ObjectivesTo evaluate the strength of association between maternal and pregnancy characteristics and the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes in pregnancies with laboratory confirmed COVID-19.MethodsSecondary analysis of a multinational, cohort study on all consecutive pregnant women with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from February 1, 2020 to April 30, 2020 from 73 centers from 22 different countries. A confirmed case of COVID-19 was defined as a positive result on real-time reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) assay of nasal and pharyngeal swab specimens. The primary outcome was a composite adverse fetal outcome, defined as the presence of either abortion (pregnancy loss before 22 weeks of gestations), stillbirth (intrauterine fetal death after 22 weeks of gestation), neonatal death (death of a live-born infant within the first 28 days of life), and perinatal death (either stillbirth or neonatal death). Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate parameters independently associated with the primary outcome. Logistic regression was reported as odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI).ResultsMean gestational age at diagnosis was 30.6±9.5 weeks, with 8.0% of women being diagnosed in the first, 22.2% in the second and 69.8% in the third trimester of pregnancy. There were six miscarriage (2.3%), six intrauterine device (IUD) (2.3) and 5 (2.0%) neonatal deaths, with an overall rate of perinatal death of 4.2% (11/265), thus resulting into 17 cases experiencing and 226 not experiencing composite adverse fetal outcome. Neither stillbirths nor neonatal deaths had congenital anomalies found at antenatal or postnatal evaluation. Furthermore, none of the cases experiencing IUD had signs of impending demise at arterial or venous Doppler. Neonatal deaths were all considered as prematurity-related adverse events. Of the 250 live-born neonates, one (0.4%) was found positive at RT-PCR pharyngeal swabs performed after delivery. The mother was tested positive during the third trimester of pregnancy. The newborn was asymptomatic and had negative RT-PCR test after 14 days of life. At logistic regression analysis, gestational age at diagnosis (OR: 0.85, 95% CI 0.8–0.9 per week increase; p<0.001), birthweight (OR: 1.17, 95% CI 1.09–1.12.7 per 100 g decrease; p=0.012) and maternal ventilatory support, including either need for oxygen or CPAP (OR: 4.12, 95% CI 2.3–7.9; p=0.001) were independently associated with composite adverse fetal outcome.ConclusionsEarly gestational age at infection, maternal ventilatory supports and low birthweight are the main determinants of adverse perinatal outcomes in fetuses with maternal COVID-19 infection. Conversely, the risk of vertical transmission seems negligible.
Despite the increasing number of published studies, objective evidence is still needed to draw any conclusion on the course of SARS-COV-2 infection acquired during pregnancy. What are the clinical implications of this work? The study showed that in pregnancies complicated by SARS-COV-2, the risk of maternal mortality was 0.8%, but about 11% of women required admission to ICU. Pregnancies affected by SARS-COV-2 were also complicated by 23% rate preterm birth, and 4.1% rate of perinatal death. The risk of vertical transmission was negligible.
Objectives: To evaluate the strength of association between maternal and pregnancy characteristics and the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes in pregnancies with laboratory confirmed COVID-19. Methods: Secondary analysis of a multinational, cohort study on all consecutive pregnant women with laboratoryconfirmed COVID-19 from February 1, 2020 to April 30, 2020 from 73 centers from 22 different countries. A confirmed case of COVID-19 was defined as a positive result on real-time reverse-transcriptase-polymerasechain-reaction (RT-PCR) assay of nasal and pharyngeal swab specimens. The primary outcome was a composite adverse fetal outcome, defined as the presence of either abortion (pregnancy loss before 22 weeks of gestations), stillbirth (intrauterine fetal death after 22 weeks of gestation), neonatal death (death of a live-born infant within the first 28 days of life), and perinatal death (either stillbirth or neonatal death). Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate parameters independently associated with the primary outcome. Logistic regression was reported as odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Mean gestational age at diagnosis was 30.6±9.5 weeks, with 8.0% of women being diagnosed in the first, 22.2% in the second and 69.8% in the third trimester of pregnancy. There were six miscarriage (2.3%), six intrauterine device (IUD) (2.3) and 5 (2.0%) neonatal deaths, with an overall rate of perinatal death of 4.2% (11/ 265), thus resulting into 17 cases experiencing and 226 not experiencing composite adverse fetal outcome. Neither stillbirths nor neonatal deaths had congenital anomalies found at antenatal or postnatal evaluation. Furthermore, none of the cases experiencing IUD had signs of impending demise at arterial or venous Doppler. Neonatal deaths were all considered as prematurity-related adverse events. Of the 250 live-born neonates, one (0.4%) was found positive at RT-PCR pharyngeal swabs performed after delivery. The mother was tested positive during the third trimester of pregnancy. The newborn was asymptomatic and had negative RT-PCR test after 14 days of life. At logistic regression analysis, gestational age at diagnosis (OR: 0.85, 95% CI 0.8-0.9 per week increase; p<0.001), birthweight (OR: 1.17, 95% CI 1.09-1.12.7 per 100 g decrease; p=0.012) and maternal ventilatory support, including either need for oxygen or CPAP (OR: 4.12, 95% CI 2.3-7.9; p=0.001) were independently associated with composite adverse fetal outcome. Conclusions: Early gestational age at infection, maternal ventilatory supports and low birthweight are the main determinants of adverse perinatal outcomes in fetuses with maternal COVID-19 infection. Conversely, the risk of vertical transmission seems negligible.
SARS-CoV-2 is the novel member of coronavirus responsible for the worldwide pandemic COVID-19, affecting all types of people. In this context, established research identified pregnant women as a susceptible group of SARS-CoV-2 infection, although there is still limited data regarding the real impact of COVID-19 in this group. With that purpose, we conducted a systematic review describing the maternal-fetal results of pregnant women infected by SARS-CoV-2, in aim to analyze the profile of the obstetric patients according to the country of origin of the publication. A total of 38 articles were included in this systematic review with 2670 patients from 7 countries, with 20 works published from China (52.6%). We reported significative differences according to the median maternal age, with Spain as the country with the highest age (34.6 years); The percentage of tabaquism; proportion of symptomatic patients in the triage; type of radiological exam (China and France conduct CT scans on all their patients in comparison to the use of chest X-Ray in the rest of the countries studied); percentages of C-sections (83.9% in China; 35.9% Spain, p < 0.001); maternal mortality rate, proportion of patients who need treatments, the use of antivirals, antibiotics, and anticoagulants as well as measurements of the newborns. Perinatal results are favorable in the majority of countries, with very low rates of vertical transmission in the majority of works. The studies collected in this review showed moderate to high index of quality. The different works describe the affectation during the first wave of the pandemic, where the pregnant woman with SARS-CoV-2 infection is generally symptomatic during the third trimester of gestation along with other factors associated with worse prognosis of the disease, such as higher age, body mass index, and further comorbidities developed during pregnancy. In the obstetric patient, proportion of C-sections are elevated together with prematurity, increasing maternal perinatal morbimortality. Differences found between countries could be based on the proper profile of the patient in each region, the period of the pandemic directly affecting how it was managed, and the variations regarding in situ medical attention.
Uterine Arteriovenous Malformation (UAVM) is a rare but life-threating cause of uterine bleeding. The clinical management of this condition is challenging, and there is a need to describe the most adequate approach for these patients. Uterine artery embolization (UAE) is the most widely-published treatment in the literature in recent years, although there is a need to update the evidence on this treatment and to compare it with other available therapies. Thus, the objective of this systematic review is to quantify the efficacy of UAE of UAVM. In addition, we evaluated the clinical context of the patients included, the treatment complications, and the pregnancy outcomes after UAE. With this goal in mind, we finally included 371 patients spread over all continents who were included in 95 studies. Our results show that, similar to other medical therapies, the global success rate after embolization treatment was 88.4%, presenting a low risk of adverse outcomes (1.8%), even in women with later pregnancy (77% had no complications). To date, this is the largest systematic review conducted in this field, although there are still some points to address in future studies. The results obtained in our study should be outlined in UAE protocols and guidelines to aid in clinical decision-making in patients with UAVM.
This study was designed to examine maternal-perinatal outcomes in pregnant women with suspected coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) according to the result of a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test and to investigate possible variables that could be useful for predicting a negative RT-PCR result. Participants of this retrospective cohort study were obstetrics patients with suspected COVID-19 who underwent an RT-PCR test in a tertiary hospital in Madrid, Spain. Maternal-perinatal features were analysed according to the results of this test. Clinical, radiological and analytical characteristics that could be associated with a negative result were also explored. In a final subgroup analysis, patients were included if they had pneumonia and a negative test result for the virus. Out of the 111 obstetric patients with suspected COVID-19 that were enrolled, 38.7% returned a negative result. In this RT-PCR-negative group, we recorded lower rates of pneumonia (21.4% vs. 45.6%, p = 0.009), severe or critical clinical features (4.7% vs. 11.8% and 0.0% vs. 5.9%, p = 0.02, respectively), lower lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels (168 UI/L vs. 224.5 UI/L, p = 0.003), a greater need for maternal treatment (60.3% vs 24.4%, p < 0.001), a reduced need for oxygen therapy (2.4% vs 28.8%, p < 0.001) and a lower rate of intensive care unit admission (0.0% vs. 3.7%, p = 0.046) than the RT-PCR-positive group. While no differences were found in other variables, the monocyte count was higher (946.2/μL vs. 518.8/μL, p = 0.022) in this group. The predictive model for a negative test result included the monocyte count, LDH level and no need for oxygen therapy. This model was able to identify 73.5% of patients with a negative RT-PCR result. Only 11% of the patients with pneumonia testing negative for the virus had IgG antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The proportion of pregnant women with suspected COVID-19 and a negative RT-PCR result was nearly 39%. In these patients, the symptoms were mild and the systemic severity of the disease was lower. The monocyte count, LDH level and no need for oxygen therapy were the factors that were more related to a negative test result in this group. These variables could be used to guide the management of patients with suspected COVID-19, mainly while waiting for RT-PCR results or in settings where this test is not available.
Background: The reduction in maternal mortality worldwide has increased the interest in studying more frequent severe events such as maternal near miss. The Human Development Index is a sociodemographic country-specific variable that includes key human development indicators such as living a long and healthy life, acquiring knowledge, and enjoying a decent standard of living, allowing differentiation between countries. In a globalised environment, it is necessary to study whether the Human Development Index of each patient's country of origin can be associated with the maternal near-miss rate and thus classify the risk of maternal morbidity and mortality. Methods: A systematic review of the literature published between 2008 and 2019 was conducted, including all articles that reported data about maternal near miss in their sample of pregnant women, in addition to describing the study countries of their sample population. The Human Development Index of the study country, the maternal near-miss rate, the maternal mortality rate, and other maternal-perinatal variables related to morbidity and mortality were used. Results: After the systematic review, eighty two articles from over thirty countries were included, for a total of 3, 699,697 live births, 37,191 near miss cases, and 4029 mortality cases. A statistically significant (p <0.05) inversely proportional relationship was observed between the Human Development Index of the study country and the maternal near-miss and mortality rates. The most common cause of maternal near miss was haemorrhage, with an overall rate of 38.5%, followed by hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (34.2%), sepsis (7.5%), and other undefined causes (20.9%). Conclusions: The Human Development Index of the maternal country of origin is a sociodemographic variable allowing differentiation and classification of the risk of maternal mortality and near miss in pregnant women. The most common cause of maternal near miss published in the literature was haemorrhage.
Objective: Diagnosis of endometrial cancer (EC) is made by biopsy sampling with pathological analysis, but it is extremely important to make an accurate diagnosis in order to plan the specific treatment. We hypothesized that human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) in endometrial tissue and in serum could be beneficial for a more precise diagnosis. Material and Methods: This prospective study compared patients with EC against non- EC, matched through several variables. The inclusion criteria were: females older than 18 years who accepted to participate; who had never undergone surgery for other oncological pathologies (ovarian, colon, cervical carcinoma or uterine sarcoma); none of them had received preoperative chemo- or radio-therapy; and no participant had any severe renal or liver pathology. All had pre-surgery blood sampling and then underwent hysterectomy. Histopathological assessment of endometrial samples was made by a pathologist who compared normal histopathological staining with HE4-antibody staining. Results: In total there were 34 cases and 35 controls recruited. There was poor correlation between tissue HE4 in patients with and without carcinoma. However, serum HE4 was significant for the diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma (median EC: 123.1 U, median NE: 64.67 U, p=0.002), although the carbohydrate antigen 125 level was not significant (p=0.208). Conclusion: The findings concerning the utility of HE4 contrast with earlier reports. However, the conclusions for serum measurements are positive and suggest that the tumor marker HE4 seems to be able to diagnose EC.
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