Women With Sepsis During Pregnancy Have Higher Odds of Perinatal Complications

TUESDAY, Sept. 14, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Pregnancies complicated by an antepartum sepsis hospitalization have higher odds of perinatal complications from placental dysfunction, according to a study published online Sept. 3 in JAMA Network Open.

Christine A. Blauvelt, M.D., from the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues assessed perinatal outcomes among patients with antepartum sepsis who did not deliver during their infection hospitalization. The analysis included 14,565 patients with nonanomalous, singleton pregnancies who delivered after 20 weeks of gestation at a single institution (Aug. 1, 2012, to Aug. 1, 2018).

The researchers identified 59 cases (0.4 percent) of sepsis. Compared with those without sepsis, patients with sepsis were younger (mean age at delivery, 33.1 versus 30.6 years), were more likely to have pregestational diabetes (1.6 versus 8.5 percent), and had higher mean pregestational body mass index scores (24.4 versus 26.1 kg/m²). The most common infections in the sepsis group were urinary tract infections (24 patients) and pulmonary infections (22 patients). Five of 59 individuals with sepsis were admitted to the intensive care unit, had a mean gestational age at infection of 24.6 weeks, and had a median time from infection to delivery of 82 days. There were significant associations between antepartum sepsis and higher odds of placental dysfunction (odds ratio, 1.77).

“These findings suggest that increased antenatal surveillance should be considered for these patients,” the authors write.

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