Journal of Pregnancy最新文献

This is a cross-sectional study comparing pregnancy outcomes between participants with 4 and 6 cm of cervical os dilatation at the diagnosis of the active phase of labour. It was conducted in a single tertiary centre involving low-risk singleton pregnancies at or beyond 37 weeks with spontaneous onset of labour. A total of 155 participants were recruited, 101 in group 1 (4 cm) and 54 in group 2 (6 cm). Both groups were similar in mean maternal age, mean gestational age at delivery, ethnicity, median haemoglobin level at delivery, body mass index, and parity. There were significantly more participants in group 1 who needed oxytocin augmentation (p < 0.001) for the longer mean duration (p = 0.015), use of analgesia (p < 0.001), and caesarean section rate (p = 0.002). None of the women had a postpartum haemorrhage or a third- or fourth-degree perineal tear, and none of the neonates required admission to the neonatal intensive care unit. There were significantly more nulliparas who had a caesarean section as compared to multiparas. A cervical os dilatation of 6 cm reduces the risk of caesarean section by 11% (95% CI, 0.01-0.9) and increases three times more the need for analgesia (AOR = 3.44, 95% CI, 1.2-9.4). In conclusion, the demarcation of the active phase of labour at a cervical os dilatation of 6 cm is feasible without an increase in maternal or neonatal complications.

Background: Timely detection and treatment of pregnancy-related or preexisting diseases, health education, and the promotion of adequate care provision improve the health of mothers and unborn children. As such, these factors are crucial within the first pregnancy trimester. However, very few women in low and middle-income countries initiate their first ANC in the recommended trimester of pregnancy. This study is aimed at assessing the prevalence of timely initiation of ANC and its associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in Wachemo University Nigist Eleni Mohammed Memorial comprehensive specialized hospital, Hossana, Ethiopia.

Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 4, 2022 to May 19, 2022. A systematic sampling technique was used to select study participants. Data were collected from pregnant women using a pretested structured interview questionnaire. EpiData version 3.1 was used to enter the data, and SPSS version 24 was used to analyze it. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression were used to identify the associated factors at a 95% confidence interval with a p value < 0.05.

Results: This study indicated that 118 (34.3%) of the women initiated ANC timely. The factors associated with timely initiation of ANC included women aged 25-34 years (AOR = 0.3; 95% CI: (0.1, 0.7)), tertiary maternal education (AOR = 3.2, 95% CI: (1.0, 9.9)), zero parity (AOR = 7.7; 95% CI: (3.6, 15.3)), planned pregnancy (AOR = 13.7; 95% CI: (5.5, 34.3)), good knowledge about ANC services (AOR = 3.1; 95% (CI: (2.3, 11.3)), and good knowledge about danger signs in pregnancy (AOR = 4.8; 95% CI: (2.2, 8.1)).

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the importance of making a significant effort to increase the coverage of timely ANC initiation in the study area. Therefore, increasing the awareness level of mothers regarding ANC services given during pregnancy and danger signs in pregnancy and advancing the academic level of mothers are essential to increase the coverage of timely initiation of ANC.

Background: Nonpneumatic antishock garment is one of the newly emerging technology advances that reduce blood loss which is caused by obstetric hemorrhage and help women survive during delays to get definitive care. Over 80% of maternal mortality due to hemorrhagic shock may have been prevented if a nonpneumatic antishock garment had been utilized by an obstetric care provider. However, to the current knowledge, the utilization of nonpneumatic antishock garments is low and even no single study was conducted in the study area. Hence, we found that it is necessary to assess the magnitude and factors affecting the utilization of antishock garments among obstetric care providers in public hospitals of the Sidama region, Ethiopia, 2022.

Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study design was employed among 403 obstetric care providers from June 15 to July 15, 2022. A two-stage sampling technique was applied; the data was collected by 5 trained BSc midwives using pretested and structured self-administered questionnaires. Data was entered into EpiData Manager version 4.6 and exported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 software. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used.

Results: A total of 394 (97.8%) health professionals participated in this study. Overall, 30.71% (95% CI: 26.4%, 35%) of the obstetric care providers had utilized nonpneumatic antishock garments for the management of postpartum hemorrhage. Training on the antishock garment (AOR = 4.183, 95% CI: 2.167, 8.075, p < 0.00), tertiary hospital (AOR = 0.355, 95% CI: 0.132, 0.952, p < 0.04), having protocol in the facility (AOR = 2.758, 95% CI: 1.269, 5.996), availability of NASG in the facility (AOR = 4.6, 95% CI: 1.603, 13.24), good knowledge (AOR = 2.506, 95% CI: 1.26, 4.984), and positive attitude (AOR = 2.381, 95% CI: 1.189, 4.766) were significantly associated factors. Conclusion and Recommendation. We found that less than one-third of the study participants have used the antishock garment in the management of postpartum hemorrhage in the current study. In addition to enhancing in-service and ongoing professional development training, it is preferable to insure the availability and accessibility of antishock in the facilities in order to close the knowledge and attitude gap among obstetric care providers.

Background: Patient satisfaction is an important aspect of the quality of care in the inpatient setting. In neonatal intensive care units, parents' satisfaction and their experiences are fundamental to assessing clinical practice and improving the quality of care delivered to infants. Hence then, it reduces infant mortality rates globally. In Ethiopia, few studies address the level of parental satisfaction towards care given at neonatal intensive care unit and no single study was done in the study area. Therefore, this study is aimed at assessing parental satisfaction towards care given at neonatal intensive care unit and associated factors in comprehensive and referral hospitals of southern Ethiopia.

Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 401 parents who visited neonatal intensive care from March 28 to April 28, 2022. The data were assorted via a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire using ODK collect version and exported to SPSS window version 25 for further cleaning and analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to identify factors associated with parental satisfaction with care given at the neonatal intensive care unit. The adjusted odds ratio with 95% CI was used to show the strength of the association, and a P value < 0.05 was used to declare the cutoff point to determine the level of significance.

Results: In this study, 63% (95% CI: 58%, 68%) of the parents were satisfied with the care given at the neonatal intensive care unit. Factors associated with parental satisfaction towards care given at neonatal intensive care unit were parents with no formal education (AOR: 0.15; 95% CI: 0.07-0.31), availability of necessary information using direction indicator (AOR: 3.14; 95% CI: 1.85-5.31), and availability of enough chairs in waiting area (AOR: 3.26; 95% CI: 1.81-5.87).

Conclusion: Nearly two-thirds of the parents were satisfied with the care given at the neonatal intensive care unit. The availability of enough chairs in the waiting area and the creation of direction indicators are key issues to improve parental satisfaction towards their neonatal care.

Background: The optimum time of labour induction among women with a previous caesarean without any pregnancy complication and eligible and willing for vaginal delivery is not specified. This study compares the vaginal birth rates between induction at 40 weeks and expectant management till 41 weeks.

Method: We conducted this parallel design nonblinded, randomized controlled trial in a tertiary care teaching institution in South India on women with a previous lower segment caesarean section eligible for a trial of labour with singleton foetus without any pregnancy complication at recruitment. We screened 1886 women. Sixty women underwent block (of 6 each) randomization into two groups of thirty each at 40 weeks. We induced the women in the intervention group at 40 weeks with oxytocin or a single 24-hour application of a Foley catheter followed by oxytocin infusion and amniotomy. The expectant group underwent maternal and foetal surveillance and induction at 41 weeks with the same protocol if not delivered by then. We compared the primary outcome of the proportion of vaginal birth rate with a chi-square test.

Result: Data from all sixty women were analyzed. Twenty (66.67%) in the induction compared to ten (33.33%) in the expectant group delivered vaginally. This difference was significant (RR 2.0, 95% CI: 1.13-3.52; P = 0.016). One woman in the expectant group had scar dehiscence.

Conclusion: Among women with a previous caesarean scar, labour induction at 40 weeks has a significantly higher vaginal birth rate than those managed expectantly till 41 weeks. More extensive trials are feasible and recommended. Trial Registry. The trial was prospectively registered with the clinical trial registry of India. This trial is registered with CTRI/2018/09/015719 (date of registration 14th September 2018).

Background: Brucellosis is one of the most prevalent zoonotic neglected tropical diseases across the globe. Brucella melitensis (B. melitensis), the most pathogenic species is responsible for several pregnancy adverse outcomes in both humans and animals. Here, we present the data on the magnitude of B. melitensis antibodies among pregnant women in Mwanza, Tanzania, the information that might be useful in understanding the epidemiology of the disease and devising appropriate control interventions in this region. Methodology. A hospital-based cross-sectional study involving pregnant women was conducted at two antenatal clinics in Mwanza between May and July 2019. The pretested structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Blood samples were collected aseptically from all consenting women followed by the detection of B. melitensis antibodies using slide agglutination test. Descriptive data analysis was done using STATA version 17.

Results: A total of 635 pregnant women were enrolled with the median age of 25 (interquartile range (IQR): 16-48) years and median gestation age of 21 (IQR: 3-39) weeks. Seropositivity of B. melitensis antibodies was 103 (16.2 (95% CI:13.3-19.1)). On the multivariate logistic regression analysis, as the gestation age increases, the odds of being seropositive decreases (aOR:0.972 (95% CI: 0.945-0.999), P = 0.045). Furthermore, being a housewife (aOR:3.902 (95% CI:1.589-9.577), P = 0.003), being employed (aOR:3.405 (95% CI:1.412-8.208), P = 0.006), and having history of miscarriage (aOR:1.940 (95% CI:1.043-3.606), P = 0.036) independently predicted B. melitensis seropositivity among pregnant women in Mwanza.

Conclusion: High seropositivity of B. melitensis was observed among employed and housewife pregnant women in Mwanza. This calls for the need of more studies in endemic areas that might lead to evidence-based control interventions.

Background: COVID-19 is a new pandemic, which was declared by the World Health Organization in 2019 as a threat to public health. According to numerous reports, it can have negative consequences for pregnant women, labour, and neonates born to infected mothers. The aim of this paper was to gather the evidence and to present a summary of the results of studies concerning COVID-19 in pregnant women and their neonates.

Methods: Articles from prestigious journals covering the period from 2020 to February 2023, relevant review papers, and original research articles from PubMed were analysed. In order to analyse the available research literature, the Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed databases were used, in which the search for articles was conducted using terms ("pregnancy," "coronavirus," "SARS-CoV-2," and "newborn") and using PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systemic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) guidelines for clinical trials. Meta-analyses and systematic reviews (2022-2023) on symptoms, neonatal course, and risk of COVID-19 infection have been summarized. Summary of meta-analyses and systematic reviews (2022-2023) on the effect and adverse reaction of the COVID-19 vaccination is presented.

Results: As a result of the research conducted, it was confirmed that in most pregnant women, no serious signs of the infection were observed, although isolated cases of death related to COVID-19 in pregnant women were reported. Several authors called attention to the more severe course of the infection in pregnant women with obesity. It seemed that no vertical transmission from mother to child was occurring. Nevertheless, the information was not clinching. The condition of the neonates born to mothers with COVID-19 was in most cases described as normal; however, some papers reported deaths of infected neonates.

Conclusions: Due to insufficient data, further research is necessary. Further studies and follow-up are recommended, which would make possible an assessment of remote effects of COVID-19 on pregnancy and vital parameters of the newborn.

Purpose: Ectopic pregnancy can be fatal if not diagnosed and timely treated. There is an increase in ectopic pregnancy rate which attributes in part to fertility medications and procedures and early diagnosis. Methotrexate, a folic acid antagonist, is widely used in the medical treatment of ectopic pregnancy. Many studies examined the safety and success rate of methotrexate looking into factors affecting the success rate, if the patient may present with symptoms such as abdominal pain, and some consider this as impeding rupture and it might affect the success of medical treatment. This study evaluates the success rate of methotrexate treatment outcomes in regard to presentation and looks into other factors that can help choosing a single or multiple dose modality.

Methods: This is a retrospective review of 154 cases of ectopic pregnancy treated with methotrexate from January 2011 to December 2020 at King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH). Demographic data, clinical presentation, treatment progress, and outcome and failure rate were collected and analyzed. Student's t-test was used for statistical analysis of associations in SPSS.

Results: 154 patients were treated with MTX; of those patients, 25 received more than one dose. The difference between the responses to MTX treatment in symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals was not significant (p = 0.267). 131 (85%) had successful treatment. There were no associations between patient BMI, ectopic mass size, or ectopic mass site, the presence or absence of pelvic fluid on ultrasound at diagnosis, and the treatment success rate. There was a significant decline in the treatment success rate with increasing β-hCG levels on the presentation day (p = 0.035) and on day 4 (p value <0.001) of treatment.

Conclusion: MTX treatment can be used to manage symptomatic patients with ectopic pregnancy. The success rate in symptomatic patients is not different from that in asymptomatic patients. β - hCG levels > 5000 IU/L. Pretreatment and on day 4 posttreatment is associated with higher failure rate.

Background: Discordant birth weight in twins is linked to poor outcomes and predicting this discrepancy may lead to enhanced screening and surveillance. Our purpose was to quantify the relationship between intertwin nuchal translucency (NT) and crown-rump length (CRL) discordance with birth weight discrepancies ≥ 20%.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 887 live twin births delivering at a Canadian tertiary care center over a 7-year period who opted for integrated prenatal screening. Categorical data are presented as numbers and percentages, and continuous data are expressed as means and standard deviations. Chi-square tests, Fisher's Exact tests, or T-test were performed as appropriate. We then used published data and receiver operating curves to determine the optimal thresholds for predicting birth weight discordance based on first trimester intertwin NT differences. These values were used in multivariate logistic regression models accounting for known confounders.

Results: Roughly 16% of twin pairs exhibited ≥ 20% difference in birth weight. Twin pairs with a CRL discordance greater than 10% have nearly a 4 times greater likelihood of having a birth weight discordance greater than 20% (OR 3.71, CI 2.24-6.14) while controlling for chorionicity, maternal age, gestational age at delivery, maternal body mass index (BMI), and parity. In these models, intertwin NT discordance ≥ 20% (OR 1.16, CI 0.77-1.77) and NT discordance ≥ 14% (OR 1.08, CI 0.73-1.60) were not statistically significant predictors of twin birth weight differences. However, when evaluating the effect of the larger intertwin NT value corresponding to the 95^th percentile, an NT difference ≥ 0.9 mm was predictive of birth weight discordance ≥ 20% (OR 2.53, CI 1.21-5.29).

Conclusion: Although intertwin CRL and NT discordance measured via ultrasound between 11-14 weeks gestation are related to birth weight discordance, there is uncertainty as to whether twin birth weight differences are related to adverse pregnancy outcomes in this population.

Background: Hypertensive disorder of pregnancy is the leading cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality worldwide and the second cause of maternal mortality in Ethiopia. The current study is aimed at assessing fetal-maternal outcomes and associated factors among mothers with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy complication at Suhul General Hospital, Northwest Tigray, Ethiopia, 2019. Methods:A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted from Oct. 1^st, 2019, to Nov. 30, 2019, at Suhul General Hospital women's chart assisted from July 1^st, 2014, to June 31^st, 2019. Charts were reviewed consecutively during five years, and data were collected using data abstraction format after ethical clearance was assured from the Institutional Review Board of Mekelle University College of Health Sciences. Data were entered into Epi-data 3.5.3 and exported to SPSS 22 for analysis. Bivariable and multivariable analyses were done to ascertain fetomaternal outcome predictors. Independent variables with p value < 0.2 for both perinatal and maternal on the bivariable analysis were entered in multivariable logistic regression analysis and the level of significance set at p value < 0.05.

Results: Out of 497 women, 328 (66%) of them were from rural districts, the mean age of the women was 25.94 ± 6.46, and 252 (50.7%) were para-one. The study revealed that 252 (50.3%) newborns of hypertensive mothers ended up with at least low Apgar score 204 (23.1%), low birth weight 183 (20.7%), preterm gestation 183 (20.7%), intensive care unit admissions 90 (10.2%), and 95% CI (46.1% -54.9%), and 267 (53.7%) study mothers also developed maternal complication at 95% (49.3-58.1). Being a teenager (AOR = 1.815: 95%CI = 1.057 - 3.117), antepartum-onset hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (AOR = 7.928: 95%CI = 2.967 - 21.183), intrapartum-onset hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (AOR = 4.693: 95%CI = 1.633 - 13.488), and low hemoglobin level (AOR = 1.704: 95%CI = 1.169 - 2.484) were maternal complication predictors; rural residence (AOR = 1.567: 95%CI = 1.100 - 2.429), antepartum-onset hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (AOR = 3.594: 95%, CI = 1.334 - 9.685), and intrapartum-onset hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (AOR = 3.856: 95%CI = 1.309 - 11.357) were predictors of perinatal complications.

Conclusions: Hypertensive disorder during pregnancy leads to poor fetomaternal outcomes. Teenage age and hemoglobin levels were predictors of maternal complication. A rural resident was the predictor of poor perinatal outcome. The onset of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy was both maternal and perinatal complication predictors. Quality antenatal care services and good maternal and childcare accompanied by skilled healthcare providers are essential for early detection and management of hypertensive disorder of pregnancy.