<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<recommendedContent xmlns="http://api.mspoke.com">
    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_393"
                     title="SMFM: Gene Variants Linked to Preterm Labor (CME/CE)"
                     score="0.01"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/SMFM/tb/18295?impressionId=1265791211296"
                     
      Genetic variants involved in regulating inflammation and the extracellular matrix may increase the risk of preterm birth, researchers say.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in fetal interleukin-6 (&lt;em&gt;ILR6&lt;/em&gt;) and another in maternal tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2 (&lt;em&gt;TIMP2&lt;/em&gt;) were each associated with a twofold increased risk of spontaneous preterm birth.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;Roberto Romero, MD, of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and colleagues reported the findings at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine meeting in Chicago.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;The genetic makeup of both mother and fetus can contribute to the risk of premature labor,&quot; Romero told &lt;em&gt;MedPage Today&lt;/em&gt;. &quot;Our discovery . . . helps explain why some mothers have premature labor and delivery despite having optimal prenatal care.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Inflammatory hormones have been shown to play a role in the labor process, and previous studies have found that a third of preterm infants are born to mothers with a silent amniotic infection.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Now, the findings suggest that individual genetic variation involved in that inflammatory response may account for discrepancies in preterm births.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;We have a large body of evidence that proves silent infections are a frequent and important cause of premature labor,&quot; Romero said. &quot;These infections can also attack the fetus before it is born.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He explained that the mother&apos;s hormones initiate the onset of labor to get rid of the infected tissue, and the fetus seeks to exit a hostile intrauterine environment that threatens its survival.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To look at the mechanisms by which this process occurs, Romero and colleagues conducted a case-control study of mothers in Chile to assess genetic factors that could predispose women to spontaneous preterm labor and delivery.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Patients who delivered prior to 37 weeks gestation served as cases, while women who delivered a normal neonate at term served as controls. There were 223 mothers and 179 fetuses in the case group, and 599 mothers and 628 fetuses in the control group.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The researchers subsequently examined 190 candidate genes and 775 SNPs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They found that the strongest fetal single-locus association with risk of spontaneous preterm birth was in &lt;em&gt;ILR6&lt;/em&gt;, (OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.42 to 3.02,&lt;em&gt; P&lt;/em&gt;=0.0001).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The strongest maternal single-locus association with spontaneous preterm labor and delivery was in tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase &lt;em&gt;TIMP2&lt;/em&gt; (OR 1.98, 95% CI 1.38 to 2.83, &lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;=0.0002). This gene is involved in regulating the extracellular matrix, which holds cells within tissues.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The associations remained significant after controlling for multiple comparisons, Romero said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Global haplotype analysis also indicated an association between a fetal DNA variant in insulin-like growth factor 2 (&lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;=0.004) as well as maternal alpha 3 type IV collagen isoform 1 (&lt;em&gt;COL4A3&lt;/em&gt;) (&lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;=0.007).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;Some women and fetuses carry gene variants that predispose them to the early onset of labor,&quot; Romero said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;float:left;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:#8dabbc;font-family:arial;font-size:12px;background-color:#DBE9F2;padding:5px;&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;The researchers reported no conflicts of interest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;clear:both;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_366"
                     title="Placental Infection Could Spur Asthma (CME/CE)"
                     score="0.008"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/Asthma/tb/18252?impressionId=1265791211296"
                     
      Preterm birth complicated by chorioamnionitis may modestly increase a child&apos;s risk of later asthma, researchers found.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;Children born preterm after a pregnancy complicated by the bacterial infection of placenta and amniotic fluid (chorioamnionitis) were significantly more likely to develop asthma by age eight than preemies without such exposure, according to Darios Getahun, MD, MPH, of Kaiser Permanente Department of Research and Evaluation in Pasadena.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;Asthma diagnosis was nearly threefold more common among chorioamnionitis-exposed children who had been born preterm than those carried to term, they wrote in the February &lt;em&gt;Archives of Pediatrics &amp;amp; Adolescent Medicine&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;Premature birth may not give an infant&apos;s lungs a chance to fully develop, leading to early infection and inflammation that elevate risk of chronic lung disease, such as asthma.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, in utero exposures could be an important contributor as well, Getahun explained in an interview.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Chorioamnionitis is thought to be associated with more than half of all preterm births.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Fetal lungs stay in contact with the amniotic fluid which, when infected, may expose the developing lung to microorganisms, toxic substances, and inflammatory mediators, the researchers wrote.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Animal model evidence suggests the condition may lead to scarring and fibrosis in the lung and damage to other fetal organs &quot;during a very critical time at preterm gestation,&quot; Getahun told &lt;em&gt;MedPage Today&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So, his group retrospectively studied Kaiser&apos;s matched perinatal records on 510,216 singleton children born at the managed care group&apos;s hospitals in Southern California between 1991 and 2007.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Physician-diagnosed asthma incidence by age 8 years, as expected, was significantly higher overall for preemies born at 23 to 36 weeks&apos; gestation than for those carried full-term (60.2 versus 40.0 per 1,000 person-years).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But chorioamnionitis diagnosed during pregnancy substantially boosted this risk.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Incidence of asthma rose to 100.7 per 1,000 person-years in exposed children born preterm, versus 39.6 per 1,000 among exposed, full-term children (IR 2.9, 95% CI 2.6 to 3.3).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This association between chorioamnionitis and asthma in preemies persisted (HR 1.68, 95% CI 1.52 to 1.87) after adjustment for important confounding variables, including maternal age, race or ethnicity, smoking during pregnancy, prenatal care, and maternal asthma.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Although the asthma risk appeared to rise with greater prematurity in exposed children, the elevated risk associated with chorioamnionitis exposure in utero was seen in every category of prematurity: &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt; 1.23 times higher risk in children born at 23 to 28 weeks (95% CI 1.02 to 1.49)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; 1.51 times higher risk in children born at 28 to 33 weeks (95% CI 1.26 to 1.80)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; 1.20 times higher risk in children born at 34 to 36 weeks (95% CI 1.03 to 1.47)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Additional adjustment for bronchopulmonary dysplasia  --  &quot;one of the mechanisms through which preterm birth is presumably associated with respiratory problems in early childhood&quot;  --  had little impact on the findings.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thus, the bacterial infection appeared to be an independent risk factor for asthma in prematurely born children, the researchers concluded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The risks were particularly high for children born to African-American women who developed chorioamnionitis, suggesting this may be an at-risk group to single out for attention clinically, they suggested.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Getahun cautioned, though, that his group&apos;s study could not prove causality. The researchers also noted that the study was limited by lack of data on parental atopy and smoking.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;float:left;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:#8dabbc;font-family:arial;font-size:12px;background-color:#DBE9F2;padding:5px;&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;The study was supported by Kaiser Permanente Direct Community Benefit funds. The researchers reported no conflicts of interest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;clear:both;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_203"
                     title="Doppler Exam Improves Outcomes in High-Risk Pregnancy (CME/CE)"
                     score="-0.005"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/OBGYN/Pregnancy/tb/18044?impressionId=1265791211296"
                     
      Using Doppler ultrasound to examine fetal circulation reduces perinatal death in high-risk pregnancies by 29%, an updated Cochrane Review found.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;In a pooled analysis of 16 studies involving 10,225 babies, the perinatal death rate was 1.2% when Doppler ultrasound was used and 1.7% when it was not, according to Zarko Alfirevic, MD, of the University of Liverpool in England, and colleagues.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;The number needed to treat was 203 (95% CI 103 to 4352).&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;In an interview, Alfirevic said that that high number and &quot;absolutely huge&quot; confidence interval reflects the lack of quality evidence.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;&quot;I think that, indeed, one can question whether this is a good value for money,&quot; he said, noting that there have not been any formal cost-effectiveness analyses.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;But, because there are no obvious negative effects from the examination, he said, &quot;I would expect that most patients would say Yes.&quot;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The review updated a previous one conducted in 1996, which came to similar conclusions about the use of Doppler ultrasound.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Abnormal fetal circulation detected on ultrasound may indicate poor fetal prognosis and allow life-saving interventions to be performed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, a false-positive finding could encourage inappropriate early delivery, which could result in increased problems associated with prematurity, Alfirevic and his colleagues wrote.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So they conducted a review to assess the risks and benefits of adding Doppler ultrasound to protocols for evaluating fetal well-being in women with high-risk pregnancies, including those with diabetes, hypertension, and heart problems or those with intrauterine growth restriction, pregnancies that have progressed beyond term, and those who&apos;ve had a previous miscarriage or stillbirth.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The researchers looked at randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials comparing the use of Doppler ultrasound with no ultrasound or with electronic fetal monitoring. In general, they said, the studies were not high quality.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In fact, the quality of the studies assessing Doppler ultrasound versus no ultrasound for the effect on perinatal death rates was &quot;very low,&quot; the authors wrote, which is &quot;of concern given the borderline significance of the pooled meta-analysis result.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There was insufficient evidence to assess the effect of the use of ultrasound on serious neonatal morbidity, the other primary outcome.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Although Alfirevic said he and his colleagues were concerned that the use of Doppler ultrasound might increase invasive obstetrical procedures, in 10 of the studies there were actually fewer inductions of labor (pooled RR 0.89, 95% CI 0.80 to 0.99) and fewer cesarean deliveries in 14 studies (pooled RR 0.90, 95% CI 0.84 to 0.97).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The use of Doppler ultrasound had no effect on rates of operative vaginal births or on the proportion of babies born with Apgar scores under 7 at five minutes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to Alfirevic, the overall low quality of the evidence did not allow for recommendations regarding patients who would most benefit from the addition of Doppler ultrasound or regarding the best approaches following an abnormal result.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;Doppler studies of the umbilical artery should be incorporated and should be a part of the protocols for fetal monitoring in high-risk pregnancies, particularly those who are at risk of placental insufficiency,&quot; he said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;But we are not in a position at the moment to be more specific than that.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;float:left;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:#8dabbc;font-family:arial;font-size:12px;background-color:#DBE9F2;padding:5px;&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;The review received internal support from the University of Liverpool and external support from the U.K. National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). One of Alfirevic&apos;s co-authors is supported by the NIHR NHS Cochrane Collaboration Program grant scheme award for NHS-prioritized centrally-managed, pregnancy and childbirth systematic reviews.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The authors reported no conflicts of interest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;clear:both;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20090101_2_549"
                     title="RSNA: Radiological Exams in Pregnancy Increasing Steadily"
                     score="-0.005"
                     href="