Evaluation of vaginal birth safety in twin pregnancies with the first twin in cephalic presentation

Objective: To evaluate vaginal birth safety by comparing the results of cesarean birth in twin pregnancies with the first twin in vertex presentation. Material and methods: A retrospective cohort study of vertex-presenting twin pregnancies between 32 weeks 0 days and 38 weeks 6 days of gestation was conducted at our hospital from January 2013 to December 2014. The study population was divided according to the mode of birth. The primary outcome was early neonatal mortality, and secondary outcomes related to maternal and perinatal clinical characteristics were analysed between the groups. Results: Of 45,166 births, 1.92% (n = 869) were twin pregnancies. Of the 295 pregnancies meeting the study criteria, 30.16% (n = 89) were in the vaginal birth group, while the remaining 69.84% (n = 206) were in the cesarean birth group. In the vaginal birth group, all the first twins were delivered via vaginal birth, while among the second twins, 82.03% (n = 73) were delivered via vaginal birth, and the remaining 17.97% (n = 16) were delivered via cesarean birth. In the vaginal birth group, the early neonatal mortality rate was 22.4‰ (n = 2), and it was 9.7‰ (n = 2) in the cesarean birth group. All of the deaths occurred in pregnancies under 37 weeks of gestation. Conclusion: The neonatal outcomes between the vaginal birth and cesarean birth groups were similar in term pregnancies with the first in twin vertex presentation, whereas adverse neonatal outcomes were increased in the vaginal birth group in preterm second twin pregnancies.

Prospective study to explore changes in quality of care and perinatal outcomes after implementation of perinatal death audit in Uganda

ObjectiveTo assess the effects of perinatal death (PND) audit on perinatal outcomes in a tertiary hospital in Kampala.DesignInterrupted time series (ITS) analysis.SettingNsambya Hospital, Uganda.ParticipantsLive births and stillbirths.InterventionsPND audit.Primary and secondary outcome measuresPrimary outcomes: perinatal mortality rate, stillbirth rate, early neonatal mortality rate. Secondary outcomes: case fatality rates (CFR) for asphyxia, complications of prematurity and neonatal sepsis.Results526 PNDs were audited: 142 (27.0%) fresh stillbirths, 125 (23.8%) macerated stillbirths and 259 (49.2%) early neonatal deaths. The ITS analysis showed a decrease in perinatal death (PND) rates without the introduction of PND audits (incidence risk ratio (IRR) (95% CI) for time=0.94, p<0.001), but an increase in PND (IRR (95% CI)=1.17 (1.0 to –1.34), p=0.0021) following the intervention. However, when overdispersion was included in the model, there were no statistically significant differences in PND with or without the intervention (p=0.06 and p=0.44, respectively). Stillbirth rates exhibited a similar pattern. By contrast, early neonatal death rates showed an overall upward trend without the intervention (IRR (95% CI)=1.09 (1.01 to 1.17), p=0.01), but a decrease following the introduction of the PND audits (IRR (95% CI)=0.35 (0.22 to 0.56), p<0.001), when overdispersion was included. The CFR for prematurity showed a downward trend over time (IRR (95% CI)=0.94 (0.88 to 0.99), p=0.04) but not for the intervention. With regards CFRs for intrapartum-related hypoxia or infection, no statistically significant effect was detected for either time or the intervention.ConclusionThe introduction of PND audit showed no statistically significant effect on perinatal mortality or stillbirth rate, but a significant decrease in early neonatal mortality rate. No effect was detected on CFRs for prematurity, intrapartum-related hypoxia or infections. These findings should encourage more research to assess the effectiveness of PND reviews on perinatal deaths in general, but also on stillbirths and neonatal deaths in particular, in low-resource settings.

TACTICS OF THE MANAGEMENT OF PREMATURE DELIVERIES: TO WHAT PATIENTS TOCOLYSIS IS INDICATED AND SHOULD HELP

The urgency of the problem of premature birth (PB) is caused due to a high early neonatal mortality rate among preterm infants (60-70%), the prevalence rate of neurologic diseases (up to 50%), including infantile cerebral palsy, visual, hearing disorders and other chronic diseases. The frequency of PB in the population varies between 7 and 15%, however, despite the great possibilities of modern midwifery, there is a pronounced tendency to increase this index. The analysis of the lethality of prematurity in perinatal centers of the Department of Healthcare of the city of Moscow in 2016, obviously shows the main part of it to be presented by with extremely low body weight infants. Thus, preventing the premature birth, especially at the term of 24-27 weeks, is an important task for medicine all over the world. Atosiban (tractocile) - a competitive antagonist of human oxytocin at the level of receptors, the first drug designed to inhibit labor. For the purpose of tocolysis 54 women at the 26-34 weeks of the gestation period got the treatment with tractocile. Tocolysis with atosiban was effective in 90.7% of cases with a slight shortening of the cervix (no more than 5 mm) regardless of the gestational age. The introduction of the drug leads to a decrease in the intensity and jugulating pain syndrome in the first 6 hours following the administration, which confirms its effectiveness and allows increase chances of a favorable outcome of pregnancy. The absence of the infection of the kidneys and urinary tracts during pregnancy and genital tract, the onset of tocolysis up to the 31st week of the gestation and the absence of ischemic-cervical insufficiency, which indicates the need for quality and rational management of pregnancy at the outpatient stage are most important factors for the success of tocolysis and prolongation of pregnancy for more than 48 hours.

Early neonatal mortality rate and the risk factors in Wangaya hospital

Background The first week of life of a neonate is a critical period.In Asia, early neonatal mortality rate remains high.Objective To investigate early neonatal mortality rate and the riskfactors in Wangaya Hospital.Methods A cross sectional study was carried out retrospectivelyon neonates registered at Perinatology Unit, Wangaya HospitalDenpasar, Bali since January 2006. The study was done fromOctober to November 2007. Data was obtained from medicalrecord, analyzed as univariate using chi-square test or Fisher'sexact test and multivariate logistic regression analysis model.Results Early neonatal mortality rate in Wangaya Hospital was 38.7per 1000 livebirths. Univariate analyses showed that there werefive significant risk factors of early neonatal death, i.e., respiratorydistress, asphyxia, birth weight less than 2500 grams, sepsis, andgestational age less than 3 7 weeks. Multivariate analysis showedthat those five variables were significant as risk factors of earlyneonatal death i.e., OR (95% confidence interval) for respiratorydistress: 16.8 (3.7 to 76.6)], asphyxia: 13.5 (6.1 to 29.9)], birthweight <2500 grams: 8.1 (3.3 to 19.9)], sepsis: 7.3 (3.1 to 17.1),and gestational age <37 weeks: 3.5 (1.6 to 7.8)].Conclusions Early neonatal mortality rate in Wangaya Hospitalremains high. Respiratory distress, asphyxia, birth weight <2500gram, sepsis, and gestational age <37 weeks were independent riskfactors of early neonatal death.

Birth Defects in Singleton versus Multiple ART Births in Japan (2004–2008)

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the relative risk (RR) of multiple births for birth defects after assisted reproductive technology (ART) using Japanese nationwide data from 2004 to 2008 with singletons as the reference group. In multiples compared to singletons, the percentage of birth defects per pregnancy were significantly higher (RR = 1.88, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.60–2.13), the percentage of birth defects per live birth was not significantly higher (RR = 0.90, 95% CI 0.78–1.05 or RR = 0.94, 95% CI 0.81–1.10), and the early neonatal mortality rate was significantly higher (RR = 2.68, 95% CI 1.52–4.70 or RR = 2.80, 95% CI 1.60–4.92). The early neonatal mortality per 10,000 live births was slightly higher in ART (5.09) than in the general population (3.86). We concluded that the impact of birth defects after ART would be larger in families with multiples compared to families with singletons, since the mean number of children would be larger in the former.

Influence of the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina on the incidence and outcome of singleton premature births in the Split University Hospital

To investigate the influence of the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina on incidence and perinatal outcome of singleton preterm births at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics in the Split University Hospital. Data were collected by reviewing patients’ files at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics from three periods: the three years before the war (1988–1990), during the war (1992–1994), and after the war (1996–1998). A total of 2,358 patients’ files of singleton preterm delivery were analyzed. Singleton preterm delivery rate decreased during the war (5.02%) and post-war period (4.74%) compared to the pre-war period (6.19%). Stillbirth and early neonatal mortality rates of singleton premature babies significantly increased during the war to 226%, compared to 193% before the war and 134% after the war. Early neonatal mortality rate was 215% during the war, 209% in the pre-war period, and 156% after the war. Despite the continuous decrease in singleton preterm birth rate throughout the observed periods, the increase in stillbirth rate and early neonatal mortality rate during the war might have been caused by the war. This may be due to primary gynecological care being inadequate for many pregnant women.

Multiple Pregnancy as a High-Risk Pregnancy. Medical statistical data from the German Democratic Republic

In 1969 children of a multiple birth in the GDR made up 1.9% of livebirths and 15.3% of early neonatal deaths. The early neonatal mortality rate of children from a multiple birth was 95.7‰, that of all live-births 12.4‰. The cause was the low birth weight of children from a multiple birth (56.2% vs. 5.8% of all livebirths). Their low birth weight is the result of a hypotrophic development caused by malnutrition. The loss of children from a multiple birth (stillbirths, early neonatal and postneonatal deaths) was 143‰. International experience has shown that such heavy losses can be largely prevented by bed rest of the woman with a multiple pregnancy. We therefore strongly recommend early diagnosis and early in-patient care of women with multiple pregnancy.