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Article: First-trimester stress may prompt early delivery.(Women's Health)
- Article from:
- Family Practice News
- Article date:
- April 15, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 International Medical News Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIF. -- Mothers who experience high levels of stress during early pregnancy appear to convey distress signals to their fetuses, prompting their fetuses to eventually produce high levels of hormones that speed delivery.
The phenomenon suggests the presence of a "'placental clock" for parturition that may be set months before the onset of labor, said Curt A. Sandman, Ph.D., professor and vice chair of psychiatry at the University of California, Irvine.
The pattern was seen in a prospective evaluation of pregnant California women who happened to be enrolled in a comprehensive study of pregnancy outcomes when the magnitude 6.7 Northridge ...