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Background/Aim: There is insufficient information about how long fetal well-being will last after a negative oxytocin challenge test (OCT) and the factors affecting this process. We aim to evaluate maternal and perinatal outcomes in high-risk patients who had negative OCTs and to investigate the effects of methods of induction on the development of fetal distress. Methods: The study was designed as a retrospective cohort study. Data of patients who were hospitalized in the perinatal intensive care unit due to high-risk pregnancies between January 2016 and December 2016 were reviewed retrospectively. The patient's gestational age, gravidity, parity, and body mass index (BMI), risk factors leading to the OCT, labor induction methods used following a negative OCT, time from negative OCT to delivery, mode of delivery, and indications for cesarean section were recorded. In addition, data regarding fetal sex, birth weight, birth height, labor complications, Apgar scores at minutes 1 and 5, admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), indications for NICU admission, length of NICU stay, and stillbirth were also recorded. Results: OCT was performed on 551 patients and was negative in 447 patients. Among patients with a negative OCT, labor induction was preferred in 427 (95.5%) patients. When fetal distress development was assessed according to the induction method used following a negative OCT, fetal distress developed in 9.1% of 427 patients who underwent labor induction. Conclusion: When outcomes were considered in pregnant women with a negative OCT, it was observed that there were no fetal deaths and a limited number of newborns with low Apgar scores. Further randomized studies are needed to draw definitive conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Subclinical hypothyroidism is the most frequent thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy with an incidence of 2-5% which can easily be overlooked due to the absence of clinical symptoms. Studies have shown that thyroid hormones could alter the level of free beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (ß-hCG) and pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) released from the placenta during early pregnancy. Since these two serum markers are the two of the parameters used in the first-trimester combined screening, we hypothesized that distorted risk calculation results could be obtained from pregnant women with subclinical hypothyroidism. Methods: We conducted a prospective and cohort study at a tertiary university hospital in northwest Turkey between February 2018 and June 2018, involving 250 pregnant women in their first trimester who were seeking care at the obstetrics outpatient clinic. After evaluation of thyroid functions, first-trimester screening was performed in all 250 singleton pregnancies with fetuses at 11+0 to 13+6 gestational weeks. Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) values above 2,5 mIU/L were considered high. The correlation between the results and parameters of the first-trimester combined screening and thyroid hormone values was examined. Results: Among the participants, after analyzing the fT4 values, all 35 pregnant women with high TSH values were diagnosed with subclinical hypothyroidism. We observed a statistically weak negative correlation between TSH and ß-HCG, which was expected given the similarities in their alpha subunits. There was no statistically significant correlation between TSH and PAPP-A values, combined risk scores, and age risk scores of first-trimester screening. As a matter of course, combined risk scores of first-trimester screening were found to be statistically lower in younger mothers. Conclusion: Pregnant women with normal thyroid functions and subclinical hypothyroidism were investigated for alterations in first-trimester screening parameters and risk scores. As a result, no statistically significant correlation was found between subclinical hypothyroidism and first-trimester screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]