Women's Health
Timing Pregnancy an Important Health Concern for Women
By
Apr 11, 2012 - 9:10:35 AM

Ensuring Good Health Prior to Conception Minimizes Risk of Complications in Pregnancy
(HealthNewsDigest.com) - A newly published article in the journal Nursing for Women’s Health highlights the importance of a woman’s ability to time her childbearing. The author asserts that contraception is a means of health promotion and women who work with their health care providers to ensure they are healthy prior to conceiving can minimize their risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) there were more than four million births in the U.S. in 2009. A study by Kuklina et al. (2009) shows an increase in severe obstetric complications from 1998-1999 to 2004-2005, with renal failure increasing by 21%, pulmonary embolism by 52% and the need for blood transfusion by 92%. Moreover, maternal mortality has risen sharply in the past 20 years with a low of 6.6 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 1987, rising to 12.7 in 2007.

“There is a new urgency to ensuring that women have access to affordable contraceptive services given the rising rates of maternal morbidity and mortality in the U.S,” explains Catherine Ruhl, CNM, MS, Director of Women's Health Programs at the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) in Washington, DC. “If women are able to choose when, and if, to become pregnant, they can protect themselves and their baby from pregnancy-related complications by ensuring they enter pregnancy in good health.”

Ruhl points out that contraception counseling and birth control methods should be considered prevention, which in turn promotes good health. In the U.S. health conditions such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension have increased in women, increasing the risk of pregnancy complications. Federal data sources report that slightly less than half of women who gave birth in 2007 had a healthy pre-pregnancy weight.

A certified nurse-midwife, Ruhl suggests that women discuss their reproductive goals and contraception options with their health care providers. “Women deserve to have a full understanding of the benefits of being in the best health possible prior to pregnancy, and have providers who will partner with them to achieve their goals,” she concludes.

This study is published in Nursing for Women’s Health. Media wishing to receive a PDF of the article may contact healthnews@wiley.com.
Full citation: “Contraception is Health Promotion." Catherine Ruhl. Nursing for Women’s Health 2012; (DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-486X.2012.01703.x)
URL: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1751-486X.2012.01703.x

About the Author: Catherine Ruhl, CNM, MS, is director of women's health programs at AWHONN in Washington, DC.
To arrange an interview with the Author, contact cruhl@awhonn.org.

About the Journal:
Nursing for Women's Health publishes the most recent and compelling health care information on women’s health, newborn care and professional nursing issues. As a refereed, clinical practice journal, it provides professionals involved in providing optimum nursing care for women and their newborns with health care trends and everyday issues in a concise, practical, and easy-to-read format. For more information, please visit: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1751-486X.

About the Society: The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) serves more than 22,000 health care professionals in the U.S., Canada and abroad. Members receive the most up-to-date information and cutting-edge, high quality resources to help them enhance patient safety, provide superior care and promote the health of women and newborns. AWHONN's website is an excellent source of information about their work, the resources they offer and the issues they follow.

About Wiley-Blackwell:
Wiley-Blackwell is the international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, with strengths in every major academic and professional field and partnerships with many of the world’s leading societies. Wiley-Blackwell publishes nearly 1,500 peer-reviewed journals and 1,500+ new books annually in print and online, as well as databases, major reference works and laboratory protocols. For more information, please visit www.wileyblackwell.com or our online platform, Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), one of the world’s most extensive multidisciplinary collections of online resources, covering life, health, social and physical sciences, and humanities.

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