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Maternal and fetal health

Researchers at The Ottawa Hospital are investigating promising new approaches to prevent, diagnose and treat a wide range of diseases that affect maternal and fetal health. Learn more below.

Research News

	Emergency department visits and hospitalizations for cannabis use during pregnancy almost doubled since legalization May 23, 2023 - The number of pregnancies that required treatment for cannabis use in the emergency department (ED) or during a hospitalization in Ontario increased by 82% (from 11 to 20 per 100,000 pregnancies) following legalization.
	Ottawa-led team develops AI-enabled model to diagnose birth defect in fetal ultrasound images July 14, 2022 - Artificial intelligence is poised to play a truly transformative role in global health care. The convergence of medicine and AI might eventually prove to be more impactful than the unraveling of the genome.
	1 in 4 survey respondents who gave birth at The Ottawa Hospital during the 2020 spring lockdown experienced abusive behaviour from their partners before, during or after pregnancy June 15, 2021 - Survey results from 216 people who gave birth at The Ottawa Hospital between March and June 2020 showed that 52 (24 percent) experienced controlling or abusive behaviour from their partners during their perinatal period (one year pre-pregnancy, durin
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	Planned caesarean births safe for low-risk pregnancies May 3, 2021 - New research shows that planned caesarean deliveries on maternal request are safe for low-risk pregnancies and may be associated with a lower risk of adverse delivery outcomes compared with planned vaginal deliveries.
	Research study to improve patient care during pandemic March 17, 2021 - Meagan Gordon spent much of her high-risk twin pregnancy confined to a room at our hospital to keep her and her babies safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, she's helping our researchers improve care.
	New scientist profile: Dr. Darine El-Chaâr aims to help pregnant parents and their babies March 10, 2021 - Dr. Darine El-Chaâr’s research focuses on three areas: increasing breast/chestfeeding among patients with diabetes, cannabis use in pregnancy, and COVID-19 in pregnancy.
	Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women and babies June 25, 2020 - Very little is known about how COVID-19 affects pregnant women and their babies. Drs. Darine El-Chaâr, Marc-André Langlois and their team plan to address this knowledge gap through several large studies. Dr Langlois’s team will be responsib
	Assisted reproductive technology and heart problems: it’s (mostly) about the twins February 24, 2020 - Babies born through Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) like in vitro fertilization have a small but significantly increased risk of being born with heart problems (2.2 percent for ART babies compared to 1.2 percent for non-ART babies). Now, a new
	Could artificial intelligence help manage preterm birth? Prestigious fellowship to help Dr. Steven Hawken find out January 15, 2020 - Dr. Steven Hawken has been awarded a Health Research Foundation Fellowship in Artificial Intelligence (AI) Health Research, one of only two in the country. The $100,000 award will allow Dr. Hawken to use advanced AI and predictive modeling to help id
	Could artificial intelligence help manage preterm birth? Prestigious fellowship to help Dr. Steven Hawken find out December 11, 2019 - Dr. Steven Hawken has been awarded a Health Research Foundation Fellowship in Artificial Intelligence (AI) Health Research, one of only two in the country.
	Thinking about using cannabis during pregnancy? Think again. September 16, 2019 - New research suggests that pregnant women who use cannabis have a greater risk of a preterm birth.
	Cannabis use in pregnancy linked to increased risk of preterm birth June 19, 2019 - Researchers from The Ottawa Hospital, CHEO, BORN Ontario and the University of Ottawa have conducted one of the largest studies to date on the effect of cannabis use during pregnancy. They found that reported cannabis use during pregnancy was associa
	High dose folic acid does not prevent preeclampsia in high-risk women September 12, 2018 - Taking high doses of folic acid throughout pregnancy does not prevent preeclampsia in high-risk women, according to a large international clinical trial published in The BMJ. This refutes the findings of previous observational studies and is expected
	Weight gained in first half of pregnancy affects baby’s birth weight the most February 26, 2018 - A baby’s birth weight is strongly linked to how much weight their mother gained during the first half of her pregnancy, according to a study led by Drs Shi Wu Wen and Ravi Retnakaran with Dr. Mark Walker. This is important because babies with a ver
	New blood sugar monitoring a game-changer for pregnant women with type 1 diabetes October 24, 2017 - Fifteen women at The Ottawa Hospital took part in an international clinical trial that could change the way mothers with type 1 diabetes monitor their blood sugar levels. Mothers with this condition have a higher risk of having children with health c
	Midwife’s question inspires study on best blood clot treatment July 11, 2017 - Midwife Elizabeth Fraser wanted to know how to reduce her risk of blood clots during pregnancy, and inspired a study that could help others with her rare condition. Elizabeth Fraser jokes that she had one of the world’s most-planned pregnancies.
	“Invaluable” study confirms blood thinners don’t prevent recurrent pregnancy complications October 18, 2016 - Two years ago, Dr. Marc Rodger thought he had settled the debate about the use of blood thinners in pregnant women at high risk of developing blood clots. His trial of 292 women in five countries – the largest of its kind – definitely showed that t

Researchers

Name	Scientific appointment	Diseases, conditions and populations of interest	Research and clinical approaches
Burger, Dylan PhD	Senior Scientist (Chronic Disease)	Aging, Chronic disease, Diabetes, Heart disease, Hypertension, Kidney disease, Maternal and fetal health, Obesity, Thrombosis / thromboembolism, Type 1 diabetes, Vascular cognitive impairment, Vascular, heart and metabolic disease	Basic research, Biomarkers, Disease models, Exercise, Extracellular vesicles / exosomes, Imaging, Model organisms, Molecular and cellular biology, Pharmacology, Proteomics, Regenerative medicine, Stem cells, Transgenic/knockout models, Translational research
Chen, Hsiao-Huei PhD	Senior Scientist (Neuroscience)	Aging, Autism, Dementia, Depression, Heart disease, Maternal and fetal health, Mental health, Tourette's, Alzheimer's, Alzheimer's, Anxiety, Diabetes, Obesity, Schizophrenia, Stroke, Vascular, heart and metabolic disease	Disease models, Drug development, Gene expression, Neuro-stimulation, Optogenetics, Transgenic/knockout models, Basic research, Molecular and cellular biology, Translational research
Eissa, Mohamed MBBCh, MSc, MD, EDAIC, FRCPC, Advanced PTEeXAM	Clinician Investigator (Clinical Epidemiology)	Heart disease, Maternal and fetal health, Vascular, heart and metabolic disease	Anesthesiology
El-Chaar, Darine MD, FRCSC, Msc	Scientist (Clinical Epidemiology)	Autoimmune disease, COVID-19, Diabetes, Infectious disease, Inflammatory bowel syndrome, Maternal and fetal health, Newborn and child health, Population health, Pregnancy, Women's health	Clinical research, Clinical trials, Cohort studies, Epidemiology, Health research methods, Health services research, Public health, Qualitative methods, Quality Improvement, Systematic reviews
Hutton, Brian MSc, PhD	Senior Scientist (Clinical Epidemiology)	Addiction, Anxiety, Breast cancer, Depression, Health equity, Health in disadvantaged peoples, Maternal and fetal health, Mental health, Population health, Suicide, Cancer	Clinical research, Cohort studies, Epidemiology, Health research methods, Health services research, Patient safety, Public health, Rapid reviews, Biostatistics, Clinical trials, Systematic reviews
Liu, Johné PhD	Senior Scientist (Chronic Disease)	Aging, Cancer, Infertility, Maternal and fetal health, Pregnancy, Women's health	Basic research, Clinical research, Clinical trials, Disease models, Drug development, Translational research
Walker, Mark MD, FRCPC, MSc, MScHCM	Senior Scientist (Clinical Epidemiology)	Global health, Health equity, Infertility, Maternal and fetal health, Newborn and child health, Population health, Pregnancy, Women's health	Clinical research, Clinical trials, Cluster randomized trials, Cohort studies, Epidemiology, Health economics, Health promotion, Health research methods, Health services research, Knowledge translation and implementation research, Pragmatic trials, Prevention, Public health, Quality Improvement, Rapid reviews, Risk assessment, Surveys, Systematic reviews

Related Resources

Research at The Ottawa Hospital on women's health, pregnancy, newborn and child health

Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Newborn Care at The Ottawa Hospital

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Ottawa