Women’s Health Weekly Review: May 4 - May 10
Pregnancy
“Pregnant women with blood sugar levels in the higher range of normal—but not high enough to be considered diabetes—are more likely than women with lower blood sugar levels to give birth to babies at risk for many of the same problems seen in babies born to women with diabetes during pregnancy, according to a study funded in large part by the National Institutes of Health.” The risks include: shoulder dystocia, and “abnormally large body size at birth”.
Also “women who gain more or less than recommended amounts of weight during pregnancy are likely to increase the risk of problems for both themselves and their child“. Problems associated with too much weight gain include increased fetal growth, infant birth weight and cesarean delivery. Problems associated with too little weight gain include poor fetal growth, lower birth weight and premature growth.
Breast Cancer
A new study indicates that “radiologists can recommend a six-month follow-up diagnostic mammogram rather than an immediate biopsy for patients with ‘probably benign’ breast lesions”
Cancer tumor growth rates tend to vary but a new study shows that tumors have “generally slower growth rates with increasing age at diagnosis“.
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a type of cancer which starts in the milk ducts of the breast and is expected to be found in over 50,000 women this year in the U.S. alone. When it metastasizes to other parts of the body it is not due to the actual tumor cells but instead it is the surrounding cells and tissues - the tumor’s microenvironment - that is responsible.
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