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The burden of perinatal mental illness is a significant global concern, affecting approximately 10–20% of women at this stage of life. It is well recognised that Rural Australia has far less health services and mental health specialists per capita than metropolitan regions.
Mothers with asthma or atopy have a higher likelihood of having autistic children, with maternal immune activation in pregnancy implicated as a mechanism. This study aimed to determine, in a prospective cohort of mothers with asthma and their infants, whether inflammatory gene expression in pregnancy is associated with likelihood of future autism.
Although social factors and culture are significant determinants of health in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, little is known academically about key interpersonal and social experiences of this population during the perinatal period, or how early attachments are formed through culture. This study addressed this gap in the literature.
Maternal psychological distress is related to poorer physical and mental health as well as child developmental problems. Interventions that optimise maternal mental health and wellbeing during the "first 1,000 days" of life should have wide-reaching benefits for the mother and her child.
Vitamin D has been recognized to have a significant impact on modulating immune response in the host body. The relationship between deficiency of Vitamin D and rectovaginal colonization with Group B Streptococcus (GBS) in pregnant women is still not well understood.
First Nations women often experience harmful, inequitable maternity care, shaped by intergenerational trauma and culturally unsafe care. Historical forced removal of First Nations children has created enduring trauma that influences pregnancy and birthing experiences. In the Australian Capital Territory, maternity care is provided through Western biomedical systems, where increasing child protection interventions and fear of surveillance affect women's engagement with care.
Developing dietary guidelines for lactating women presents significant challenges, due to limited evidence being available on their specific nutrient needs and the biological impacts of various dietary dimensions. Current dietary recommendations often rely on data from nonlactating women, leading to potential inaccuracies.
The risk of congenital anomalies following first-trimester medication exposure is an important indicator of medication safety during pregnancy. Retrospective cohort studies using routinely collected data are commonly used to assess this risk, yet methodological inconsistencies-such as how cohorts, exposures, timings and outcomes are defined-can compromise reproducibility and validity. This scoping review examined the methodologies used in retrospective cohort studies assessing the association between first-trimester prenatal medication exposure and congenital anomalies.
The Northern Territory and Far North Queensland have a high proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women birthing who experience hyperglycaemia in pregnancy. A multi-component health systems intervention to improve antenatal and postpartum care in these regions for women with hyperglycaemia in pregnancy was implemented between 2016 and 2019.
A mother's diet during pregnancy may influence her infant's immune development. However, as potential interactions between components of our dietary intakes can make any nutritional analysis complex, here we took a multi-component dietary analysis approach.