Pregnancy research activities and advances are based on the improvement of maternal and fetal health starting from before conception to two to three months after delivery of the child.
In 2014, the Human Placenta Project was launched for a better understanding of the structure and function of the placenta in real-time and also to reduce the gap of awareness related to fetal organ development.
These initiatives help to improve pregnancy outcomes and the health of the child and mother throughout life.
Development and advancement of investigational tools help to find out the better ways to identify diseases at an early stage of pregnancy or immediately after childbirth to treat or prevent them.
This also helps to increase the infant survival rate by reducing the number of preterm births and other birth complications.
Advanced medical technology can evaluate the safety and effectiveness of medical devices for better maternal care and their neonates.
Pregnancy research activities and advances concern to evaluate clinical techniques to broaden and refine prenatal screenings.
Certain research divisions support the research studies which are concentrating to develop or refine screening tests for cognitive or developmental disabilities.
Investigation concerns about nutrition supply during pregnancy. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has reported the interaction between folic acid supplementation and neural tube defects.
The Pediatric Growth and Nutrition Branch conducted research identified that taking care of iron deficiency during pregnancy can prevent iron-deficiency anemia in newborns and restrict its prevalence.
Such findings help to prevent and treat nutritional deficiency-related disorders.
The National Standard for Normal Fetal Growth program addressed the significant ethnic difference of birth weights for white, Hispanic, Asian, and black infants at 39 weeks.
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This estimation helps to avert unnecessary investigational procedures in healthy pregnant women.
The Obstetric and Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics Branch encourages the research to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of medications during pregnancy.
This initiative is taking care of medications like clonidine, metformin requires to continue for chronic disease conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, etc. as well as the efficacy of Declining for a routine complication that occurs during pregnancy such as nausea and vomiting condition.
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Clinical researchers have also provided focus to stop alcohol and smoking intensity before, after, and during pregnancy by showcasing the impact of alcohol use and tobacco smoking.
Pregnancy research activities and advances also concern stopping preterm delivery and complications.
Researchers investigated progesterone treatment reduces the risk of repeated preterm delivery.
Researchers also clarify the gestational period by defining the early term (birth between the period of 37 weeks through 38 weeks and 6 days), full-term (birth between the period of 39 weeks through 40 weeks and 6 days), late-term ( 41 weeks through 41 weeks and 6 days) and post-term (42 weeks and beyond).
It has also been identified that preterm babies have a higher risk of breathing, feeding, and temperature problems compared with full-term babies.
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Researchers showed that gestational diabetes increases the risk of hypertension in the latter half of their life.
But further study results also reported that a healthy diet during pregnancy could reduce the risk of hypertension in women having gestational diabetes during pregnancy.
Research studies reported stressful lifestyle before conceiving is one of the reasons for stillbirth and resultant of which increases the risk of development of depression in the affected women in their latter half of life.
Therefore, ongoing pregnancy research activities and advances reduce the risk of pregnancy-related complications and for a better outcome.
Ravi Sharma is a self-motivated, successful entrepreneur and has a solid experience in the fertility segment. and he is the director at ARTbaby Global (ARThealthcare). He is a pharmacy graduate with post-graduation in business administration and has 14 years of rich experience in the field of infertility segment. He loves to write about IVF, Surrogacy, and other ART (assisted reproductive technology) news, issues, and updates. He is a Pharmacy graduate (B. Pharm) and M.B.A (marketing).
His most recent success includes the successful launch of the medical tourism company, ARTbaby, which offers treatment options for infertility, egg donation, and surrogacy. He likes spending time with his family and writing about various aspects of IVF surrogacy and donating eggs.