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Aim: This study aims to examine the association between body mass index (BMI) and mode of delivery, progression of labour, and intrapartum interventions. Methods: This was a retrospective matched cohort study including Class III obese (BMI ≥40 kg/m2) and normal BMI (BMI <25 kg/m2) women planning a vaginal birth who had a live, singleton delivery from January 2015 to December 2018. Patients were matched (1:1) based on age, gestational age, parity, onset of labour and birth weight. The primary outcome was caesarean delivery (CD). Secondary outcomes were delivery outcomes, intrapartum management and interventions. Rates of each outcome were compared with matched analysis, and duration of labour with time‐to‐event analysis. Results: We studied two groups of 300 pregnant women. The CD rate was significantly higher for obese women than the normal BMI cohort (19.3% vs 13.3%; risk ratio (RR) 1.43, 95% CI 1.02–1.98, P = 0.035). Cervical dilation prior to CD for failure to progress was slower in obese than normal BMI (0.04 vs 0.16 cm/h). The obese cohort had a longer duration of labour in those who underwent induction (13.70 vs 11.48 h, P = 0.024). Intrapartum intervention rates were higher for obese women, with significant differences in rates of fetal scalp electrodes (72.7% vs 22.7%, RR 3.20, 95% CI 2.58–3.99, P < 0.001), intrauterine pressure catheters (18.3% vs 0%, P < 0.001), epidural analgesia (44.0% vs 37.0%, RR 1.20, 95% CI 1.01–1.44, P = 0.040) and fetal scalp lactate sampling (8.0% vs 3.0%, RR = 2.67, 95% CI 1.33–5.33, P = 0.004). Conclusion: Class III obesity is associated with an increased risk of CD and intrapartum interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The increasing number of unnecessary cesarean births is a cause for concern and may be addressed by increasing access to midwifery care. The objective of this review was to assess the effect of midwifery care on the likelihood of cesarean births. Methods: We searched five databases from the beginning of records through May 2020. We included observational studies that reported odds ratios or data allowing the calculation of odds ratios of cesarean birth for births with and without midwife involvement in care or presence at the institution. Standard inverse‐variance random‐effects meta‐analysis was used to generate overall odds ratios (ORs). Results: We observed a significantly lower likelihood of cesarean birth in midwife‐led care, midwife‐attended births, among those who received instruction pre‐birth from midwives, and within institutions with a midwifery presence. Conclusions: Care from midwives reduces the likelihood of cesarean birth in all the analyses, perhaps due to their greater preference and skill for physiologic births. Increased use of midwives in maternal care can reduce cesarean births and should be further researched and implemented broadly, potentially as the default modality in maternal care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The high maternal and neonatal mortality rate in sub‐Saharan Africa could be reduced by using navigation by means of mobile devices to increase the number of women who choose to give birth in a health center (HC) with a skilled healthcare practitioner. Methods: A quasi‐experimental design was used to test a midwife‐delivered navigation by means of mobile phone. A total of 208 women were randomized to two groups (intervention and control). Women in the intervention group received up to three navigation calls from midwives. Women in the control group received usual antenatal education during prenatal visits. Data were collected using semistructured questionnaires. Childbirth location was determined through medical records. Results: Overall, 180 (87%) women gave birth in a HC with a 3% advantage for the intervention group. A total of 86% (88/102) of the control group gave birth in a HC versus 89% (92/103) for the intervention group (Χ2 = 0.44, p‐value = 0.51), with an unadjusted odds ratio of 1.33 (95% CI: 0.57, 3.09). Among those with personal phones, 91% (138/152) had a birth in a HC versus 79% (42/53) in those without a personal phone (Χ2 = 4.89, p‐value = 0.03). Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that it is feasible to deliver phone‐based navigation to support birth in a HC; personal phone ownership may be a factor in the success of this strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To clarify the state of screening and support systems for socially high‐risk pregnant women at obstetric facilities across Japan and identify the characteristics of facilities related to the implementation of screening. Methods: This cross‐sectional study used a self‐administered questionnaire. Participants were managers of hospitals, clinics, and midwifery birth centers handling deliveries in 47 prefectures across Japan. The questionnaire comprised items regarding the characteristics of participants and their facilities, service provision related to socially high‐risk women available at the facility, the number of specified pregnant women (tokutei ninpu) per year, methods of screening, and support systems within the obstetric facilities. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression analysis were performed using IBM‐SPSS version 24 for the association between facility characteristics and screening practices for socially high‐risk pregnant women. Results: Valid responses were received from 716 of 2512 obstetric facilities. Rates of specified expectant mothers per annual number of deliveries were identified as follows: perinatal medical centers (2.7%), general hospitals (1.6%), obstetrics and gynecology hospitals (1.0%), and clinics (0.8%). A total of 426 facilities (60.6%) reported screening all expectant mothers to identify socially high‐risk pregnant women. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that facility characteristics and service/care provision related to screening practices included availability of in‐hospital midwife‐led care and in‐hospital midwifery clinics (adjusted odds ratio 1.61; 95% CI [1.30, 1.47]), one‐on‐one care by midwife (1.73; 95% CI [1.15, 2.59]), multidisciplinary meetings within the facility (1.70; 95% CI [1.14, 2.56]), follow‐up support systems after discharge (1.90; 95% CI [1.17, 3.09]), and participation in the regional council for children in need of protection (2.33; 95% CI [1.13, 4.81]). Conclusions: Approximately 60% of surveyed obstetric facilities screen for socially high‐risk women. Increasing service provision at facilities may be necessary to implement screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the perinatal outcomes of dichorionic diamniotic (DCDA) twin pregnancies reduced by the fetal reduction (FR) procedure and cases with continuing DCDA twin pregnancies without FR. Materials and Methods: FR performed in a university hospital in the last 10 years was evaluated. Pregnancies reduced to DCDA twin pregnancies by reduction from three or more pregnancies and pregnancies that started with DCDA twins and continued with DCDA twins were compared in terms of perinatal outcomes. In the subgroup analysis, those who were reduced from three‐chorionic three‐amniotic (TCTA) triplets to DCDA twins and those who were reduced to DCDA twin pregnancies from four or more were compared in terms of perinatal outcomes. Results: A total of 119 pregnant women were included in the study, 36 patients underwent FR, while 83 patients were DCDA twins who did not undergo FR. The groups were similar in terms of preterm delivery (p = 0.370). There was a higher rate of miscarriage (21.4% vs. 0.0%, p = 0.019) in the group that was reduced to DCDA twins from quadruplet and above pregnancies compared to the group that was reduced from TCTA triplets to DCDA twins. The gestational week at birth was lower in the group reduced to DCDA twins from quadruplets and above pregnancies (31.00 ± 4.31 vs. 34.64 ± 2.88, p = 0.019). Conclusion: The study's results show that the perinatal outcomes of multiple pregnancies with and without FR are the same As the number of reduced fetuses increases, the rates of preterm birth and miscarriage also increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID‐19 pandemic has dramatically affected pregnant people's prenatal care, labor, and delivery experiences. Given these rapid changes, providers have needed to be proactive in sharing information about COVID‐19‐related care impacts. The purpose of this study was to investigate: (a) Whether patient demographics or disrupted care (eg, canceled appointments and rapid shift to telehealth) is associated with patient‐reported information sharing from the providers; and (b) Whether patient‐reported provider information sharing or disruptions to care are associated with patient satisfaction with provider. Methods: Data come from a convenience sample of 1999 pregnant people living in the United States who completed an online survey between April 16 and May 7 2020. Results: Thirty‐eight percent of participants said that their provider had not discussed how the pandemic would affect their care during pregnancy, labor, or delivery. Participants with lower education, less income, or whose appointments had been canceled or rescheduled because of the pandemic were significantly less likely to report information sharing. Provider satisfaction was significantly lower among participants who did not report information sharing, those who had appointments by way of telehealth, and those who reported that all their appointments had been rescheduled/canceled. Discussion: At the beginning of the pandemic, there were significant socioeconomic inequities in reported information sharing by the providers, which in turn was negatively associated with provider satisfaction. Providers need to be aware of the role implicit bias may play in information sharing—both generally and during public health crises—and consider ways to reduce the impacts of disrupted care delivery on patient satisfaction. If left unaddressed, perceived poor provider communication and associated low satisfaction with providers could contribute to adverse perinatal outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Perinatal Integrated Psychosocial Assessment (PIPA) tool screens for anxiety, depression, and psychosocial factors in pregnancy. We aimed to assess the association between PIPA‐determined psychosocial risk and obstetric and neonatal outcomes. Methods: Cohort study of all pregnant women who gave birth at ≥20 weeks of gestation in 2017‐2019 at a tertiary maternity hospital in, Sydney, Australia. Women completed PIPA at their first antenatal visit and were assigned a PIPA risk category. At‐risk women were reviewed and referred for support. The association between PIPA risk category and obstetric and neonatal outcomes was evaluated using multivariable logistic regression adjusting for sociodemographic and pregnancy factors. Results: In all, 5969 women completed PIPA; 71.4% were assessed no/low risk, 17.5% medium risk, and 11.1% medium‐high/high risk. Compared with no/low‐risk women, medium‐high/high‐risk women were more likely to remain in hospital for >72 hours (aOR 1.47 [95% CI 1.33‐1.64]); to not be breastfeeding at discharge (aOR 1.77 [95% CI 1.20‐2.61]); to have their infants experience birth complications (aOR 1.24 [95% CI 1.03‐1.50]); and to be admitted to the NICU (aOR 1.63 [95% CI 1.26‐2.11]). There was a modest increase in odds of cesarean birth (aOR 1.12 [95% CI 1.00‐1.27]), and no association with preterm birth or low birthweight. The risk of adverse outcomes disappeared for medium‐high/high‐risk women referred for support. Conclusions: The PIPA tool identified one in 10 women at high psychosocial risk with increased risk of adverse obstetric and neonatal outcomes. Adverse outcomes were attenuated for high‐risk women who were referred for extra support, suggesting that psychosocial review and referral for high‐risk women may reduce the risk of adverse obstetric and neonatal outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The delivery of nutrition‐related interventions and counselling during antenatal care is critical for a healthy pregnancy for both mother and child. However, the accuracy of maternal reports of many of these services during household surveys has not yet been examined. Our objectives were to assess the validity of the maternal reports of 10 antenatal nutrition interventions, including counselling, and examine associates between maternal characteristics and accuracy. Maternal report of services received collected during a post‐partum survey was compared to the gold standard, the direct observation of all women's antenatal care visits. Individual‐level validity was assessed by calculating indicator sensitivity, specificity and area under the operating curve (AUC). The inflation factor (IF) measured population‐level bias. For five indicators, the high true coverage limited our ability to assess the validity of the maternal reports. There were no indicators that had both high individual‐level validity (AUC > 0.70) and low population bias (0.75 < IF < 1.25). Indicators with greater true coverage estimates had higher sensitivity and lower specificity estimates compared to those indicators with lower true coverage. There were no maternal characteristics associated with the accuracy of the report. Maternal report of antenatal nutrition‐related interventions and counselling during household surveys was found to have variable validity across indicators. Additional research in settings with varying coverage levels should be considered to best inform antenatal care coverage measurement in household surveys. Key Messages: The coverage of nutrition‐related interventions and counselling was high (>89%) for the majority of indicators.Maternal reports resulted in higher coverage estimates than what was observed for all but one indicator.No indicator assessed had high individual level validity (AUC > 0.70) and low population bias (0.75 < IF < 1.25).The greater the indicator's true coverage estimate, the greater the sensitivity and lower the specificity values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maternal and obstetrical outcomes vary widely within the United States. The impact of insurance type on health care disparities and its influence on obstetrical care and maternal outcome is not clear. We report the impact of health care insurance on obstetrical and maternal outcomes in a tertiary care health care system. Our maternal quality care database (n = 4199) was queried comparing commercial insurance to government sponsored insurance from July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2018. Parturients with commercial insurance were older, weighed more, presented with less gravidity and parity, had more advanced gestation, and had a higher neonatal 5‐minute Apgar score than government insured parturients. Additionally, government insured parturients were less likely to be admitted for induction with oxytocin, receive labor epidural analgesia, and have a primary caesarean delivery. Similarly, government insured parturients were more likely to be of African American descent, be a current known smoker, have a positive urine drug screen, and receive a general anesthetic. We conclude obstetrical and maternal health care disparities exist based on medical insurance type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Few studies have evaluated the impact of Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) implementation on underserved populations in the United States. We undertook this study in New Mexico, a large southwestern state with a diverse population and limited health care access. Methods: A quasi‐experimental, retrospective cohort design was used to compare short‐term breastfeeding duration between a pre‐BFHI and a post‐BFHI cohort. Among the post‐BFHI cohort, logistic regression models were fitted to predict short‐term breastfeeding duration from both individual and cumulative exposure to inpatient maternity care practices (Steps 4 to 9). Results: Implementation of the BFHI and cumulative exposure to the Ten Steps increased short‐term duration of any breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding at 2‐6 weeks postpartum. Exposure to all six of the inpatient Ten Steps increased the odds of any breastfeeding by 34 times and exclusive breastfeeding by 24 times. Exposure to Step 9 ("Give no pacifiers or artificial nipples") uniquely increased the likelihood of any breastfeeding at 2‐6 weeks postpartum by 5.7 times, whereas Step 6 ("Give infants no food or drink other than breastmilk") increased the rate of exclusive breastfeeding by 4.4 times at 2‐6 weeks postpartum. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative can have a positive impact on breastfeeding among underserved populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Our aim was to compare maternal and neonatal outcomes of women with a low‐risk pregnancy attending the "Cocoon," an alongside midwifery‐led birth center and care pathway, with women with a low‐risk pregnancy attending the traditional care pathway in a tertiary care hospital in Belgium. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of maternal and neonatal outcomes of women with a low‐risk pregnancy who chose to adhere to the Cocoon pathway of care (n = 590) and women with a low‐risk pregnancy who chose the traditional pathway of care (n = 394) from March 1, 2014, to February 29, 2016. We performed all analyses using an intention‐to‐treat approach. Results: In this setting, the cesarean birth rate was 10.3% compared with 16.0% in the traditional care pathway (adjusted odds ratios [aOR] 0.42 [95% CI 0.25‐0.69]), the induction rate was 16.3% compared with 30.5% (0.46 [0.30‐0.69]), the epidural analgesia rate was 24.9% compared with 59.1% (0.15 [0.09‐0.22]), and the episiotomy rate was 6.8% compared with 14.5% (0.31 [0.17‐0.56]). There was no increase in adverse neonatal outcomes. Intrapartum and postpartum transfer rates to the traditional pathway of care were 21.1% and 7.1%, respectively. Conclusions: Women planning their births in the midwifery‐led unit, the Cocoon, experienced fewer interventions with no increase in adverse neonatal outcomes. Our study gives initial support for the introduction of similar midwifery‐led care pathways in other hospitals in Belgium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent data suggest that quantitative measurements of fetal fibronectin can be used accurately to predict increased risk of preterm birth. Aim: The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that the quantification of fetal fibronectin improves diagnostic accuracy in women who present with symptoms suggestive of threatened preterm labour (TPL) using a quantitative fetal fibronectin (qfFN) bedside analyser. Study design: This was a retrospective cohort study of pregnant women who presented between 22+6 and 32+6 weeks gestation with symptoms of TPL who had qfFN measured using the Rapid fFN Q10 system. The ability to predict spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) within 48 h, 14 days and <34 weeks gestation at qfFN thresholds of 10, 50 and 200 ng/mL was assessed. Results: The overall rate of sPTB <34 weeks was 4.1% (n = 373). For deliveries within 48 h, within 14 days and <34 weeks, a qfFN threshold of 200 ng/mL had positive predictive values of 26.7%, 42.9% and 46.7%, respectively, when compared to patients with qfFN values of 0–9 ng/mL. The corresponding relative risks were 68.5, 53.8 and 38.0, respectively Conclusion: Quantitative fetal fibronectin testing with thresholds of 10, 50 and 200 ng/mL allows for more accurate prediction of preterm birth in symptomatic women. This higher degree of discrimination allows for more directed interventions for high‐risk patients and reduces the cost and burden of unnecessary treatment for low‐risk patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite strong policy and program commitment, essential maternal nutrition services are not reaching enough women in many countries. This paper examined multifactorial determinants (personal, family, community, and health services) associated with maternal nutrition practices in Uttar Pradesh, India. Data were from a household survey of pregnant (n = 667) and recently delivered women (n = 1,835). Multivariable regression analyses were conducted to examine the determinants of four outcomes: consumption of diverse diets, consumption of iron folic acid (IFA) and calcium tablets, and weight monitoring during pregnancy. Population attributable risk analysis was used to estimate how much the outcomes can be improved under optimal program implementation. During pregnancy, women consumed 28 IFA and 8 calcium tablets, 18% consumed diverse diet, and 17% were weighed ≥3 times. Nutrition knowledge was associated with consumption of diverse diet (odds ratio [OR] = 2.2 times), IFA (2.3 times), calcium (11.7 times), and weight monitoring (1.3 times). Beliefs and self‐efficacy were associated with IFA (OR = 2.0) and calcium consumption (OR = 4.6). Family support and adequate health services were also associated with better nutrition practices. Under optimal program implementation, we estimate that 51% of women would have adequate diet diversity, an average consumption of 98 IFA, and 106 calcium tablets, and women would be weighed 4.9 times during pregnancy. Strengthening existing program operations and increasing demand for services has the potential to result in large improvements in maternal nutrition practices from current baseline levels but may not be sufficient to meet World Health Organization‐recommended levels without creating an enabling environment including improvements in education and income levels to support behaviour change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]