heart defects Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Early Pregnancy Anemia Linked to Higher Risk of Heart Defects in Newborns

The AHA! Team — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 05:37:54 +0000

Wiley via News-Medical – We already know that the risk of congenital heart disease can be raised by a variety of factors, but these results develop our understanding of anemia specifically and take it from lab studies to the clinic. New research published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology found that mothers who are anemic in early pregnancy face a higher likelihood of giving birth to a child with a heart defect. The study assessed the health records of 2,776 women with a child diagnosed with congenital heart disease who were matched to 13,880 women whose children did not have this condition. Investigators found that 4.4% of children with congenital heart disease and 2.8% of children with normal heart function had anemia. After adjusting for potential influencing factors, the odds of giving birth to a child with congenital heart disease was 47% higher among anemic mothers. A variety of factors We already know that the risk of congenital heart disease can be raised by a variety of factors, but these results develop our understanding of anemia specifically and take it from lab studies to the clinic. Knowing that early maternal anemia is so damaging could be a gamechanger worldwide. Because iron deficiency is the root cause of many cases of anemia, widespread iron supplementation for women-both when trying for a baby and when pregnant-could help prevent congenital heart disease in many newborns before it has developed.” – Duncan B. Sparrow, PhD, corresponding author, University of Oxford Source: Wiley Journal reference: Nair, M., et al. (2025) Maternal Anaemia and Congenital Heart Disease in Offspring: A Case–Control Study Using Linked Electronic Health Records in the United Kingdom. BJOG An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.18150. To read the original article click here.

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Babies With Fragile Hearts Now Can Be Monitored Remotely

AHA Publisher — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 08:00:29 +0000

Abigail Klein Leichman via Israel21c – At-home monitoring of babies born with complex heart malformations has been shown to reduce mortality from 15 percent to less than 5 percent. A new partnership between med-tech startup Datos Health and The Heart Institute at Sheba Medical Center’s Safra Children’s Hospital now offers remote home monitoring of pediatric cardiac patients in medically underserved communities: Israel’s ultra-Orthodox sector, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank, Gaza, Iraq, Kurdistan and Cyprus. “We are proud to offer this new program to families in Israel and beyond to improve the care and survival of children born with complex heart conditions,” said Dr. Yoav Bolkier, senior pediatric cardiologist at Sheba, the largest medical center in the Middle East. Datos Health, a member of Sheba’s ARC (Accelerate, Redesign, Collaborate) Telemedicine Hub, developed the connected platform with clinicians from The Heart Institute to track these fragile infants between hospital visits and enable proactive care in areas lacking adequate medical infrastructure. “Being able to provide this program remotely means that we can truly break through physical boundaries and even borders to help those children that need us most,” said Iris Shtein, codirector of the Telemedicine Hub at ARC. Parents of babies in the virtual clinic will receive devices for measuring weight, oxygen saturation, pulse and blood pressure, which they will transmit every day via a connected tablet. “This remote monitoring program is another hybrid service ARC has been developing as part of Sheba’s overall strategy to transform healthcare and improve quality, access, and health equity in Israel and around the world,” said Dr. Eyal Zimlichman Chief Medical Officer and Chief Innovation Officer at Sheba Medical Center and founder of ARC. To read the original article click here.

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