Center for Perinatal Research

Somali-Born Women Have Lowest Preterm Birth Rate in Ohio
Somali-Born Women Have Lowest Preterm Birth Rate in Ohio 1024 575 Kevin Mayhood
Photo of equipment for premature infants

Researchers hope the immigrants can teach them how to reduce the rates of prematurity in the general population. Year after year, studies have found that non-Hispanic white women have the lowest preterm birth rate in Ohio, but new research found a different trend. Somali immigrants had a 5.9 percent preterm birth rate in the state…

The Challenge of Studying Supplementation: Omega Fatty Acids to Prevent Preterm Birth and Associated Complications
The Challenge of Studying Supplementation: Omega Fatty Acids to Prevent Preterm Birth and Associated Complications 1024 575 Abbie Miller

Dietary supplements: it seems that medical professionals either love them or hate them. And while much research shows that the average healthy adult with a good diet probably doesn’t need them, studies of specific supplements in specific patient populations may show efficacy. For example, studies show that omega-3 fatty acid supplements can reduce inflammation and…

Mapping the Journey to Optimal Health for NICU Graduates
Mapping the Journey to Optimal Health for NICU Graduates 1024 683 Jeb Phillips

Babies born preterm need ongoing, specialized care to help them thrive after discharge from the hospital. Innovative programs are being designed to ensure that they get that care. In the early 1980s, only 10 percent of infants born before 28 weeks of gestational age survived to be discharged from the hospital. By 2015, 65 percent…

Integrating Research Into the “Journeys”
Integrating Research Into the “Journeys” 1024 683 Jeb Phillips

Along with their work to build an innovative follow-up program, Nationwide Children’s faculty and staff members are international leaders in NICU follow-up research. A number of foundation and National Institutes of Health-funded follow-up studies are housed entirely or in part at the hospital, and The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s is one of 17 member…

What Do Space Rocks Have to Do With Preterm Birth?
What Do Space Rocks Have to Do With Preterm Birth? 150 150 Abbie Miller

A brief history of nanobacteria and their implications for human health. I remember when nanobacteria were a really big deal. Press-conference-by-POTUS-about-evidence-of-extraterrestrial-life-level big deal. I hadn’t thought much about them until recently, when they made a surprise appearance in a presentation on idiopathic preterm birth by Irina Buhimschi, MD, director of the Center for Perinatal Research at The…

New Study Points to a Possible Cause of Many Preterm Births
New Study Points to a Possible Cause of Many Preterm Births 150 150 Jeb Phillips

The discovery that small calcium deposits in fetal membranes may lead to a mother’s water breaking prematurely suggests that dietary or other interventions could prevent those preterm births. Most spontaneous preterm births do not have causes that are easy to identify. Physicians frequently have not known why uterine contractions begin weeks earlier than they should,…

Stress Dose Hydrocortisone Effects on Neurodevelopment for Extremely Low Birthweight Infants
Stress Dose Hydrocortisone Effects on Neurodevelopment for Extremely Low Birthweight Infants 150 150 Abbie Miller

First placebo-controlled study on stress dose hydrocortisone and neurodevelopment shows that higher doses of hydrocortisone are not associated with brain injury or neurodevelopmental impairments, but may not be effective in reducing risk for bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Hydrocortisone is one of the 15 most frequently prescribed medications in extremely low birth weight (≤1000 g) infants in the…

Reducing Practice Variation in Pediatrics
Reducing Practice Variation in Pediatrics 150 150 Jonathan Slaughter, MD, MPH

With variations in practice existing even between practitioners at the same institution, research can provide the keys to standardizing care and improving outcomes. Practice variation occurs when care providers diagnose or treat patients differently, even in the setting of similar disease presentation and risk factors. Variations in care have been noted at the geographic level…

Placental Transfusion Confusion
Placental Transfusion Confusion 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Medical professional organizations cannot reach consensus regarding delayed cord clamping and umbilical cord “milking.” Nearly every relevant professional organization has its own recommendations for placental transfusion techniques known as delayed umbilical cord clamping and milking. But it’s unclear whether additional research will lead to consensus. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and American Academy of Pediatrics say there’s…

Are We Properly Capturing the Maternal-Child Health Continuum?
Are We Properly Capturing the Maternal-Child Health Continuum? 150 150 Irina Buhimschi

An obstetrician doing research at a children’s hospital may seem out of place. But not according to one clinician-scientist, who believes that maternal health and child health are inextricably intertwined. Traditionally, doctors divide into those who practice adult medicine and those who practice pediatrics. With the exception of family physicians, there is little crossover in…

Thinking Outside the (Tool) Box: How Techniques From Alzheimer’s Research Illuminate the Pathophysiology of Preeclampsia
Thinking Outside the (Tool) Box: How Techniques From Alzheimer’s Research Illuminate the Pathophysiology of Preeclampsia 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Irina Buhimschi, MD, has a habit of getting lost. In July 2007, that poor sense of direction proved to be a fortunate flaw. Having wandered into the wrong presentation at the Protein Society’s national conference, she hovered in the back to get her bearings. Up front, a speaker discussed how misfolded proteins accumulate in the…

  • 1
  • 2