A CDC report showed that US women ages 15 to 44 had a birth rate of 59 births per 1,000 women in 2018, a record low since tracking began, with births to teens ages 15 to 19 also reaching a record low, while the fertility rate dropped by 2% from 2017 to 2018. However, researchers found that preterm birth prevalence has increased for four years straight and reached just over 10% in 2018.

A study in The Lancet found 11% of women given one dose of prophylactic antibiotic shortly after an operative vaginal birth developed a suspected or confirmed infection, compared with 19% of women given a placebo. Antibiotic treatment also was associated with lower rates of perineal wound infection, perineal pain and perineal wound breakdown.

Psoriatic arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis are associated with increased risk of adverse pregnancy and obstetric events, according to a study in Arthritis Care & Research. Women with psoriatic arthritis were at higher risk of moderate preterm birth, while those with ankylosing spondylitis had a greater likelihood of having an infant hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit.

A study in JAMA Internal Medicine evaluated the efficacy of 12 different strategies for cervical cancer screening. Another study in the journal looked at cervical cancer screening and triage for women with human papillomavirus.

The CDC said sporadic flu activity was reported in 28 states for the week ending May 11, and this could continue for several more weeks. The share of outpatient visits for flu-like illness dropped to 1.5%, but the overall flu-related hospitalization rate increased slightly to 65.7 per 100,000 people, and three additional pediatric deaths were reported.

While adolescent black women had the largest decrease in new cases of HIV with a 21% reduction, racial disparities persisted with black women accounting for 60% of new cases among women from 2010 to 2016, according to a report in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Overall, the rate of new HIV cases fell among adolescent women.

A study in the Annals of Surgery found that women with morbid obesity who underwent bariatric surgery had a 37% lower breast cancer risk over an average of about 48 months, compared with those who did not undergo the procedure. The study of 71,887 women found that the risk of developing breast cancer was reduced by 45% after menopause and 28% before menopause.

The CDC reports that the number of confirmed measles infections across 23 states increased by 75 to 839 cases as of May 10, inching closer to the 963 cases reported in 1994, the highest number in the last 25 years. No new states reported cases, while most of the new cases occurred in New York.

A Government Accountability Office report found the CMS is not doing enough to ensure the public knows about major changes to Medicaid, particularly the implementation of work rules through Section 1115 waivers. To improve transparency and avoid inconsistencies, the report urges the CMS to create standard transparency rules for new waivers, extension requests and major changes under Section 1115.

A statement from the Group of Six coalition, which includes the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other medical groups, opposed "efforts in state legislatures across the United States that inappropriately interfere with the patient-physician relationship, unnecessarily regulate the evidence-based practice of medicine and, in some cases, even criminalize physicians who deliver safe, legal and necessary medical care." The statement was issued in response to passage of a restrictive abortion bill signed into law in Alabama and similar legislation pending in other states.