quoted by the Times of London as saying: “When obstetricians review this information, perhaps it will promote greater discussion within the obstetrical community about the pros and cons of offering Caesarean sections for convenience and promote more research into understanding why this increased risk persists.”

A new report in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry based on research conducted by Dr. Rosa Alati and colleagues from Australia’s University of Queensland has indicated that fetal exposure to alcohol in the womb increases the risk of alcoholism in later life.

Using data from a population-based study that began in 1981, the researchers used questionnaires to determine the level of alcohol use before, during and after pregnancy by the mothers of 2,138 people. They then screened those people for alcohol disorders once they reached the age of 21.

According to the results of their research, those subjects whose mothers drank three or more glasses per occasion while pregnant had an increased risk of alcoholism and other alcoholic disorders.

If the exposure to alcohol occurred in early pregnancy, Alati found, the subjects were three times more likely to suffer an alcoholic disorder between the ages of 13 and 17. The risk of developing an alcoholic disorder between the ages of 18 and 21 was even greater, they found.

Exposure to alcohol in later pregnancy did not have so pronounced an effect on possible adult alcoholism, they found, but its effect was still quantifiable.

According to their findings, “fetal exposure to alcohol consumption of three or more glasses per occasion, in addition to and beyond genetic heritability and environmental factors, may play an important role in the causal pathway that leads to alcohol disorders in adulthood.”

U.S. researchers have made a breakthrough they hope will help in the identification and curing of pre-eclampsia, a condition that causes high blood pressure and kidney problems at the end of pregnancy in some women.

Scientists at the U.S. National Institutes of Health studied the blood tests of 4,500 pregnant women and found that those who suffered from pre-eclampsia had high levels of the proteins endoglin and kinase 1 up to three months before the disorder emerged.

Pre-eclampsia is caused by a defect in the placenta and affects as many as one in 10 pregnant women. Up to one in 50 suffer severe complications as a result.

The researchers, who published their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine, said they were unclear as to how the elevated protein levels caused pre-eclampsia but hoped that this initial breakthrough would lead to the development of a cure for the condition — a cure they fear is still many years away.

NIH Director Elias Zerhouni said: “The finding appears to be an important step in developing a cure for pre-eclampsia. It may also provide the basis for predicting whether or not a woman will develop the disorder.”

In a bid to ensure that more Muslim women turn up for scheduled operations, Britain’s National Health Service is trialing the use of burka hospital gowns, which protect the patient’s modesty by revealing only the hands and eyes.

The Inter-Faith Gown, as it is known, is currently in use only at Preston Hospital, in the north of England. If the trials are successful then the gown, which costs $22.50, will become widely available from Nov. 1.

The gown was developed by Karen Jacob, the linen services manager at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, who noticed a gap in the market after hearing complaints from Muslim patients that the traditional hospital gown was so immodest that it contravened their faith guidelines.

“I noticed a gap in the market and thought that it would be great if there was a gown that helped to preserve a patient’s modesty,” Jacob told Britain’s Daily Mail.

“I wasn’t sure how to take my idea forward, but TrusTECH have been fantastic in helping me to make it a reality and so far, the use of the gown at our Trust has produced some very positive feedback from patients.”

Dr. Richard Deed, Innovation Unit manager of TrusTECH, which manufactures the gown, was quoted by the same publication as saying: “It has already made a big difference to patients at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and it is an excellent example of how innovation in the NHS helps improve patient care.”(UPI)