(October 19, 2011 - Insidermedicine)

From North Carolina - A new report presented at the meeting for the American Society of Anesthesiologists outlines 3 medical factors that may help predict death after surgery. Studying data on almost 20,000 surgery patients, researchers found that low measurements in median arterial pressure, medic anesthetic concentration and the bispectral index combined to raise risk of death by 2.5x 1 year after surgery.

From California - Early pregnancy hypertension raises risk of birth defects, according to a report published in the British Medical Journal. Researchers examined nearly 500,000 mother-child pairs, finding that women with high blood pressure in the first trimester were more likely to have a child with a birth defect, regardless of the anti-hypertensive medication she was on.

And finally, from California - Steroids given to preterm babies may impair their brain growth, according to a report published in Science Translational Medicine. Studying nearly 200 premature babies, researchers found that those given low dose steroids had smaller cerebellar volumes when they became full term.