The New Year 2009 has come, and I would like to wish all readers of this blog a safe and wonderful year. As those who come to this blog are likely to be in the baby business, either as parents or practitioners, I also wish you many happy birthdays (and nights).
For good online professional reading material, as well as video blogs, you can go to the Medscape Women's Health site. Medscape is a free online service that includes the option to sign up for regular email newsletters. This week's articles include Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Greater Risk for Primary Caesarean Delivery.
"December 23, 2008 — Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy is associated with increased odds of primary cesarean delivery, according to the results of a study reported in the December 23 Online First issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
"At the turn of the 20th century, women commonly died in childbirth due to 'rachitic pelvis,' " write Anne Merewood, MPH, IBCLC, from Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts, and colleagues. "Although rickets virtually disappeared with the discovery of the hormone 'vitamin' D, recent reports suggest vitamin D deficiency is widespread in industrialized nations. Poor muscular performance is an established symptom of vitamin D deficiency, [and] the current US caesarean birth rate is at an all-time high of 30.2%."
"The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between maternal serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels and the rate of primary cesarean delivery.
..."
Is this possibly another contributing factor in the high, and continually increasing, rate of caesarean births in Australia?
Medscape also gives links to online journals such as J Midwifery Womens Health - a valuable resource for ongoing learning for midwives.
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