Pregnancy outcomes in women with imported malaria in mainland France: A retrospective study from 2004 to 2014

Objectives

There is little data on pregnant women with imported malaria in high-income countries, especially regarding offspring outcomes. We wanted to determine pregnancy outcomes of imported malaria in pregnant women in mainland France.

Patients and methods

We conducted a retrospective, descriptive study of outcomes in pregnant women hospitalized with malaria from 2004 to 2014 in two regions of mainland France. An adverse outcome was defined as a miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm birth (<35 weeks of gestation), low birth weight (LBW) defined as less than 2500 g, or congenital malaria.

Results

Of 60 pregnancies, 5 were excluded because of elective abortions; 55 were investigated, of which 11 were primigravidae and 44 multigravidae. Pregnancies were singleton (n = 51) or twin (n = 4). Mean age was 30.4 years (range:19–45 y). Among the 55 cases, 9 ended in a miscarriage (8 singletons and 1 twin pregnancy) and 1 had a stillbirth at 21 weeks of gestation, all immediately after the malarial episode. 45 gave birth (29 vaginal deliveries and 16 caesarean sections) to 48 (42 singletons and 6 twins) newborns. Amongst these, 30 were healthy full-term newborns, 10 had LBW, and 8 were preterm. Overall, 26 of 55 (47.3%) pregnancies, and 29 of 59 (49.2%) offsprings had adverse outcomes. Compared to singleton pregnancies, twin pregnancies were associated with adverse outcomes (p = 0.0438).

Conclusions

Imported malaria has a severe impact on pregnancy outcomes. Prevention and management of imported malaria in pregnancy should be optimized.