Pregnancy and delivery in women with a high risk of infection in pregnancy

Abstract

Background

Pregnant women with chronic genital and non-genital infections are at a high risk of infections complication during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Preterm birth is one of the leading causes of obstetric and neonatal complications and occurs in one in nine women. Forty per cent of preterm births are considered to be caused by the abnormal vaginal microbiome, and there is currently no consensus on the contribution of combined bacterial and viral infections.

Aim

To assess the course of pregnancy and delivery in women with a high risk of chronic infections and the association with the presence of specific microorganisms in the genital microbiome.

Materials and methods

We performed a prospective controlled observational study in 355 pregnant women with a high risk of chronic infections. The high risk was defined as presence acute or chronic genital or extragenital infections, reactivation of chronic infections/inflammatory diseases during current pregnancy and history of obstetric complications during previous pregnancies such as miscarriages, missed miscarriages, preterm deliveries, postpartum endometritis, and sepsis.

Results

In women with a high risk of chronic infections, pregnancy was associated with recurrent threatened pregnancy loss (49.8%), preterm premature rupture of fetal membranes (64.3%), followed by prolonged oligohydramnios. Almost in one in two women (47.9%), pregnancy resulted in the delivery of preterm, low-birth-weight neonates. One in three women (30%) experienced uterine hypotony and bleeding after vaginal and cesarean delivery. Almost a third of women (32.1%) developed inflammatory complications postpartum, and more than half of complications (54.4%) was observed in women giving birth prematurely. Vaginal and cervical cultures in women who experienced preterm birth were dominated by non-obligate pathogens. We observed persistence of the Herpesviridae family both in the cervical canal and uterine cavity, specifically the Epstein-Barr virus (17.2%; 95% CI: 10%, 26.8%).

Conclusions

Pregnancies in women with a high risk of chronic infections were associated with high rates of recurrent threatened pregnancy loss, preterm rupture of membranes and preterm delivery.

Keywords:

• Pregnancy
• chronic infections
• preterm birth
• viral and bacterial infection

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).