WEDNESDAY, March 24, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Heavy bleeding following birth can threaten the life of the mother, and doctors at times turn to a hysterectomy to end the bleeding. But a new study suggests a less invasive, underused procedure might be a better, less drastic option.Investigators determined that when postpartum bleeding occurs, hysterectomies -- the removal of the uterus -- are 60% more common than uterine artery embolization (UAE) procedures, despite the fact that "UAE is safer and has an easier recovery than hysterectomy," said study author Dr. Janice Newsome, an associate professor in the department of radiology and imaging at Emory University's School of Medicine in Atlanta.Speaking at the Society of Interventional Radiology's virtual annual meeting recently, Newsome...

WEDNESDAY, March 24, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Women who develop diabetes during pregnancy have a higher risk of complications for themselves and their babies if they're night owls instead of early birds, a new study finds. Gestational diabetes increases the mother's risk of premature delivery and preeclampsia (pregnancy-induced high blood pressure). It also raises the baby's risk of growing too large in the womb or having breathing problems after birth. The new study included 305 women with gestational diabetes during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Nearly half said they were morning people, 21 were night people and 133 had no strong preference either way. Compared to the other women in the study, night owls had a three times higher risk of preeclampsia, and a four times...

WEDNESDAY, March 24, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- After a sharp drop early in the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of routine breast and colon cancer screening soon returned to near-normal levels, a new study finds."These are the first findings to show that, despite real fears about the consequences of drop-off in cancer screens, health facilities figured out how to pick this back up after the initial pandemic restrictions," said lead study author Ryan McBain. He's a policy researcher at RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization.For the study, researchers analyzed insurance claims from 6.8 million U.S. adults (aged 45 to 64) filed between mid-January and July 31 of last year.After March 13, 2020, when a national pandemic emergency was declared, the median weekly rate of routine screening...