Topics
Women's health
Advising pregnant women to avoid alcohol
To the Editor: I thank Cameron and colleagues for their timely report,1 particularly in the context of publicity for a new self-help book by economist Emily Oster, which questions advice about avoiding alcohol during pregnancy.2,3 I note with interest that Cameron et al’s study reports that proportionally more of the women who consumed alcohol beyond the first trimester were older and more highly educated. Oster has ...
Tracy W Soh
Why I don’t mind working nightshift anymore
A newborn child’s critical illness changes his mother’s perspective on her own medical careerOn a cold Monday night in late winter, I pulled on my scrubs, packed my lunch and crept quietly into the small, cosy room my children share. My daughter was lying rumpled and skewiff in her big bed, covers thrown back, her little nappy-clad bottom in the air. I moved to the ...
Kristin J Boyle MB BS
Reinforcing the iodine message for pregnant women in Australia
Not enough women are being informed about the need for supplementation with iodine by their antenatal care providers.
Karen E Charlton · Creswell J Eastman AM
Psychotropic medication in pregnancy
The increasing use of psychotropic medicines has led to a need to understand the safety of antipsychotics in pregnancy.
Roisin N Worsley · Heather Gilbert · Jayashri Kulkarni
Obstetric and neonatal outcomes of pregnant women with severe mental illness at a specialist antenatal clinic
AbstractObjective: To evaluate the obstetric and neonatal outcomes of pregnant women with severe mental illness (SMI) who attended a specialist multidisciplinary antenatal clinic in Perth, Western Australia.Design, setting and participants: A retrospective case-note audit of outcomes from the Childbirth and Mental Illness Antenatal Clinic (CAMI clinic) at King Edward Memorial Hospital ...
Thinh N Nguyen MB BS, FRANZCP, CertChildAdolPsych · Deb Faulkner MPsych, PhD · Jacqueline S Frayne MB BS, DRANZCOG, FRACGP · Suzanna Allen RN, RM, BScN · Yvonne L Hauck BScN, MSc, PhD · Daniel Rock PhD, FRSPH · Jonathan Rampono MB BS, FRANZCP
Dorothy (Billie) Grace Greening MB BS, DObstRCOG, FRACOG, FRCOG
Dorothy (Billie) Greening was born on 13 April 1917 in Sydney. Her father was a confectioner, and she had one brother and three sisters. The family moved to Glen Innes, where she gained her leaving certificate and topped the class. Billie trained as a nurse at Prince Henry Hospital in Sydney and studied midwifery at Crown Street Women’s Hospital. In 1943, she joined the Australian Army Nursing ...
James B Roche
Should Australian medical students deliver babies?
To the Editor: I commend de Costa and Rane1 for highlighting a matter that has been causing me increasing concern over the past few years; namely, the decline in undergraduate education in obstetrics and gynaecology. Coincidentally, a couple of weeks before their article was published, I was the consultant on call at a rural hospital and was asked to see a young woman who turned out ...
Graeme J Dennerstein
The medical management of missed miscarriage: outcomes from a prospective, single-centre, Australian cohort
Prospective clinical outcomes and patient experiences after medical management of missed miscarriage in women treated on an outpatient basis at a single maternity hospital suggest it is safe and effective.
Scott G Petersen MB BS, FRANZCOG, CMFM · Anneliese R Perkins FRANZCOG, MB BS · Kristen S Gibbons BInfoTech, BMaths(Hons), PhD · Julia I Bertolone BNurs · Kassam Mahomed MB BS, FRANZCOG
Integrating parental leave into specialist training: experience of trainees and recently graduated RANZCOG Fellows
More than 40% of women taking parental leave during their specialist training experienced negative comments about their leave in the workplace, and more than 25% reported being questioned about their intentions for future pregnancies in relation to job applications.
Caroline M de Costa PhD, FRANZCOG, FRCOG · Michael Permezel MD, MRCP(UK), FRANZCOG · Louise M Farrell MB BS, FRANZCOG, FRCOG · Anne E Coffey MB BS, FRANZCOG · Ajay Rane PhD, MD, FRANZCOG
John Warwick Newman MB BS, FRCOG, FRACOG
John (known as Warwick) Newman was born on 2 February 1928 at Cullen Bullen near Lithgow in New South Wales, where his father was the mines manager. He attended Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore) and commenced medicine at the University of Sydney in 1948. In his second year of medicine, he developed severe type 1 diabetes and needed to take 2 years off from his course. During ...
James B Roche
Planned homebirth in Australia
Assessing the outcomes of homebirths attended by qualified professionals within a well regulated environment is an important part of shedding light on this debate.
Marc J N C Keirse MD, DPhil, FRANZCOG
Gestational diabetes needs to be managed
To the Editor: McIntyre and Oats promote the International Association of the Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) criteria for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) as being well reasoned.1 Derived from observational data and mathematical modelling in an attempt to provide a worldwide definition and to improve outcomes, these criteria will significantly increase the number of women diagnosed with GDM2 in health care systems that have ...
Adrian V G Taylor
Gestational diabetes needs to be managed
To the Editor: McIntyre and Oats1 suggest that Australian medical practitioners should adopt the new International Association of the Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) diagnostic criteria for the management of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM),2 mainly because of the findings of the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) study.3 If adopted, a significant number of women will be diagnosed with GDM if their only blood ...
Michael C d’Emden · Narelle D Fagermo · Amanda J Love · Karin M C Lust
Gestational diabetes needs to be managed
In reply: Taylor welcomes a strong evidence base for clinical practice, which is echoed by d’Emden and colleagues. However, their strong support for the current Australian diagnostic criteria for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is surprising, given that these criteria are the product of an “Ad Hoc Working Party” report.1 This guideline, published in 1991, clearly acknowledged a lack of strong evidence and advocated criteria that ...
H David McIntyre · Jeremy J N Oats
Controversy grows over redefinition of gestational diabetes
To the Editor: Moynihan has recently suggested that gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a “non-entity”1 and cited controversy regarding new diagnostic criteria, while McIntyre and Oats have defended the practice of screening for GDM.2 Robust data associate hyperglycaemia with adverse pregnancy outcomes;3 and randomised controlled trial data show a beneficial effect of screening and treatment on perinatal outcomes.4 However, it is short-sighted to consider only the ...
Mark McLean · Len D Moaven · Naswrin Moin · Jennifer A Bradford
Publicly funded homebirth in Australia: a review of maternal and neonatal outcomes over 6 years
A retrospective analysis of the outcomes for women who planned a homebirth and their babies provides the first national evaluation of publicly funded homebirth in Australia.
on behalf of the Birthplace in Australia Study and the National Publicly-funded Homebirth Consortium
Early obstetric simulators in Australia
The authors outline the development of obstetric training and simulation in 18th and 19th century London, and describe the historical obstetric simulators on display in Australia.
Harry Owen MB ChB, MD · Damian J McDonald BA, MA
Uptake of influenza vaccine by pregnant women: a cross-sectional survey
A NSW study found low rates of self-reported influenza vaccine uptake in pregnant women. Women who had received a recommendation to have the vaccine were 20 times more likely to have been vaccinated, but less than half recalled receiving such a recommendation. Most of the women who expressed safety concerns about the vaccine indicated they would have the vaccine if their doctor recommended it.
Kerrie E Wiley MScMed(ClinEpid) · Peter D Massey DrPH, GCPH, RN · Spring C Cooper BS, PhD · Nicholas J Wood MB BS, FRACP, PhD · Jane Ho BMed, FRACP, MPH · Helen E Quinn BSc(Hons), MAppEpid, PhD · Julie Leask PhD, MPH
Should Australian medical students deliver babies?
Experiencing the sights, sounds and smells of childbirth can’t be replaced by plastic models or videos
Caroline M de Costa PhD, FRANZCOG, FRCOG · Ajay Rane PhD, MD, FRANZCOG
Brian Haldane Parker Heber MB BS, DObstRCOG
Brian Heber was born on 22 March 1929 in Finsbury Park, London, into a family of 13 doctors. His mother was widowed when Brian was 6. At the age of 11, he won a scholarship to Christ’s Hospital School, West Sussex. On leaving, his classics master remarked to him that going into medicine would be a “waste of intellect”. After National Service, Brian obtained an ex-serviceman’s grant to study ...
Roger Wickins
Closing the global gender gap
Today, sex-based inequalities and inequities shape how individuals are disproportionately exposed to adverse determinants of health. Our sex can determine how well or ill we become, and if or how our health care needs are acknowledged and met.1 The underlying reasons for this disparity are complex and diverse, shaped by how sex and sexual customs interact within varying political and social contexts. Discriminatory values, norms ...
Izzeldin M M Abuelaish MD, MPH
Vitamin D and health in pregnancy, infants, children and adolescents in Australia and New Zealand: a position statement
A position statement of the Australian and New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society and Osteoporosis Australia stresses the importance of vitamin D in bone health across the lifespan, and draws together the growing body of evidence that vitamin D is also important for non-bone health outcomes in infants, children and adolescents.
Georgia A Paxton MB BS, MPH, FRACP · Glyn R Teale MB BS, MD, FRANZCOG · Caryl A Nowson PhD, DipNutrDiet · Rebecca S Mason MB BS, PhD · John J McGrath MB BS, PhD, FRANZCP · Melanie J Thompson MB BS, FRACP · Aris Siafarikas MD, FRACP · Christine P Rodda MB BS, PhD, FRACP · Craig F Munns MB BS, PhD, FRACP
First Australian pregnancy after ovarian tissue cryopreservation and subsequent autotransplantation
In an Australian first, a woman treated for breast cancer, who was menopausal after chemotherapy, has a viable ongoing pregnancy after ovarian cryopreservation and autotransplantation.
Lynn Burmeister MB BS, FRANZCOG, CREI · Gabor T Kovacs MD, FRANZCOG, CREI · Tiki Osianlis BSc(Hons), PhD
Gestational diabetes needs to be managed
Delays in a uniform approach to detecting gestational diabetes mellitus and providing adequate management represent a missed opportunity to improve pregnancy outcomes and maternal health.
H David McIntyre MD, FRACP · Jeremy J N Oats DM, FRCOG, FRANZCOG
An intensive smoking intervention for pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women: a randomised controlled trial
To the Editor: We comment on practical aspects of the approach to maternal Indigenous smoking raised in the study by Eades and colleagues.1 Pregnant smokers face barriers to quitting; however, we believe some additional barriers are systemic,2 including excessive caution in prescribing nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Guidelines for maternal smoking cessation recommend an unassisted attempt before considering NRT.3 There is no agreed definition of a “failed ...
Gillian S Gould · Andy McEwen