Several studies have suggested an association between maternal periodontal disease and preterm delivery, but this has not been a consistent finding. In 2006-2007, the authors examined the relation between maternal periodontal disease and preterm delivery among 467 pregnant Thai women who delivered a preterm singleton infant (<37 weeks' gestation) and 467 controls who delivered a singleton infant at term (> or =37 weeks' gestation). Periodontal examinations were performed within 48 hours after delivery. Participants' periodontal health status was classified into 4 categories according to the extent and severity of periodontal disease. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Preterm delivery cases and controls were similar with regard to mean probing depth, mean clinical attachment loss, and mean percentage of sites exhibiting bleeding on probing. After controlling for known confounders, the authors found that severe clinical periodontal disease was not associated with an increased risk of preterm delivery (odds ratio = 1.20, 95% confidence interval: 0.67, 2.16). In addition, there was no evidence of a linear increase in risk of preterm delivery or its subtypes associated with increasing severity of periodontal disease (P(trend) > 0.05). The results of this case-control study do not provide convincing evidence that periodontal disease is associated with preterm delivery or its subtypes among Thai women.

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The objective was to assess the value of uterine artery notching as a screening test for preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction in a low-risk population of healthy pregnant women. Color Doppler ultrasound was used to examine both uterine arteries in 322 healthy pregnant women at 24.9 +/- 1.9 (range 22-28) weeks of gestation. The criterion for abnormal results was a unilateral or bilateral presence of an early diastolic notch. The major end points were preeclampsia and small for gestational age (SGA) infants. Of the 322 women, 19 (5.9%) developed preeclampsia and six of them (1.9%) delivered SGA infants. An early diastolic notch was detected in 58 women (18%). The risk of developing preeclampsia and SGA infants in an abnormal Doppler study group was found to be greater than in that of a normal group (P<0.05). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) for detecting preeclampsia were 36.8, 83.2, 12.1, and 95.5%, respectively; whereas detecting SGA infants were 67, 82.9, 6.9, and 99.2%, respectively. Women with an early diastolic notch have considerably a higher risk of developing preeclampsia and SGA infants. On the other hand, women with normal uterine artery waveforms are unlikely to develop preeclampsia and SGA infants. The test may be useful to minimize unnecessary interventions.

With stringent protocol, our prospective large-scale multicenter nationwide study demonstrated that NIPT showed excellent performance as screening tests for the detection of fetal T21, T18, and T13 in mixed-risk pregnancies in Thailand.