Today's other stories in brief
Infant weight gain flags a battle of bulge
A baby who gains weight too quickly in the first months of life could be more likely to be overweight later, researchers said yesterday.
A study on girls found that weight gain in the first nine months was crucial to how heavy they would be aged 10.
Being overweight or obese could put children at increased risk of a range of diseases in later life, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
The study, funded by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), found weight gain during the first nine months was related to a higher body weight, height and body mass index (BMI) aged 10.
But there was no effect when researchers looked at the rate of weight gain between the ages of nine months and 19 months.
The girls who put on weight too quickly in infancy were also more likely to have their periods at a younger age, which has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, according to the study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Initiative on maternal death
Minister for Health Mary Harney will formally launch an initiative tonight to ensure that maternal deaths in the Republic are accounted for and reviewed on a standardised basis.
She has promised that lessons learned from the review will be applied to all maternity services. Maternal death is defined as the death of a mother within 42 days of termination of a pregnancy.
The initiative will be known as CEMACH (Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Child Health) Ireland. It is being organised by the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (RCPI) and the HSE.
“While maternal death is thankfully a rare occurrence in today’s modern maternity services, it is important that each incident is reviewed in a standard way through CEMACH Ireland,” said Dr Paul Kavanagh, HSE Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality. “The establishment of CEMACH Ireland marks a step forward in supporting a culture of patient safety.”
Editor: Barry O’Keeffe
Phone: 01-6758423
e-mail: healthsupplement@
irishtimes.com
To advertise:
contact Jill O’Brien
Phone: 01-6758780
e-mail retail@irishtimes.com