Pregnancy

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationships between first-trimester dietary factors and biochemical measures and subsequent risk of gestational hypertension.

Methods: This pilot study used a prospective design utilizing a convenience sample of nulliparous women enrolled at their first prenatal visit. A total of 57 women completed the study. Participants were divided into 2 groups for data analysis: normotensive pregnancy and gestational hypertension.

OBJECTIVE: To construct a substantive theory of postpartum fatigue. DESIGN: Grounded theory. SETTING: Participants were recruited in the hospital after delivery and interviewed in their homes. PARTICIPANTS: Thirteen primiparae (n=5) and multiparae (n=8) women between 2 and 5 weeks postpartum from diverse ethnic, age, obstetric, and financial contexts were theoretically sampled. RESULTS: Persevering was the central human process around which the grounded theory emerged.

Fatigue is both a symptom and a predictor of depression in women after childbirth. At the same time, postpartum fatigue is experienced by most non-depressed women. Health care providers experientially know that not all women who experience postpartum fatigue will manifest depression. However, while researchers agree that fatigue and depression are distinct concepts, they have not yet identified a means for describing or measuring this distinctness. A new model proposing how fatigue may be differentiated from depression after childbirth is presented.

There is an increased risk for future cardiovascular disease in women who have had preeclampsia. In infants born to mothers with preeclampsia, there is growing evidence of increased risk for both cardiovascular disease and preeclampsia. Epidemiologic and experimental data provide a strong link between intrauterine exposure to preeclampsia and subsequent risk for the development of cardiovascular disease in women.
 

Reduced perfusion to the placenta in early pregnancy is believed to be the initiating factor in the development of preeclampsia, triggering local ischemia and systemic vascular hyperresponsiveness. This sequence of events creates a predisposition to the development of altered vascular function and hypertension. This study was designed to determine the influence of placental insufficiency on the responsiveness of mesenteric resistance arteries in an animal model of preeclampsia.