DESIGN: Retrospective observational study.
POPULATION: A total of 1258 consecutive women attending a tertiary urogynaecological unit for the investigation of lower urinary tract or pelvic floor disorders between January 2012 and December 2014.
METHODS: Obstetric history and clinical examination data were obtained from the unit database. Prolapse quantification on imaging was performed using stored four-dimensional translabial ultrasound volume data sets. Women were grouped into four groups according to the most traumatic delivery reported. The presence of symptoms and signs of POP were compared between delivery groups while controlling for potential confounders.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prolapse symptoms, visual analogue score for prolapse bother, International Continence Society Prolapse Quantification System findings and ultrasound findings of anterior, central and posterior compartment descent.
RESULTS: Nulliparae showed the lowest prevalence of most measures of POP, followed by women exclusively delivered by caesarean section. Highest prevalences were consistently found in women delivered at least once by forceps, although the differences between this group and women delivered by normal vaginal delivery and/or vacuum extraction were significant in three out of eight measures only. Compared with women in the caesarean section group, the adjusted odds ratios for reporting symptoms of prolapse were 2.4 (95% CI 1.30-4.59) and 3.2 (95% CI 1.65-6.12) in the normal vaginal delivery/vacuum extraction group and forceps group, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: There is a clear link between vaginal delivery and symptoms and signs of pelvic organ prolapse in urogynaecological patients.
TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: Compared with caesarean section a history of vaginal delivery more than doubles the risk for POP.
METHODS: A total of 342 primigravidae (mean age = 25 years) completed questionnaires covering psychological dimensions such as self-esteem, perceived stress, marital relationship quality, perceived social support, and relevant health-related beliefs.
RESULTS: Of the sample, 214 (62.6%) chose to undergo ECD rather than vaginal delivery (VD). This choice was associated with lower self-esteem, greater perceived stress, belief in higher susceptibility to problematic birth and barriers to an easy birth, along with lower perceived severity of ECD, fewer perceived benefits from VD, lower self-efficacy and a lower feeling of preparedness. No differences were found for marital relationship quality or perceived social support.
CONCLUSIONS: The pattern suggests that various psychological factors such as self-esteem, self-efficacy, and perceived stress underpin the decision by primigravidae to have an ECD.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study conducted in a tertiary referral hospital in Sydney, Australia. In all, 212 women with a low-risk pregnancy or with gestational diabetes were recruited including 158 nulliparous and 54 parous women. Maternal demographic, clinical and ultrasound characteristics were collected at 37 weeks of gestation. Semi-Bayesian logistic regression and Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation were used to assess the relation between cervical length and cesarean section in labor.
RESULTS: Rates of cesarean section were 5% (2/55) for cervical length ≤20 mm, 17% (17/101) for cervical length 20-32 mm, and 27% (13/56) for cervical length >32 mm. These rates were 4, 22 and 33%, respectively, in nulliparous women. In the semi-Bayesian analysis, the odds ratio for cesarean section was 6.2 (95% confidence interval 2.2-43) for cervical length 20-32 mm and 10 (95% confidence interval 4.8-74) for cervical length >32 mm compared with the lowest quartile of cervical length, after adjusting for maternal age, parity, height, prepregnancy body mass index, gestational diabetes, induction of labor, neonatal sex and birthweight centile.
CONCLUSIONS: Cervical length at 37 weeks of gestation is associated with intrapartum cesarean section.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 452 antenatal mothers attending health clinics in Klang in April 2018. Probability sampling was used and data was collected by using a validated self-administered questionnaire. The dependent variable of the study was short IPI and the independent variables were sociodemographic, obstetric history and planning of pregnancy. Analysis of data collected in the study was performed by using IBM Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 24.
RESULTS: The prevalence of short IPI found in this study was 48%. Seven identified predictors of short IPI were: age less than 25 years old (Adjusted Odd Ratios; AOR 12.16, 95%CI: 4.72, 31.30), age of 26 to 30 years old (AOR 5.20, 95%CI: 2.62, 10.32), age of 31 to 35 years old (AOR 2.90, 95% CI: 1.50, 5.64), higher education (AOR 2.11, 95% CI: 1.34, 3.34), parity more than three (AOR 3.12, 95% CI: 1.42, 6.84), irregular menstruation (AOR 2.17, 95% CI: 1.40, 3.37) and unintended pregnancy (AOR 2.88, 95% CI: 1.88, 4.40).
CONCLUSION: Innovative programmes, for example by making IPI information available through online resources, could effectively target young mothers as the younger generation prefers quick, easily-accessible and reliable information.
METHODS AND FINDINGS: Genetic instruments to proxy 12 risk factors were constructed by identifying single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were robustly (P < 5 × 10-8) and independently associated with each respective risk factor in previously reported genome-wide association studies. These risk factors included genetic liability to 3 factors (endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, type 2 diabetes) scaled to reflect a 50% higher odds liability to disease. We obtained summary statistics for the association of these SNPs with risk of overall and histotype-specific invasive epithelial ovarian cancer (22,406 cases; 40,941 controls) and low malignant potential tumours (3,103 cases; 40,941 controls) from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC). The OCAC dataset comprises 63 genotyping project/case-control sets with participants of European ancestry recruited from 14 countries (US, Australia, Belarus, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Canada, Poland, UK, Spain, Netherlands, and Sweden). SNPs were combined into multi-allelic inverse-variance-weighted fixed or random effects models to generate effect estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Three complementary sensitivity analyses were performed to examine violations of MR assumptions: MR-Egger regression and weighted median and mode estimators. A Bonferroni-corrected P value threshold was used to establish strong evidence (P < 0.0042) and suggestive evidence (0.0042 < P < 0.05) for associations. In MR analyses, there was strong or suggestive evidence that 2 of the 12 risk factors were associated with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer and 8 of the 12 were associated with 1 or more invasive epithelial ovarian cancer histotypes. There was strong evidence that genetic liability to endometriosis was associated with an increased risk of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer (odds ratio [OR] per 50% higher odds liability: 1.10, 95% CI 1.06-1.15; P = 6.94 × 10-7) and suggestive evidence that lifetime smoking exposure was associated with an increased risk of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer (OR per unit increase in smoking score: 1.36, 95% CI 1.04-1.78; P = 0.02). In analyses examining histotypes and low malignant potential tumours, the strongest associations found were between height and clear cell carcinoma (OR per SD increase: 1.36, 95% CI 1.15-1.61; P = 0.0003); age at natural menopause and endometrioid carcinoma (OR per year later onset: 1.09, 95% CI 1.02-1.16; P = 0.007); and genetic liability to polycystic ovary syndrome and endometrioid carcinoma (OR per 50% higher odds liability: 0.89, 95% CI 0.82-0.96; P = 0.002). There was little evidence for an association of genetic liability to type 2 diabetes, parity, or circulating levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and sex hormone binding globulin with ovarian cancer or its subtypes. The primary limitations of this analysis include the modest statistical power for analyses of risk factors in relation to some less common ovarian cancer histotypes (low grade serous, mucinous, and clear cell carcinomas), the inability to directly examine the association of some ovarian cancer risk factors that did not have robust genetic variants available to serve as proxies (e.g., oral contraceptive use, hormone replacement therapy), and the assumption of linear relationships between risk factors and ovarian cancer risk.
CONCLUSIONS: Our comprehensive examination of possible aetiological drivers of ovarian carcinogenesis using germline genetic variants to proxy risk factors supports a role for few of these factors in invasive epithelial ovarian cancer overall and suggests distinct aetiologies across histotypes. The identification of novel risk factors remains an important priority for the prevention of epithelial ovarian cancer.
Methods: Primary data were collected through a standardized survey, and secondary data analysis was used to derive estimates of the ESRD expenditure.
Results: Total annual expenditure of ESRD by the public sector has grown 94% within a span of 7 years, from Malaysian Ringgit [MYR] 572 million (US dollars [USD] 405 million, purchasing power parity [PPP] 2010) in 2010 to MYR 1.12 billion (USD 785 million, PPP 2016) in 2016. The total ESRD expenditure in 2010 constituted 2.95% of the public sector's total health expenditure, whereas in 2016, the proportion has increased to 4.2%. Only 6% of ESRD expenditure was spent on renal transplantation, and the remaining 94% was spent on dialysis.
Conclusion: The share of ESRD expenditure in total health expenditure for the public sector is considered substantial given only a small proportion of the population is affected by the disease. The rapid increase in expenditure relative to the national total health expenditure should warrant the relevant authorities about sustainability of the existing financing mechanism of ESRD and the importance to institutionalize more drastic preventive measures.
METHODS: From 2015 and 2017, nulliparas, ≥ 39 weeks' gestation with prolonged latent phase of labor (persistent contractions after overnight hospitalization > 8 h), cervical dilation ≤3 cm, intact membranes and reassuring cardiotocogram were recruited. Participants were randomized to immediate induction of labor (with vaginal dinoprostone or amniotomy or oxytocin as appropriate) or expectant management (await labor for at least 24 h unless indicated intervention as directed by care provider). Primary outcome measure was Cesarean delivery.
RESULTS: Three hundred eighteen women were randomized (159 to each arm). Data from 308 participants were analyzed. Cesarean delivery rate was 24.2% (36/149) vs. 23.3%, (37/159) RR 1.0 95% CI 0.7-1.6; P = 0.96 in induction of labor vs. expectant arms. Interval from intervention to delivery was 17.1 ± 9.9 vs. 40.1 ± 19.8 h; P
METHODS: A 5-year (2011-2015) cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the Malaysian National Obstetrics Registry (NOR). A total of 608,747 deliveries were recorded from 11 tertiary state hospitals and 1 tertiary hospital from the Federal territory.
RESULTS: During the study period, there were 141,257 Caesarean sections (23.2%). Caesarean sections in Group 1 (nulliparous term pregnancy in spontaneous labour) and Group 3 (multiparous term pregnancy in spontaneous labour) had an increasing trend from 2011 to 2015. The group that contributed most to the overall caesarean section rates was Group 5 (multiparous, singleton, cephalic≥37 weeks with previous caesarean section) and the rates remained high during the 5-year study period. Groups 6, 7 and 9 had the highest caesarean section rates but they made the smallest contribution to the overall rates.
CONCLUSIONS: Like many countries, the rate of caesarean section has risen over time, and the rise is driven by caesarean section in low-risk groups. There was an important hospital to hospital variation. The rise in caesarean section rates reflects a globally disturbing trend, and changes in policy and training that creates a uniform standard across hospitals should be considered.
Methods: This was a post-hoc case-control exploratory sub-analysis of a cross-sectional study among GDM women to determine which candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to neuroendocrine disorders may be associated with obesity. Factors were adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics and concurrent medical problems in this particular population. Pre-pregnancy BMI and concurrent medical profiles were obtained from maternal health records. Obesity is defined as BMI of ≥27.5 kg/m2 for Asian criteria-based BMI and >30 kg/m2 for International criteria-based BMI. Thirteen candidate genes were genotyped using Agena® MassARRAY and examined for association with pre-pregnancy obesity using multiple logistic regression analysis. The significant difference threshold was set at P value <0.05.
Results: Three hundred and twelve GDM women were included in this study; 60.9% and 44.2% of GDM patients were obese using Asian and International criteria-based BMI, respectively. GDM patients with AA or AG genotypes in specific SNP of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) (G > A in rs6265) are more likely to be obese (adjusted odd ratio =2.209, 95% CI, 1.305, 3.739, P=0.003) compared to those who carry the GG genotype in the SNP adjusted for parity, underlying with asthma, heart disease, anaemia, education background in the International criteria-based BMI stratification group. On the other hand, there were no associations between other candidate genes (NRG1, FKBP5, RORA, OXTR, PLEKHG1, HTR2C, LHPP, SDK2, TEX51, EPHX2, NPY5R and ANO2) and maternal obesity.
Conclusions: In summary, BDNF rs6265 is significantly associated with pre-pregnancy obesity among GDM patients. The exact role of BDNF adjusted for diet intake and lifestyle factors merits further investigation.
METHODS: A prospective randomized study involving 55 patients in the epidural group and 68 in the control pethidine--inhalational entonox group.
RESULTS: There were significantly more obstetric interventions (instrumental deliveries) in the epidural group (p < 0.01). The total duration of labour and the duration of the second stage was prolonged in the epidural group (p < 0.01). There were more malpositions at the second stage of labour in the epidural group (p < 0.02). There were no differences in fetal outcome (Apgar scores and Special Care Nursery admissions). Patients in the epidural group were consistently happier with their method of pain relief (p < 0.01). Two patients required blood patches while another 2 patients had persistent backache post epidural analgesia.
CONCLUSION: Epidural analgesia in primigravidae in spontaneous labour at term led to an increased instrumental delivery rate, prolonged duration of labour, greater rate of malpositions in the second stage, increased oxytocin requirements but with no difference in fetal outcomes but with happier mothers as compared to the control group.