(Press-News.org) In a study to be presented on February 16 between 8 a.m., and 10 a.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in San Francisco, researchers will report findings that suggest women whose babies are small-for-gestational-age (SGA) in their first pregnancy have a strongly increased risk for SGA in a second pregnancy.
The aim of this study was to assess and describe in detail the incidence of SGA infants and the SGA recurrence rate in general. Additionally, it sought to assess the incidence and recurrence rate of SGA in women with and without a hypertensive disorder in their first pregnancy.
Infants who are small for gestational age (birth weight below the fifth percentile) are a heterogeneous group comprised of infants that have failed to achieve their growth potential (fetal growth restriction; FGR) and infants who are constitutionally small. SGA infants are at increased risk for perinatal mortality and adverse perinatal and health outcomes later in life.
"The main strength of this study was the size and composition of the cohort," said B J Voskamp, MD. "Data were derived from a large, well-maintained, population-based national perinatal registry."
The study was performed in a prospective nationwide cohort with the use of the Netherlands Perinatal Registry (PRN). The PRN consists of population-based data that includes information on pregnancy and delivery of 96 percent of pregnancies in the Netherlands. From this, they studied a cohort of women who delivered two subsequent singleton pregnancies (first and second deliveries) in the Netherlands from Jan. 1, 1999, through Dec. 31, 2007.
The primary outcome measure was SGA. Researchers registered demographic and obstetric characteristics including maternal age, parity, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES).
Cases were analyzed in total and stratified into two groups: women with and without a hypertensive disorder in their first pregnancy. The analysis was stratified by gestational age at delivery in the first pregnancy in 3 groups: very preterm, late preterm, and full-term.
After exclusions, the study population was comprised of 259,481 women (518,962 deliveries). Five percent (12,943) of the women gave birth to SGA infants in their first pregnancy, and of those same women, SGA recurred in 2996 women (23.2 percent) in the subsequent pregnancy. SGA in the second pregnancy in women who had not previously had an SGA baby occurred in 3.4 percent of the women.
Further, the risk of SGA recurrence in women with hypertensive disorder in their first pregnancy was smaller than in women who did not. However, the risk of "de novo" SGA in the second pregnancy was higher for those with hypertensive disorder than their counterparts.
###
A copy of the abstract is available at http://www.smfmnewsroom.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/79-86.pdf and below. For interviews please contact Vicki Bendure at Vicki@bendurepr.com, 202-374-9259 (cell), or Meghan Blackburn at Meghan@bendurepr.com, 540-687-5099 (office) or 859-492-6303 (cell).
The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (est. 1977) is a non-profit membership group for obstetricians/gynecologists who have additional formal education and training in maternal-fetal medicine. The society is devoted to reducing high-risk pregnancy complications by providing continuing education to its 2,000 members on the latest pregnancy assessment and treatment methods. It also serves as an advocate for improving public policy, and expanding research funding and opportunities for maternal-fetal medicine. The group hosts an annual scientific meeting in which new ideas and research in the area of maternal-fetal medicine are unveiled and discussed. For more information, visit www.smfm.org or www.facebook.com/SocietyforMaternalFetalMedicine.
Abstract 86: SGA recurrence: analysis of first and subsequent singleton pregnancies in the Netherlands, 1999-2007.
Bart Jan Voskamp (1), Brenda Kazemier (1), Ben Willem Mol (1), Eva Pajkrt (1)
1: Academic Medical Center, Obstrics and Gynecology, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Objective: Patterns of recurrence of restricted fetal growth are important for patient counseling and adequate care in subsequent pregnancies. Our objective was to study the recurrence rate of small for gestational age (SGA) neonates.
Study Design: We performed a prospective national cohort study using the Netherlands Perinatal Registry. The study population comprised all women with a first and subsequent pregnancy between 24 + 0 and 42 + 6 weeks gestation between 1999 and 2007. Multiple gestations and fetuses with structural or chromosomal abnormalities were excluded. SGA was defined as birth weight below the 5th percentile. The Dutch reference curves for birth weight by gestational age separate for parity, sex and ethnic background were used. Cases were categorized by gestational age at delivery in the first pregnancy; very preterm (24 + 0-31 + 6wks), preterm (32 + 0-36 + 6wks) and term (37 + 0-42 + 6wks). We compared the recurrence rate of SGA in the second pregnancy in women with and without SGA in their first pregnancy. Moreover, we assessed the incidence and recurrence rate of SGA in women with and without a hypertensive disorder (HTD) in their first pregnancy.
Results: We studied 259,481 pregnant women, of which 12.943 (5.0%) had an SGA baby in their first pregnancy. The overall risk of SGA recurrence was 23% , the risk of de novo SGA in the second pregnancy was 3.4% (Odds Ratio (OR) 8.5, 95% Confidence interval (CI) 8.1-8.9). The risk of SGA recurrence in HTD women was smaller than in non-HTD women (21.0% vs 23.7%, OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.77- 0.95). However, the risk of de novo SGA in the second pregnancy was higher for HTD women than for non-HTD women (4.1% vs. 3.4% OR 1.2 95% CI 1.2-1.3).
Conclusion: Women with SGA in their first pregnancy have a strongly increased risk for SGA in subsequent pregnancies. The SGA recurrence rate is smaller for women with a HTD in their first pregnancy than for women without a HTD. The risk on de novo SGA in the second pregnancy however, is higher in the HTD group than in the non-HTD group.
Study confirms recurrence of small-for-gestational-age pregnancies
2013-02-11
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Study prompts rethink of how ovaries develop
2013-02-11
New research from the University of Adelaide will rewrite the textbooks on how an ovary is formed, as well as providing new insights into women's health and fertility.
The study, now published in the journal PLOS ONE, also names a new type of cell that plays a key role in the development of ovaries and ovarian follicles, which are responsible for the production of eggs in women.
The discovery is expected to prompt further studies around the world to better understand how ovaries and ovarian follicles develop in female fetuses. This could be critical to treating or ...
First-in-man study demonstrates the therapeutic effect of RNAi gene silencing in cancer treatment
2013-02-11
The new study published in Cancer Discovery, the flagship journal of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR), involving three Spanish and six American research centres, presents significant results in treating cancer patients with nanoparticles containing ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) molecules. This marks the first time that the therapeutic effect of RNAi has been demonstrated in humans.
Barcelona, 11 February 2013. A study led by Dr Josep Tabernero, the Director of Clinical Research at the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and Head of the ...
Cell circuits remember their history
2013-02-11
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- MIT engineers have created genetic circuits in bacterial cells that not only perform logic functions, but also remember the results, which are encoded in the cell's DNA and passed on for dozens of generations.
The circuits, described in the Feb. 10 online edition of Nature Biotechnology, could be used as long-term environmental sensors, efficient controls for biomanufacturing, or to program stem cells to differentiate into other cell types.
"Almost all of the previous work in synthetic biology that we're aware of has either focused on logic components ...
Studying bed bug actions for new management tactics
2013-02-11
This press release is available in Spanish.
Learning more about the behavior of bed bugs is one approach being used by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists to identify compounds to help control these pests.
The resurgence of bed bugs over the last decade has caused problems in major U.S. cities where they infest homes, apartments, hotels, shelters and even places of work. The small, blood-feeding insects are not known to transmit diseases, but they can cause severe reactions in people who are allergic to them. Bed bugs usually go unnoticed until their numbers ...
Protein 'filmed' while unfolding at atomic resolution
2013-02-11
By combining low temperatures and NMR spectroscopy, the scientists visualized seven intermediate forms of the CylR2 protein while cooling it down from 25°C to -16°C. Their results show that the most instable intermediate form plays a key role in protein folding. The scientists' findings may contribute to a better understanding of how proteins adopt their structure and misfold during illness.
Whether Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or Huntington's Chorea – all three diseases have one thing in common. They are caused by misfolded proteins that form insoluble clumps in the brains ...
AGU Journal Highlights -- Feb. 11, 2013
2013-02-11
The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface (JGR-F), and Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences (JGR-G).
In this release:
1. Global climatology of explosive cyclones
2. For U.S. biomes, climate change will decrease vegetative productivity
3. Lightning detected from space can indicate thundercloud height
4. Storminess helps coastal marshes withstand sea level rise
5. How many lakes are there, and how big are they?
6. Characterizing ...
Invisible tool enables new quantum experiments
2013-02-11
Matter wave interferometry has a long standing tradition at the University of Vienna, where the first quantum interference of large molecules has already been observed in 1999. Nowadays scientists are hunting down evidence for the quantum mechanical behavior of increasingly complex constituents of matter. This is done in experiments in which the flying of each particle seems to obtain information about distinct places in space, which are inaccessible according to classical physics.
Synchronised laser flashes for quantum interferometry
The quantum nanophysics team around ...
Underage youth drinking concentrated among small number of brands
2013-02-11
A relatively small number of alcohol brands dominate underage youth alcohol consumption, according to a new report from researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health and the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The report, published online by Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, is the first national study to identify the alcohol brands consumed by underage youth, and has important implications for alcohol research and policy.
The top 25 brands accounted for nearly half of youth alcohol ...
Researchers strain to improve electrical material and it's worth it
2013-02-11
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Like turning coal to diamond, adding pressure to an electrical material enhances its properties. Now, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers have devised a method of making ferroelectric thin films with twice the strain, resulting in exceptional performance.
Led by Lane Martin, a professor of materials science and engineering, the group published its results in the journal Advanced Materials.
Ferroelectric materials, metal oxides with special polarization properties, are used in a number of advanced electronics applications. When electricity ...
EAU to release policy statement on live surgery ethics
2013-02-11
During the final day of the 28th Annual EAU Congress, which will take place on 15-19 March 2013 in Milan, the European Association of Urology will release its official policy statement on live surgery ethics. The statement and accompanying commentary will be delivered by Mr. Keith Parsons (Liverpool, UK), who chairs the EAU Guidelines Office and is a member of the working panel which was tasked with formulating the policy.
Chaired by Prof. Walter Artibani, EAU Executive Member Science, the live surgery working panel has been developing the policy since March 2012.
The ...