Prenatal antidepressants seem not to affect childNEW YORK (Reuters Health) — The use of antidepressant drugs during pregnancy does not appear to have a significant effect on the behaviour of the child, Canadian and Korean researchers report in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.Dr. Tim F. Oberlander of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and colleagues compared behaviours of 22 children who were prenatally exposed to a selective serotonin uptake inhibitor (SSRI), one of a relatively new class of antidepressant drugs including Prozac and Zoloft, along with 14 unexposed children.

The researchers evaluated data for the children, all of whom were four years of age, using a combination of parent reports and direct observations of the child’s activities. “We observed that while the behaviours reported by the mothers did not differ between the two groups,” Oberlander told Reuters Health, mothers experiencing mood problems were more likely to report increased activity and poor attention in their child.

On direct observation in the laboratory, he added, “inattentiveness was more common in exposed children. We also observed increased aggressive behaviours in children who had had withdrawal symptoms in the newborn period.” However, the differences were not statistically significant. Overall, said Dr. Oberlander, “the best predictors of attentional problems at age 4 were current reports of maternal mood and parental stress,” regardless of SSRI treatment or depression during pregnancy.Prenatal infection may up leukemia risk in childNEW YORK (Reuters Health) — A mother who contracts influenza, pneumonia, or a sexually transmitted disease around the time of pregnancy appears to be at increased risk of having a child that will develop leukaemia, new research shows.These observations “suggest that maternal infection might contribute to the develop of childhood leukaemia, which has been postulated to have an infectious origin,” Dr. Marilyn L. Kwan, from the Division of Research at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California told Reuters Health.

As reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, Kwan and her colleagues studied 365 children diagnosed with childhood leukaemia and 460 similar children without cancer.

Data on maternal illnesses and drug use from before pregnancy through breastfeeding were obtained by interview with the mother.

The investigators found that a maternal history of influenza or pneumonia that occurred between three months before conception through the end of breastfeeding raised the risk of leukaemia in the child as much as 89 percent.

A maternal history of sexually transmitted disease, such as herpes or chlamydia, had an even stronger effect on the risk of childhood leukaemia, increasing the odds by more than sixfold.Counselling cuts risk of drinking in pregnancyNEW YORK (Reuters Health) — Women who drink often and fail to use reliable birth control are at high risk of drinking during pregnancy. But a new study suggests that just a few counselling sessions can reduce those odds.Researchers found that five brief counselling sessions helped high-risk women to both reduce their drinking and start using effective birth control.

At nine-month follow-up, they were twice as likely as women who did not receive counselling to cut out “risky drinking,” start using a reliable form of contraception, or do both.

“What we were able to do was to help the women become aware that they were at risk, and subsequently they made decisions to change their risk behaviour,” R. Louise Floyd, a researcher with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement.

She and her colleagues report the findings in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Alcohol is known to cause birth defects, harming foetal growth and development, including development of the brain and nervous system. The most severe consequence is foetal alcohol syndrome, a lifelong condition that causes physical and mental disabilities.

The 830 women in the current study did not use reliable birth control and they either drank often — at least eight drinks per week — or reported binge-drinking, which was defined as five or more drinks in a day.

More than half of the women met the clinical criteria for alcohol dependence, more than 90 percent used illicit drugs and more than 70 percent smoked.

The average age of the women was 30 years old, almost half were African American and 51 percent had never been married. Fifty-five percent had annual incomes of less than $20,000.

There is no known safe level of drinking during pregnancy.Carb intake low in young diabeticsNEW YORK (Reuters Health) — Young children with Type One diabetes tend to have adequate dietary intake of most micronutrients, according to results of a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.However, carbohydrate and caloric intake may be too low, possibly because their diet plans are out of step with their age.

“Diet is an important component of the management of Type One diabetes and may be central to achieving optimal health outcomes,” Dr. Susana R. Patton, of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and colleagues write. “The goal of conventional dietary management in Type One diabetes is to consume a well-balanced, nutritionally adequate diet with insulin dose matched to carbohydrate intake to achieve blood (sugar levels) as close to normal as possible.”

In the current study, the researchers examined the diet and diet adherence of 33 young children with Type One diabetes. Three-day diet diaries were used to measure the children’s nutrient and caloric intake, and the team evaluated associations between dietary adherence and sugar control.