The impact of maternal adiposity specialization on infant birthweight: upper versus lower body fat.

Background: The specialization of human fat deposits is an inquiry of special importance in the study of fetal growth. It has been theorized that maternal lower-body fat is designated specifically for lactation and not for the growth of the fetus.

Objective: Our goal was to compare the contributions of maternal upper-body versus lower-body adiposity to infant birth weight.

A web-based intervention to reduce alcohol-exposed pregnancies in the community.

Despite warnings that drinking during pregnancy is unsafe, many women are still at risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy (AEP). This article describes the outcomes of a web-based, self-guided change intervention designed to lower the risk for AEPs in a community. A sample of 458 women, between the ages of 18 and 44 years and at risk for an AEP (i.

Exploring pregnancy-related changes in alcohol consumption between black and white women.

Background: Although epidemiological data indicate that White women are more likely to drink and binge drink before pregnancy, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is more common in the Black population than among Whites in the United States. Differences in drinking cessation between Black and White women who become pregnant may help explain the disparity in FAS rates.

Methods: The study sample was comprised of 280,126 non-Hispanic Black and White women, ages 18 to 44, from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2001 to 2005 data sets.

Knowledge and attitudes about fetal alcohol syndrome, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, and alcohol use during pregnancy by occupational therapists in the Midwest.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) occurs in approximately 3 of 1,000 live births in the general population of the U.S. and is the leading known cause of mental retardation.

Preventing alcohol-exposed pregnancies.

Fetal alcohol exposure affects approximately 1% to 3% of live births in the United States. Family physicians are in a unique position to reduce the incidence of alcohol-exposed pregnancy. Fetal alcohol exposure can be minimized through 2 general approaches: reducing alcohol consumption or increasing effective contraception among childbearing-aged women who engage in "at-risk" drinking and encouraging pregnant women to abstain from alcohol.