Perinatal outcomes from the use of antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy: a case-control study

Objective: To evaluate the perinatal results from epileptic women using antiepileptic drugs during prenatal care.

Methods: This was a retrospective longitudinal study assessing the perinatal results of women exposed to antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy, and we compared these results with those of pregnant women who were not exposed. The development of pregnancy, gestational age at delivery, Apgar scores, biometric data, morbidity, stillbirths and neonatal mortality were analyzed. The chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test were used for the categorical variables, while Student’s t-test was used for independent numerical variables.

Results: Over a 10-year period, 12?790 singleton gestations were analyzed, among which 104 (0.8%) consisted of epileptic pregnant women. From this total, 82 evolved to childbirth and their neonatal data were compared with those of 316 newborns from non-epileptic women. The most-used antiepileptic drug was phenobarbital in 70% of the cases. There was greater neonatal mortality (p?=?0.006), occurrence of neonatal hemorrhagic disorders (p?=?0.005), and occurrence of minor congenital anomalies (p?=?0.03) among the children of women exposed to antiepileptic drugs.

Conclusion: The antenatal exposure to antiepileptic drugs is associated mainly with occurrences of hemorrhagic complications during the neonatal period; furthermore, great prevalence of newborns presenting minor congenital anomalies and elevated risk of neonatal mortality.     

Survey on Neonatal End-of-Life Comfort Care Guidelines Across America

Context

Infants of age less than one year have the highest mortality rate in pediatrics. The American Academy of Pediatrics published guidelines for palliative care in 2013; however, significant variation persists among local protocols addressing neonatal comfort care at the end-of-life (EOL).

山东省平阴县2001-2013年围产儿出生缺陷调查分析

目的分析平阴县2001-2013年出生缺陷发生情况,为制定降低出生缺陷发生的干预措施提供依据。方法调查收集平阴县近14年来围产儿出生缺陷资料,运用描述性统计分析方法分析出生缺陷发生率、缺陷种类及相关因素。结果平阴县出生缺陷平均发生率为10.8‰,产前诊断率为20.7%。出生缺陷病种占前五位的是脑积水、尿道下裂、副耳、唇裂合并腭裂、肾脏畸形。男性出生缺陷发生率高于女性;产妇年龄35岁的出生缺陷发生率高于其他年龄组;双(多)胎妊娠出生缺陷发生率高于单胎妊娠(P0.05);农村和城镇的地区差异无统计学意义。结论出生缺陷发生率与围产儿性别、产妇年龄、孕母怀孕胎数具有相关性,与城乡地区分布不具有相关性。平阴县出生缺陷发生率低于全国平均水平,但产前确诊率有待进一步提高,运用多种方法的产前诊断技术仍有很大的发展空间。     

羊水过少与妊娠并发症的相关性及对围生儿的影响

目的：探析孕妇羊水过少对妊娠并发症与围生儿的影响。方法选取2012年7月—2014年7月在我院接受治疗的羊水过少产妇84例作为观察组,同时选取84例羊水量正常的在我院分娩的产妇作为对照组,对比两组产妇妊娠并发症、围生期婴儿情况。结果观察组产妇的围生儿出现胎内窘迫、羊水粪染、新生儿窒息以及围生儿死亡的例数均显著高于对照组,对比差异显著,具有统计学意义（P＜0.05）;同时,在观察组羊水过少的84例孕妇中,伴有妊娠并发症者49例显著高于对照组伴有妊娠并发症者8例,且观察组胎儿生长受限、过期妊娠、妊娠高血压、胎儿畸形以及其他并发症的发生情况均显著高于对照组,组间对比有明显差异,具有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。结论羊水过少严重影响着产妇妊娠并发症的发生、围生儿的健康状况。也就是说,羊水过少,妊娠并发症的发生率越高。     

Lymphocyte subset changes between 3 and 15 months of age in infants born to HIV-seropositive women in South Africa

The evolution of T‐lymphocyte subsets during infancy in perinatally HIV‐infected African babies has not been previously described. In a hospital‐based cohort study, T‐lymphocyte subset changes were investigated in 72 South African black children born to HIV seropositive mothers. Sixteen (22.2%) children were classified as infected and 56 (77.8%) as uninfected by 18 months of age. Four (25%) of the infected infants died before the age of 9 months from HIV‐related disease.
The CD4 and CD8 T‐lymphocyte subsets, expressed in absolute numbers, as percentages, percentiles or as ratios, were clear indicators of HIV infection at all ages between 3 and 15 months. The most marked changes were a decreased percentage of CD4 cells and an increase in percentage of CD8 cells in the infected group. In the 4 infected infants who died, CD8 count and CD4:CD8 ratio clearly predicted poor clinical outcome at 3 months. Taken together, both CD4:CD8 ratio and CD4 percentage are reliable markers of HIV infection in an African paediatric population; however, a raised CD8 lymphocyte count rather than a CD4 count is a more specific prognostic marker of disease progression in HIV infected children.     

The fate of the pregnant diabetic in a developing country: Kenya

Summary A six-year survey of pregnancies complicated by diabetes has been performed at the Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi. Fifty-five babies were delivered with 14 perinatal deaths — a perinatal mortality rate of 254/1000, which was five times that of the nondiabetic population. There was one maternal death. Diabetes tended to be of short duration compared with similar series reported from developed countries. There were no perinatal deaths within a small sub-group managed according to a simple plan based on early referral for antenatal care, monitoring of diabetic control by blood glucose, and timing of delivery by use of the shake test.     

An evaluation of symptom domains in the 2 years before pregnancy as predictors of relapse in the perinatal period in women with severe mental illness

BackgroundSymptoms may be more useful prognostic markers for mental illness than diagnoses. We sought to investigate symptom domains in women with pre-existing severe mental illness (SMI; psychotic and bipolar disorder) as predictors of relapse risk during the perinatal period.MethodsData were obtained from electronic health records of 399 pregnant women with SMI diagnoses from a large south London mental healthcare provider. Symptoms within six domains characteristically associated with SMI (positive, negative, disorganization, mania, depression, and catatonia) recorded in clinical notes 2 years before pregnancy were identified with natural language processing algorithms to extract data from text, and associations investigated with hospitalization during pregnancy and 3 months postpartum.ResultsSeventy-six women (19%) relapsed during pregnancy and 107 (27%) relapsed postpartum. After adjusting for covariates, disorganization symptoms showed a positive association at borderline significance with relapse during pregnancy (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.36; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.99–1.87 per unit increase in number of symptoms) and depressive symptoms negatively with relapse postpartum (0.78; 0.62–0.98). Restricting the sample to women with at least one recorded symptom in any given domain, higher disorganization (1.84; 1.22–2.76), positive (1.50; 1.07–2.11), and manic (1.48; 1.03–2.11) symptoms were associated with relapse during pregnancy, and disorganization (1.54; 1.08–2.20) symptom domains were associated with relapse postpartum.ConclusionsPositive, disorganization, and manic symptoms recorded in the 2 years before pregnancy were associated with increased risk of relapse during pregnancy and postpartum. The characterization of routine health records from text fields is relatively transferrable and could help inform predictive risk modelling.     

围产期女性不同时点抑郁症状检出率及影响因素

目的:了解妇女在围产期不同时点的抑郁症状检出率及其影响因素。方法:2016年9月到2017年2月,在两家妇幼保健院进行产检的508名妇女中完成了全部时点的随访(从孕早期至产后6周,随访7次),使用爱丁堡产后抑郁量表(EPDS)进行抑郁筛查,计算所有时点的抑郁症状检出率,同时在各个时点测量抑郁影响因素。结果:7次随访的抑郁症状检出率为24.8%~37.6%;产后两个时点的中重度抑郁症状检出率均高于轻度抑郁症状(13.0%~14.3%vs.11.8%~13.0%,均P<0.05)。孕早期抑郁症状(OR=2.54、2.05)和产后焦虑(OR=1.43、1.13)与产后1周及产后6周的抑郁症状均正向关联;孕早期焦虑与孕12周至40周共5个时点的抑郁症状正向关联(OR=7.27、1.28、1.18、1.18、1.18)。结论:围产期不同时点的抑郁症状检出率不同,焦虑在整个围产期都与抑郁持续相关。