Diabetes mellitus is an endocrine disorder in which insulin production or action is insufficient, resulting in hyperglycaemia Insulin is produced in pancreatic beta (b) cells and is required for the...
Thyroid disorders are prevalent in women of childbearing age and may therefore present during pregnancy Awareness of the implications of thyroid disorders in pregnancy is therefore essential to ensure...
The safest mode of birth for a breech-presenting fetus has been a topic for debate among researchers and clinicians for decades (Walker, 2012; Evans, 2013; Odent, 2013; Homer et al, 2015) Women with a...
Midwives will be aware that pregnant women are reflective of the society in which they live This incudes the prevalence of medical conditions; therefore, it is useful to set the context for asthma as...
Jaundice in the newborn is usually normal. It is caused by the breakdown of red blood cells, which, as a result of newborn transitional physiology, results in the build-up of bilirubin in the infant's...
Pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy-specific, multisystem disorder that affects 3-5% of all pregnancies (Phillips and Boyd, 2016; Story and Chappell, 2017) It can affect many organs, including the kidneys,...
Postpartum haemorrhage is a major cause of maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide (Knight and Paterson-Brown, 2017) It accounts for one-quarter of all maternal deaths and 100 000 deaths every...
The Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (EDS) are a group of multisystemic, inherited conditions that affect connective tissue (Malfait et al, 2017)
Many midwives would agree that the priorities in maternity care mostly centre around intrapartum and antenatal care, and that postnatal care has long been the ‘Cinderella’ of the maternity service...
The heightened focus on risk affects maternity care providers' attitudes towards vaginal breech birth (Berhan and Haileamlak, 2016), and this professional apprehension may have the potential to limit...
Perinatal mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and psychosis, can be present during pregnancy and/or up to 1 year postnatally (O'Hara and Wisner, 2014) Their presence during this...
Between 12–20% of women will experience a mental health issue during pregnancy or in the first year following birth The most common diagnoses are depression and/or anxiety, first diagnosed in the...
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