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Microscopic bits of plastic have been found lodged in tissues in much of the human body, and new research shows they are also infiltrating the placenta.

All samples of placental tissue take from 62 women were shown to contain microplastics, a team at the Uni...

A third of trans masculine people who have undergone testosterone therapy and have stopped menstruating are still ovulating, a new study suggests.

That means they remain at risk for an unwanted pregnancy, despite the absence of periods, Dutch researchers concluded.

It's not clear why ovulation ceases for some transgender people under these circumstances, and why it may continue for ...

Mercury levels in tuna haven't changed since 1971, despite efforts to reduce emissions of the toxic metal into the environment, researchers report.

Their analysis of nearly 3,000 tuna samples caught in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans between 1971 and 2022 revealed stable mercury concentrations in tuna during those five decades.

The research team specifically looked at the tr...

More than two dozen toddlers and at least 128 pregnant women received RSV vaccines they should not have gotten, U.S. health officials say.

The mixup, reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, follows approval this winter of two vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The virus is p...

Two of the most common pregnancy complications for women, high blood pressure and gestational diabetes, could jeopardize the future heart health of their children, a new study suggests. 

Researchers found that the children of women who developed either or both of those conditions during pregnancy showed signs of less-than-ideal heart health before the age of 12. 

“Throug...

Nearly 1 in every 10 women infected with COVID during pregnancy will go on to develop long COVID, a new study says.

A little more than 9% of pregnant women developed long COVID six or more months after their initial infection, according to findings presented Monday at a meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in National Harbor, Md.

The most common symptoms included fatig...

Think twice if you're pregnant and craving a packaged pastry or a take-out burger and shake.

That indulgence can do more than cause unwanted weight gain. A new study shows that phthalates, chemicals associated with plastics, can shed from packaging and even from plastic gloves worn by food handlers. 

If consumed during pregnancy, those chemicals can harm the fetus, researchers ...

Preterm births linked to “hormone-disruptor” chemicals in plastics cost the U.S. health care system billions of dollars, a new study claims.

Daily exposure to phthalates -- chemicals used to manufacture plastics -- might be tied to nearly 56,000 preterm births in the United States in 2018, researchers report.

Estimated medical costs resulting from those early births run from&nbs...

The COVID-19 vaccine given to pregnant women does no harm to their unborn babies, and can actually lower the risk of serious complications in newborns, a new study finds.

Babies born to women who received the COVID vaccine had half the death rate of those born to unvaccinated moms, according to findings published Feb. 6 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

N...

Using ultrasound to measure blood flow in the placenta and the fetus could help spot issues tied to low birth weight, researchers report.

As the Dutch investigators explained, about 10% of fetuses are determined to be "small for gestational age" after ultrasound examination in the womb.

Some underweight newborns do just fine, but others may have a malfunctioning placenta, and that c...

There's one treatment for pregnant women addicted to opioids that's safer for their unborn child, a new study reports.

Buprenorphine is associated with a slightly lower risk of birth defects overall compared to methadone, according to findings published recently in the journal JAMA Internal Medici...