In most countries, maternal and newborn care is fragmented and focused on identification and treatment of pathology that affects only the minority of women and babies. Recently, a framework for quality maternal and newborn care was developed, which encourages a system-level shift to provide skilled …

The use of growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) has become widespread. It is a potential contributor towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals of halving hunger and reducing child mortality by two-thirds within 2015. Yet, GMP appears to be a prerequisite for good child health but several studies …

OBJECTIVE: Periodontitis, mostly associated with Porphyromonas gingivalis, has frequently been related to adverse pregnancy outcomes. We therefore investigated whether lipopolysaccharides of P. gingivalis (Pg-LPS) induced pregnancy complications in the rat. METHODS: Experiment 1: pregnant rats (day 14) …

BACKGROUND: Prenatal healthcare is likely to prevent adverse outcomes, but an adequate review of utilization and its determinants is lacking. OBJECTIVE: To review systematically the evidence for the determinants of prenatal healthcare utilization in high-income countries. METHOD: Search of publications …

Promotion of a healthy pregnancy is a top priority of the health care policy in many European countries. Perinatal mortality is an important indicator of the success of this policy. Recently, it was shown that the Netherlands has relatively high perinatal death rates when compared to other European countries. …

Background Breech presentation occurs in 3 to 4% of all term pregnancies. External cephalic version (ECV) is proven effective to prevent vaginal breech deliveries and therefore it is recommended by clinical guidelines of the Royal Dutch Organisation for Midwives (KNOV) and the Dutch Society for Obstetrics …

OBJECTIVE: Pre-eclampsia is a complication of pregnancy characterized by systemic vascular dysfunction and pathological changes in placental arteries. Growing evidence of chronic infection as an aetiological factor in vascular diseases prompted us to study maternal periodontal disease in subjects with …

In this paper a prospective study of the association between maternal smoking and neonatal morbidity variables is presented. Caucasian nulliparous women (n = 115)were studied throughout pregnancy, childbirth and puerperal period. Birthweight(-centiles), Apgar scores, mode of delivery, umbilical arterial …

Smoking-behavior during pregnancy and the reliability of an interview were prospectively investigated. The tobacco-exposure was assessed a) by an intake interview b) by a smoking diary and c) by maternal thiocyanate and carboxy-hemoglobin concentrations. Of the 115 nulliparous women, 66 smoked (57.4%). …

Heart-rate changes after transition from a supine to a standing posture were measured in 12 hypertensive and 12 normotensive primigravid women, in their last trimester of gestation. The subjects beat-to-beat heart-rate (HR) changes were recorded on both an ordinary cardiotocograph and on magnetic tape. …