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Introduction: Pre‐eclampsia affects 2%–8% of pregnancies and is one of the leading causes of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. First‐trimester screening using an algorithm that combines maternal characteristics, mean arterial blood pressure, uterine artery pulsatility index and biomarkers (pregnancy‐associated plasma protein‐A and placental growth factor) is the method that achieves a greater diagnostic accuracy. It has been shown that daily salicylic acid administration before 16 weeks in women at a high risk for pre‐eclampsia can reduce the incidence of preterm pre‐eclampsia. However, no previous studies have evaluated the impact of routine first‐trimester combined screening for pre‐eclampsia with placental growth factor after being implemented in the clinical practice. Material and methods: This was a multicenter cohort study conducted in eight different maternities across Spain. Participants in the reference group were prospectively recruited between October 2015 and September 2017. Participants in the study group were retrospectively recruited between March 2019 and May 2021. Pre‐eclampsia risk was calculated between 11+0 and 13+6 weeks using the Gaussian algorithm combining maternal characteristics, mean arterial pressure, uterine arteries pulsatility index, pregnancy‐associated plasma protein‐A and placental growth factor. Patients with a risk greater than 1/170 were prescribed daily salicylic acid 150 mg until 36 weeks. Patients in the reference group did not receive salicylic acid during gestation. Results: A significant reduction was observed in preterm pre‐eclampsia (OR 0.47; 95% CI: 0.30–0.73), early‐onset (<34 weeks) pre‐eclampsia (OR 0.35; 95% CI: 0.16–0.77), preterm small for gestational age newborn (OR 0.57; 95% CI: 0.40–0.82), spontaneous preterm birth (OR 0.72; 95% CI: 0.57–0.90), and admission to intensive care unit (OR 0.55; 95% CI: 0.37–0.81). A greater treatment adherence resulted in a significant reduction in adverse outcomes. Conclusions: Routine first‐trimester screening for pre‐eclampsia with placental growth factor leads to a reduction in preterm pre‐eclampsia and other pregnancy complications. Aspirin treatment compliance has a great impact on the effectiveness of this screening program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: A Neisseria gonorrhoeae antimicrobial susceptibility quality control comparison programme was re-established in Latin America and the Caribbean to ensure antimicrobial susceptibility data produced from the region are comparable nationally and internationally.Methods: Three panels, consisting of N. gonorrhoeae isolates comprising reference strains and other characterised isolates were sent to 11 participating laboratories between 2013 and 2015. Antimicrobial susceptibilities for these isolates were determined using agar dilution, Etest or disc diffusion methods. Modal minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for each panel isolate/antibiotic combination were calculated. The guidelines of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute were used for interpretations of antimicrobial susceptibility. The agreement of MICs with the modal MICs was determined for each of the participating laboratories as well as for each of the antibiotics tested.Results: Five of 11 laboratories that participated in at least one panel had an overall average agreement between participants' MIC results and modal MICs of >90%. For other laboratories, agreements ranged from 60.0% to 82.4%. The proportion of agreement between interpretations for all the antibiotics, except penicillin and tetracycline, was >90%. The percentages of agreement between MIC results and their modes for erythromycin, spectinomycin, cefixime and azithromycin were >90%. Tetracycline, ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin agreement ranged from 84.5% to 89.1%, while penicillin had 78.8% agreement between MICs and modal MICs.Conclusions: The participating laboratories had acceptable results, similar to other international quality assurance programmes. It is important to ensure continuation of the International Gonococcal Antimicrobial Susceptibility Quality Control Comparison Programme to ensure that participants can identify and correct any problems in antimicrobial susceptibility testing for N. gonorrhoeae as they arise and continue to generate reproducible and reliable data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]