Medical Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Medical Research - Essay Example They do not include seemingly important information such as the brand of vitamins the study subjects were taking, what type and severity of diabetes the mothers of the infants had, and the like. Other than that, it appears that all results were reported. The information is aged, so there is a good chance this study acted to plant a seed in getting women to take nutritional supplements, especially if they had been diagnosed as being diabetic and was pregnant. According to the study, the results concluded that mothers with diabetes had an increased risk of having children with birth defects. This occurred only with those mothers who had failed to take multivitamins while they were pregnant. Those mothers who had diabetes and took multivitamins while they were pregnant did not show an increase for the risk of birth defects. This leads to the conclusion that the use of multivitamins during pregnancy may reduce the chances that a mother with diabetes will give birth to a child with birth defects (Correa, 2003). The conclusion, which is listed as the last sentence in the paragraph above, is appropriate to the results. Furthermore, the conclusion that was reached was supported by the data that was presented in the tables that came along with the research study. A discussion of implications is included near the results section of the study and is larger than the results section itself. The study does not discuss future research, but does refer a lot back to prior research that has been conducted on the topic in past research studies of a similar type (Correa, 2003). There is one point that appears in Table 5 that the authors fail to mention, but that is interesting and worthy of noting. Women without diabetes who took multivitamins during pregnancy had a 120/424 chance of giving birth to a child with birth defects. This is particularly noteworthy since the subjects for the study were selected on the basis of having birth defects, but the control group did not have diabetes while the rest of the mothers did (Correa, 2003). LIMITATIONS The authors do discuss limitations of the trial in the discussion section. They claim that the information regarding the status of diabetes and the taking of multivitamins were taken from the mother's words instead of produced in the study. Therefore, it could not be verified or detailed. This means that, in the study, they could not distinguish between type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes or see if that affected the study outcomes in any way (Correa, 2003). The authors did strongly attempt to give a justification for these limitations. Although limitations may seem purely negative in nature, that is not necessarily the case. They can give great ideas for those who plan on conducting