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Extreme heat exposure is a major global public health threat that is affecting people across the life course, including the pregnancy period. Studies have linked extreme heat with adverse pregnancy and newborn health outcomes globally.
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.
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.
A wide spectrum of high-risk factors in pregnancy can lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes or short- or long-term health effects. Despite this, there has been no synthesis of findings on the measurement, potential causes, and health outcomes of multiple high-risk factors in pregnancy. We aimed to address this gap by summarising the existing research on this topic.
Skin care for very and extremely preterm infant is an important and previously underappreciated topic. Coconut oil skin care for preterm infants is a promising option, but several important questions remain including the theoretical potential for allergic sensitization.
Pregnant women are a priority group for COVID-19 vaccination due to their vulnerability as a high-risk cohort. However, the currentCOVID-19 vaccine uptake rate for COVID-19 vaccination among pregnant women in Western Australia remains largely unknown.
Viral infections are associated with significant morbidity and mortality in neonates. The COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in viral epidemiology in Western Australia. The impact on patients in neonatal intensive care is uncertain.
Acquisition and development of the oral microbiome are dynamic processes that occur over early life. This study aimed to characterize the temporal development of the oral microbiome of predominantly breastfed infants during the first two years of life.
First Nations women in Australia continue to experience disproportionately adverse maternal and infant outcomes. The ongoing legacy of colonisation and systemic racism shapes these outcomes. In the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), maternity services remain dominated by Western biomedical approaches that fail to deliver culturally safe and anti-racist care despite national standards that mandate such practices.
Repetitive Negative Thinking (RNT) during pregnancy is a key risk factor for psychopathology in the perinatal period. However, the cognitive mechanisms underlying prenatal RNT remain poorly understood. Recent research has suggested that a tendency to volitionally seek negative rather than positive information (i.e., biased information seeking) may contribute to the formation of more negative prenatal expectations, which in turn predict elevated prenatal RNT.