Objective The objective was to investigate prevalence, estimate risk factors, and antenatal suspicion of abnormally invasive placenta (AIP) associated with laparotomy in women in the Nordic countries.Design Population-based cohort study.Setting and population A 3-year Nordic collaboration among obstetricians to identify and report on uterine rupture, peripartum hysterectomy, excessive blood loss, and AIP from 2009 to 2012 The Nordic Obstetric Surveillance Study (NOSS).Methods In the NOSS study, clinicians reported AIP cases from maternity wards and the data were validated against National health registries.Main outcome measures Prevalence, risk factors, antenatal suspicion, birth complications, and risk estimations using aggregated national data.Results A total of 205 cases of AIP in association with laparotomy were identified, representing 3.4 per 10 000 deliveries. The single most important risk factor, which was reported in 49% of all cases of AIP, was placenta praevia. The risk of AIP increased seven-fold after one prior caesarean section (CS) to 56-fold after three or more CS. Prior postpartum haemorrhage was associated with six-fold increased risk of AIP (95% confidence interval 3.7-10.9). Approximately 70% of all cases were not diagnosed antepartum. Of these, 39% had prior CS and 33% had placenta praevia. ConclusionOur findings indicate that a lower CS rate in the population may be the most effective way to lower the incidence of AIP. Focused ultrasound assessment of women at high risk will likely strengthen antenatal suspicion. Prior PPH is a novel risk factor associated with an increased prevalence of AIP.Keywords Incidence, placenta accreta, prenatal diagnosis, risk factors.Tweetable abstract An ultrasound assessment in women with placenta praevia or prior CS may double the awareness for AIP.

Chromosome errors, or aneuploidy, affect an exceptionally high number of human conceptions, causing pregnancy loss and congenital disorders. Here, we have followed chromosome segregation in human oocytes from females aged 9 to 43 years and report that aneuploidy follows a U-curve. Specific segregation error types show different age dependencies, providing a quantitative explanation for the U-curve. Whole-chromosome nondisjunction events are preferentially associated with increased aneuploidy in young girls, whereas centromeric and more extensive cohesion loss limit fertility as women age. Our findings suggest that chromosomal errors originating in oocytes determine the curve of natural fertility in humans.

The Nordic medical birth registers have long been used for valuable clinical research. Their collection of data for more than four decades offers unusual possibilities for research across generations. At the same time, serum and blotting paper blood samples have been stored from most neonates. Two large cohorts (approximately 100 000 births) in Denmark and Norway have been described by questionnaires, interviews and collection of biological samples (blood, urine and milk teeth), as well as a systematic prospective follow-up of the offspring. National patient registers provide information on preceding, underlying and present health problems of the parents and their offspring. Researchers may, with permission from the national authorities, obtain access to individualized or anonymized data from the registers and tissue-banks. These data allow for multivariate analyses but their usefulness depends on knowledge of the specific registers and biological sample banks and on proper validation of the registers.

Data availability: All data are available at dbGaP (study #35769) under appropriate Data Use Certification (DUC) agreement in accordance with Danish ethical regulation and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Higher prevalence of complete uterine ruptures per TOLAC was observed in countries with low previous CS and high TOLAC rates. Rates of hysterectomy and perinatal death are about 10% following complete uterine rupture, but in women undergoing TOLAC the rates are extremely low (only 2.2 and 3.2 per 10 000 TOLACs, respectively.) TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: Prevalence of complete uterine rupture is higher in countries with low previous CS and high TOLAC rates.

The Nordic Obstetric Surveillance Study: a study of complete uterine rupture, abnormally invasive placenta, peripartum hysterectomy, and severe blood loss at delivery Colmorn, Lotte B.; Petersen, Kathrine B.; Jakobsson, Maija; Lindqvist, Pelle G.; Klungsoyr, Kari; Källén, Karin; Bjarnadottir, Ragnheidur I.; Tapper, Anna-Maija; Bordahl, Per E.; Gottvall, Karin; Thurn, Lars; Gissler, Mika; Krebs, Lone; Langhoff-Roos, Jens Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Colmorn, L. B., Petersen, K. B., Jakobsson, M., Lindqvist, P. G., Klungsoyr, K., Källén, K., ... Langhoff-Roos, J. (2015). The Nordic Obstetric Surveillance Study: a study of complete uterine rupture, abnormally invasive placenta, peripartum hysterectomy, and severe blood loss at delivery. Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, 94(7), 734-744. DOI: 10.1111/aogs.12639 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal AOGS MAIN RESEARCH ARTICLEThe Nordic Obstetric Surveillance Study: a study of complete uterine rupture, abnormally invasive placenta, peripartum hysterectomy, and severe blood loss at delivery AbstractObjective. To assess the rates and characteristics of women with complete uterine rupture, abnormally invasive placenta, peripartum hysterectomy, and severe blood loss at delivery in the Nordic countries. Design. Prospective, Nordic collaboration. Setting. The Nordic Obstetric Surveillance Study (NOSS) collected cases of severe obstetric complications in the Nordic countries from April 2009 to August 2012. Sample and methods. Cases were reported by clinicians at the Nordic maternity units and retrieved from medical birth registers, hospital discharge registers, and transfusion databases by using International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision codes on diagnoses and the Nordic Medico-Statistical Committee Classification of Surgical Procedure codes. Main outcome measures. Rates of the studied complications and possible risk factors among parturients in the Nordic countries. Results. The studied complications were reported in 1019 instances among 605 362 deliveries during the study period. The reported rate of severe blood loss at delivery was 11.6/10 000 deliveries, complete uterine rupture was 5.6/10 000 deliveries, abnormally invasive placenta was 4.6/10 000 deliveries, and peripartum hysterectomy was 3.5/10 000 deliveries. Of the women, 25% had two or more complications. Women with complications were more often >35 years old, overweight, with a higher parity, a...

Background Maternal infections are an important cause of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity. We report the main findings of the WHO Global Maternal Sepsis Study, which aimed to assess the frequency of maternal infections in health facilities, according to maternal characteristics and outcomes, and coverage of core practices for early identification and management.Methods We did a facility-based, prospective, 1-week inception cohort study in 713 health facilities providing obstetric, midwifery, or abortion care, or where women could be admitted because of complications of pregnancy, childbirth, post-partum, or post-abortion, in 52 low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) and high-income countries (HICs). We obtained data from hospital records for all pregnant or recently pregnant women hospitalised with suspected or confirmed infection. We calculated ratios of infection and infection-related severe maternal outcomes (ie, death or near-miss) per 1000 livebirths and the proportion of intrahospital fatalities across country income groups, as well as the distribution of demographic, obstetric, clinical characteristics and outcomes, and coverage of a set of core practices for identification and management across infection severity groups.

A combination of prospective data collected from clinicians and information gathered from register-based databases can yield valuable data, improving the registration accuracy for rare, near-miss cases. However, proper and uniform clinical guidelines for the use of well-defined international diagnostic codes are still needed.