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This article aims to know the perception of women on obstetric violence from a racial perspective. This was a qualitative study carried out in a public maternity hospital with 25 women in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and participant observation from November 2021 to February 2022. Content analysis was used to organize the data obtained through the interviews. The results were analyzed through the theoretical contributions of intersectionality, focusing on the interaction between obstetric violence and obstetric racism. The narratives discuss issues of obstetric violence, institutional racism, and how these experiences are permeated by issues of race, gender, and class. Questions related to the feelings of these women regarding the experience of violence at the time of childbirth care were also highlighted. Obstetric racism denies reproductive rights and hinders access to respectful and equitable care for black women.

Objective: To identify factors associated with antepartum pilgrimage in pregnant women in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil., Method: A cross-sectional study with 300 postpartum women from a state reference maternity hospital, carried out from March 2020 to January 2021. The frequency of pilgrimage was estimated according to socioeconomic characteristics and prenatal care. Analysis with Pearson's chi-square test selected variables for adjusted Poisson regression., Results: The frequency of antepartum pilgrimage to more than one health service was 34.3%. Not knowing the reference maternity hospital (1.16; 95%CI: 1.04-1.30) and not living close to the reference maternity hospital (1.16; 95%CI: 1.03-1.31) were associated with the occurrence of pilgrimage among women. Personal characteristics and prenatal care were not associated., Conclusion: There was an association between antepartum pilgrimage and lack of knowledge of the reference maternity hospital and residence far from that maternity hospital, which requires better team communication and the guarantee of easier access to obstetric care services, through effective implementation of regionalization of maternal care.

Background: The risks of the childbirth assistance process are still very high, both for mothers and babies. According to the WHO, birth-related asphyxia accounts for 23% of all 3.3 million annual neonatal deaths and an even larger number of survivors with disabilities. On the other hand, maternal mortality is still a global challenge, affecting 17 mothers per 100 000 births in the USA. This is associated with the use of outdated technologies and a lack of well-defined processes in monitoring labour and early recognition of maternal clinical deterioration., Method: This study used Lean methodology to map the care flow for pregnant women in a Brazilian maternity hospital (Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein) in order to identify the risks within this process and a set of actions to minimise them. The work team consisted of 29 individuals, including local medical and nursing leaders, as well as healthcare professionals. The What-if tool was used to categorise the levels of risks, and the proportion of severe and catastrophic adverse events was evaluated before and after the implementation of changes., Results: After the implementation of the actions, 100% of the extreme risks (28 risks) and 8% of the high risks (4 risks) were eliminated. This led to a reduction in the interval between severe/catastrophic events from 126 to 284 days, even with an increase in the average monthly number of visits from 367 to 449. Consequently, the weighted value of events decreased from 7.91 to 3.29 per 1000 patients treated, resulting in an annual cost savings of R$693 646.80 (US$139 000.00)., Discussion: The construction of a process based on Lean methodology was essential for mapping the involved risks and implementing a set of actions to minimise them. The participation of the healthcare team and leadership seemed to be important in choosing the measures to be adopted and their applicability. The results found can be attributed to both the established changes and the safety culture brought about by this constructive process., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objective: To verify the association between prenatal care quality indicators and neonatal outcomes in maternity hospitals., Method: Hospital-based cross-sectional study in four high-risk referral maternity hospitals in the five health macro-regions enabled by the Stork Network in Ceará-Brazil. Between April 2017 and July 2018, 440 puerperal women were interviewed using simple probabilistic sampling and a formula with finite populations and stratification of each maternity hospital. The analysis involved Pearson's Chi-Square, Adjusted Residuals Analysis and Fisher's Exact., Results: There was an association between fewer consultations with prematurity and low birth weight. Delivery in the maternity hospital where the woman lived was associated with low birth weight and the need for ventilatory support., Conclusion: Prenatal care quality indicators influenced neonatal outcomes, which underlines the importance of ensuring access and quality of care as ways of reducing infant morbidity and mortality.

Purpose: Analyze maternal and child predictors associated with loss to follow-up in the newborn hearing screening program at maternity hospitals in northeastern Brazil., Methods: Retrospective cohort study, including secondary data from infants (n=604) referred to the newborn hearing screening program in two maternity hospitals for monitoring and/or diagnosis. The predictors evaluated included socioeconomic factors, such as maternal age, marital status, income, schooling, place of residence, number of children and number of prenatal visits. In addition, maternal and child health factors, such as smoking and drug intake during pregnancy, consanguinity, congenital infections, craniofacial malformations, use of ototoxic drugs, syndromes and a history of hearing loss in the family. Statistical analysis was performed based on binary logistic regression models, using the stepwise method., Results: The logistic regression model containing the number of prenatal visits and the history of hearing loss in the family was significant [χ2(2) =34.271; p<0.001]. The number of prenatal visits (OR = 2.343; 95% CI = 1.626 - 3.376) and family history of hearing loss (OR = 2.167; 95% CI = 1.507 - 3.115) were significant predictors. The other predictors were not significant., Conclusion: The results reveal that newborns whose mothers had ≤ 5 prenatal visits and those with a family history of hearing loss increased their likelihood of loss to follow-up by 2.3 and 2.1 times, respectively. It is important to provide subsidies for public health improvements in order to help advise, guide and educate mothers, especially during prenatal care.

Background: The fear of childbirth (FOC) harms maternal and fetal health, however it has been little studied in Brazil. This research aimed to determine the prevalence of FOC in a maternity hospital in southern Brazil and identify its associated factors., Methods: The Wijma Delivery Expectancy Questionnaire - W-DEQ(A) was used to assess the prevalence of FOC, and its relationship with sociodemographic variables, gestational history, aspects of the current pregnancy, knowledge about childbirth, anxiety symptoms (Beck Anxiety Inventory), depressive symptoms (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale), and perception of social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support) was investigated. Questionnaires about the content of FOC and information sources regarding childbirth were also applied., Results: We interviewed 125 pregnant women between 28 and 36 weeks of pregnancy between July and September of 2021, and 12% of them scored ≥ 85 on the W-DEQ(A), indicating severe FOC. There was a significant correlation between FOC and anxiety symptoms (r = 0.50, p < 0.001), depressive symptoms (r = 0.34, p < 0.001), and poor social support (r = -0.23, p = 0.008). FOC was lower in pregnant women with complete elementary education when compared to those with higher education (p = 0.003), however, those with negative experiences in previous deliveries had more FOC than those who had had positive experiences (p = 0.001). More than 85% of them fear fetal distress., Conclusions: FOC is a prevalent condition that impacts the mental health of pregnant women. Therefore, health professionals should recognize and address it during prenatal care to provide integral maternal-fetal care and improve the childbirth experience., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

This study aimed to describe maternal satisfaction with their experience during childbirth and birth and their association with sociodemographic, clinical and obstetric, and good practice characteristics during childbirth care. The sample included 2,069 women who wanted to express their opinions at the end of the interview of the Stork Network Assessment survey. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to summarize the variables of interest, creating latent variables, for input in the multiple logistic regression model. Six factors were created and tested in the model. Respect for the puerperal women was associated with satisfaction (vaginal delivery: 1.40; cesarean section: 1.47). Regarding those who underwent a cesarean section, satisfaction was associated with living in the Central-West (1.91) and South (2.00) regions and the presence of a companion during hospitalization (1.25). However, for women who had vaginal delivery, satisfaction was inversely associated with large hospitals (0.62) and undergoing interventions during labor and delivery (0.83), but positively with multiparity (1.98), receiving good care practices for labor and delivery (1.24), and having immediate contact with the newborn (1.20). The better understanding of the factors associated with mothers' care satisfaction for labor and delivery can improve care quality provided in public hospitals in the Brazil.

Objectives: To assess the prevalence and associated factors of disrespect and abuse during childbirth in Piauí, Brazil., Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed with 698 postpartum women in 21 maternity hospitals in 14 municipalities between August 2018 and September 2019. Face-to-face interviews were performed at least 6 h after birth, with an assessment of disrespect and abuse during childbirth. Robust Poisson regression was used, with calculation of the adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs)., Results: There was evidence that 19.8% of women experienced at least one type of disrespect and abuse during childbirth, with verbal abuse (12.6%), noncompliance with professional standards (11.6%), and health service restrictions being more common (8.3%). There was an association of disrespect and abuse during childbirth with women aged 10 to 19 years (aPR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.58-2.44), absence of companions (aPR, 2.43; 95% CI, 1.85-2.89), cesarean sections after labor (aPR, 2.19; 95% CI, 1.64-3.59), public hospitals (aPR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.42-2.85), and in the countryside (aPR, 2.29; 95% CI, 1.81-3.98)., Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of disrespect and abuse during childbirth in Piauí, Brazil, associated with structural conditions of the services, care practices, and characteristics of women., (© 2022 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.)

Objective: To identify the associated factors of neonatal near miss among newborns of Brazilian adolescents and to compare their occurrence in young women aged 12 to 16 years and 17 to 19 years., Method: Cross-sectional, hospital-based study, using data from the study Nascer no Brasil ("Birth in Brazil") on puerperal adolescents and their newborns in all regions of Brazil. Multiple and univariate logistic regression were employed to identify the associated factors of neonatal near miss., Results: The following factors were found to be associated to neonatal near miss among newborns of adolescent mothers: public source of payment (OR = 4.57, 95% CI = 2.02-10.32), having to seek help in different maternity hospitals (OR = 1.52; 95% CI = 1.05-2.20), and maternal near miss (OR = 5.92; 95% CI = 1.94-18.05), in addition to a record of low weight in a previous pregnancy (OR = 3.12; 95% CI = 1.61-6.04) and twin pregnancy (OR = 7.49; 95% CI = 3.28-16.82)., Conclusion: Neonatal near miss affected newborns of adolescent mothers in both age groups equally. Also, the determinant factors of neonatal near miss can be mostly reduced with qualified prenatal, labor, and birth care.

The objective was to estimate the proportion of women with a full-time companion in Brazilian maternities linked to the Rede Cegonha (RC) and to compare them between the macro-regions in Brazil. A nationwide study, carried out from December/2016 to October/2017. 10,665 puerperal women from all regions of Brazil participated in the study, who gave birth at one of 606 maternity hospitals with a regional action plan approved by RC. Proportions and respective 95% confidence intervals were estimated, adjusted for the cluster effect, by comparing the macro-regions using Wald's chi-square test. The presence of a full-time companion occurred in 71.2% of maternities, being higher among women aged 20-35 years, brown-skinned, with higher education, married, and assisted in vaginal delivery. Almost 30% of puerperal women did not have a full-time companion. In the Southeast and Midwest regions, self-declared black women, with less schooling and unmarried women were less accompanied. The moment of delivery had less presence of the companion (29.2%). Despite the advances, this right is still not fully fulfilled, pointing to the occurrence of social inequities among Brazilian macro-regions.

Objective: Domestic violence against women is a violation of women's rights and is a public health issue. Knowledge by all society sectors about the clinical and social characteristics of women who suffer violence is fundamental for the development of preventive actions. Methods : Data on clinical, perinatal, and socioeconomic characteristics of women attended in the municipal hospital of São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, in 2018 and 2019 who reported ever suffering domestic violence collected and compared with to women who denied exposure to violence. Results : Marital status, schooling level, evangelical religion, drug, and tobacco use were more prevalent in women who suffered violence than those who did not. The likelihood of suffering violence was lower among pregnant women who had planned (OR 0.71), desired (OR 0.64), and accepted (0.43) pregnancy compared to those who had not planned, desired, or accepted. The average per capita income of women's neighbourhoods of origin showed an inverse correlation (R=-0.795) with the number of violence cases. Conclusion : Statistic associations suggest that the historical of having suffered from violence is more prevalent among women who planned, desired, and accepted their pregnancy, in comparison to women who denied exposure to violence. The type of religion, clinical, and social conditions of more significant vulnerability showed different levels of domestic violence.

Background: The spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, the possible development of serious illness, and the possibility of severe obstetric outcomes highlight the importance of addressing SARS-CoV-2 infection in obstetric management., Methods and Findings: A cross-sectional study of pregnant women assisted in a high-risk maternity hospital in Brazil in 2020. All patients admitted for delivery or miscarriage care were tested for SARS-CoV-2 using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and for immunoglobulin (I)gM, and/or IgG by immunochromatography. Clinical aspects and obstetric outcomes were analyzed. A total of 265 pregnant women were included in the study. There were 38 (14.4%) PCR positive cases during pregnancy, 12 (31.6%) on admission screening, and 71(27.2%) patients were IgM- and/or IgG-positive. Among the participants, 86 (32.4%) had at least one positive test during pregnancy. SARS-CoV-2 positive patients had greater contact with known positive patients (p = 0.005). The most frequently reported symptoms were runny nose, cough, loss of smell and taste, headache, and fever. There was also a 35% rate of asymptomatic infections and a 4.6% rate of severe or critical infections. Patients exposed or infected with SARS-CoV-2 had a higher incidence of preterm delivery, cesarean section, need for resuscitation in the delivery room, Apgar score <7 at 5 min, admission to the neonatal intensive care unit, and jaundice. Newborns with at least one positive test had a significantly greater need for phototherapy after delivery (p = 0.05). The results showed a high rate of positive tests among newborns (37.5%), which seems to be compatible with both neonatal and perinatal infection., Conclusions: It is important to further investigate SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy, including the clinical course and the possibility of adverse outcomes with impact on maternal and fetal health, regardless of the development of symptoms., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Functioning health systems require a health workforce (HWF) that is qualified, available, equitably distributed, and accessible to the entire population as the basis for guaranteeing access to health. There is a global HWF crisis, manifested in Brazil by unequal distribution of healthcare personnel, particularly in rural areas, urban peripheries, and other hard-to-reach communities, posing a major obstacle to guaranteeing access to health systems and services. Based on the above, calculating the size and analyzing the workloads of the medical staff in the Obstetrics Department (OD) and Urgent Care Center (UCC) in a state maternity hospital is relevant for designing improvements in the work processes and future strategies for recruiting, selecting, and retaining these workers at the hospital, in turn favoring improvement in the quality of care for women and children at the state level. This scenario motivated the study's design, in which the overall objective was to analyze the workload of staff physicians working in the Obstetrics Department and Urgent Care Center of a public maternity hospital in the state of Bahia, based on the WISN method., Methods: This was an exploratory-descriptive intervention study with a quantitative approach and qualitative elements, using the methodological stages recommended by the WISN to calculate and analyze the workload of obstetricians working in the OD and UCC in the maternity hospital., Results: The study found a deficit of 14 shift obstetricians at the hospital with a workload of 0.81. The study also found that the insufficient number of obstetricians at the hospital resulted from precarious hiring formats, idle medical positions, and poorly structured work processes and a shortage in the multidisciplinary staff., Conclusion: The research sought to contribute to the reduction of the gap in models and methodologies for the staffing of gynecologists and obstetricians in Bahia Maternity Hospitals, without covering the whole subject, but to demonstrate that the findings of the workload analysis and its validation could be useful in promoting and directing the design and implementation of interventions to improve the quality of the workload., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

This study investigated the factors associated with serious maternal morbidity (SMM) in women seen at public maternity hospitals in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo State, Brazil. This was a cross-section analytical quantitative study. Participation included 1,098 postpartum women who had given birth at one of the four maternity hospitals in the municipality. Data were collected from August 3, 2015, to February 2, 2016, using face-to-face interviews and data obtained from patient records and prenatal cards. The dependent variable for data analysis was the serious maternal morbidity, that is, when the woman was classified as maternal near miss or potentially life-threatening condition based on WHO eligibility criteria. The study calculated the maternal near miss ratio, odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (95%CI), and multiple logistic regression. The maternal near miss ratio was 3.6 cases per 1,000 live births. Complications occurred mainly during pregnancy (53.8%), and hypertensive disorders were the most frequent (49.4%). Multiple regression analysis showed an association between serious maternal morbidity and high-risk pregnancy (OR = 4.5, 95%CI: 2.7-7.7) and induced labor (OR = 2.1, 95%CI: 1.2-3.9). The occurrence of serious maternal morbidity mainly during pregnancy, featuring hypertensive syndromes, points to the need for better screening and management of high blood pressure in the prenatal period. The association between serious maternal morbidity and high-risk pregnancy also calls attention to prenatal care, for the demand for greater care for women classified as having gestational risk. Quality of care is a key point for dealing with maternal morbidity and mortality in Brazil.

Introduction: Brazilian legislation restricts the practice of abortion. In Brazil, abortion is a major public health problem due to the morbidity, mortality and hospitalization caused by the practice of unsafe abortions. Complications related to induced abortion and miscarriages are treated in &#8220;maternity wards&#8221;, where obstetric violence can be perpetrated., Purpose of Research: To analyse, based on ethnographic data, the practices of biomedical technologies and their relation to practices of gynecological and obstetrical violence., Results: Three main practices are systematized for didactic purposes: treatment of complications from abortion in maternity wards; ultrasound; and curettage. Despite the existence of national standards &#8211;&#160;due to the advances of the brazilian health and feminist movement&#160;&#8211; and international standards, there is still institutional resistance to the adoption of practices that prioritize women&#8217;s well-being., Conclusions: The way in which the ward is organized and materialized and the adoption of certain practices and technologies (and the omission of others) contribute to reproducing obstetric violence. The daily practices in the hospital do not escape the moralization of abortion, and the strong economic, racial and gender inequalities that go beyond the institutional space of the hospital. The analysis allows us to understand that the practice of biomedical technologies shapes and is shaped in a symbolic and situated way and can serve as an instrument for practices of embodied violence. Finally, it is necessary to review the model of&#160;post-abortion care.

Objective: To understand health professionals' values in the process of thinking and feeling about obstetric care, based on their experienced needs in the care process., Methods: Phenomenological study based on the Schelerian framework, with 48 health professionals from four maternity hospitals within the Metropolitan Region II of the state of Rio de Janeiro. Data collection was done through a phenomenological interview; and the analysis, with the Ricoeurian methodological framework., Results: The vital value was signified in care centered on physiological processes, for an individualized and safe monitoring. The ethical value was signified in the attitudes that provide women with autonomy in their way of giving birth, and recognize dialogue as a process of sympathy, affection, and bonding., Conclusion: The resignification of obstetric practice, articulated with public policies in the field of delivery and birth, supported by a vital ethical value, positively contributes to the humanization of care for women.

Objective: To identify the factors that influence the improvement of obstetric nurse care in the delivery process., Methods: Descriptive exploratory study with a qualitative approach conducted at a teaching maternity hospital located in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil with 20 obstetric nurses from the Obstetric Center. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews between June and September 2017 and was then subjected to the Thematic-Categorical Content Analysis proposed by Franco., Results: Six categories emerged from the analysis, which presented factors that favor the improvement of obstetric care in the delivery process and factors unfavorable to this care. These factors address power and gender relations among health professionals; recognition of obstetric nurses; physical space and bed occupation; interaction between woman/ companion, among others., Final Considerations: The factors indicated by obstetric nurses reveal the need for improvements in the working conditions by managers and changes of behavior and codes of conduct of health professionals.

Background: Having a positive childbirth experience is an increasingly valued outcome. Few studies evaluated the women's satisfaction with childbirth through face-to-face interviews out of the health service environment. The objective of this study was to identify factors associated with a higher level of satisfaction with the childbirth experience among Brazilian women., Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 287 women giving birth in two hospitals in southern Brazil. Women who gave birth to healthy newborns at term were randomly selected. Face-to-face interviews were conducted 31-37 days after delivery, at the mothers' homes, using a structured questionnaire. Satisfaction with the childbirth experience was measured using a Likert-type scale ranging from very satisfied to very dissatisfied. Prevalence ratios (PR) were estimated using Poisson regression with robust variance., Results: Following hierarchical multivariate analysis, the following factors remained associated with a higher level of satisfaction with the childbirth experience: being satisfied with antenatal care (PR=1.30; 95% confidence interval [95%CI]=1.06-1.59), understanding the information provided by health professionals during labor and delivery (PR=1.40; 95%CI=1.01-1.95), not having reported disrespect and abuse (PR=1.53; 95%CI=1.01-2.31), and having had the baby put to the breast within the first hour of life (PR=1.63; 95%CI=1.26-2.11). No association was observed with type of delivery or hospital status (public or private)., Conclusions: A higher level of satisfaction with the childbirth experience is related to satisfactory antenatal care, a non-abusive, respectful, and informative environment during childbirth, and to the opportunity to breastfeed the baby within the first hour of life. In clinical practice, greater attention to these basic principles of care during pregnancy and delivery could provide more positive experiences during birth., (Copyright © 2020 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The outbreak of the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) causing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread globally. As of June 18, 2020, a high maternal mortality rate due to SARS-CoV-2 infections was identified in Brazil, representing most of the world cases at that time. An observational, cross-sectional study was performed with pregnant women admitted in two maternity hospitals located in Salvador/Bahia and their newborns, from May 24 th up to July 17 th of 2020. Among 329 pregnant women enrolled at hospital admission, a high prevalence (n=28; 8.5%) of pregnant women with COVID-19 was observed, as well as a high proportion of asymptomatic cases (n=19; 67.9%). Two newborns had detectable SARS-CoV-2 but evolved without abnormalities. This data highlight the importance of identifying pregnant women with COVID-19 for proper isolation measures to prevent in-hospital transmission., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest All authors declare that they have no conflict interests., (Copyright © 2021 Sociedade Brasileira de Infectologia. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: to understand the working conditions and strategies adopted by nurse-midwives in maternity hospitals., Methods: a qualitative, descriptive, exploratory study with 20 nurse-midwives from public maternity hospitals in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Data were collected from June to September 2018 through semi-structured interviews, submitted to thematic content analysis and discussed in the light of the psychodynamics of work., Results: working conditions are inadequate due to poor infrastructure and resource deficit. Therefore, they develop defensive strategies to mitigate suffering, avoid destabilization of professional identity and minimize losses on care, through material purchase, lunch hour abdication, task reorganization and break implementation., Final Considerations: the strategies adopted hide work precariousness and suggest alienation of workers, evidencing the need to foster political awareness of this collective to promote concrete transformations in their work reality.

This paper aims to compare best practices for healthy newborns in public and mixed hospitals affiliated with SUS, according to type of birth, between "Nascer no Brasil/2011" (NB - Birth in Brazil) and in the last assessment cycle of Rede Cegonha, here called "Avaliação da Rede Cegonha/2017" (ARC - Stork Network Assessment). NB included a sample with national representativeness of 266 hospitals, and ARC was conducted in 606 maternity hospitals included in the Rede Cegonha strategy, totaling 15,994 and 8,047 pairs of healthy mothers and newborns, respectively.Between the two studies, NB-2011 and ARC-2017, although the proportion of cesarean sections remained around 44%, the prevalence of skin-to-skin contact with newborns, breastfeeding in the delivery room and breastfeeding in the first 24h of life increased by 140%, 82% and 6%, respectively. The proportion of upper airway aspiration of newborns dropped 65%. The results indicate that the use of evidence-based guidelines for the care of healthy newborns has increased in clinical practice, considering the six-year period between the compared studies. Despite the progress, important challenges remain to ensure best practices for all women and newborns, especially in relation to cesarean births.

This study aims to evaluate the birthplace of preterm infants with less than 34 gestational weeks at birth by type of neonatal care service in maternity hospitals of the "Rede Cegonha" and estimate the maternal factors associated with the inadequate place of birth for gestational age. This national cross-sectional study was performed in 2016/2017 to evaluate health establishments with the Rede Cegonha's action plan. Information was analyzed from 303 puerperae and the respective health establishments of their births. Newborns were classified by gestational age at birth (<30 and 30-33 weeks) and health establishments as hospitals with neonatal intensive care service, hospitals with intermediate neonatal care service, and hospitals without neonatal care service. Ministerial Ordinance N° 930/2012 was used to classify the birthplace as appropriate for the newborn's gestational age. Preterm birth prevalence was 37.3 at less than 30 weeks' gestation and 66.8 at 30-33 weeks. Birth in inappropriate services for the newborn's gestational age occurred in 6.3%, with significant regional and social differences. Inequalities in access to neonatal care for preterm infants persist in the "Rede Cegonha" despite advances.

This article compares the findings of "Avaliação da Rede Cegonha" (ARC - Stork Network Assessment), an evaluative study on the Rede Cegonha (RC - Stork Network) program, with Nascer no Brasil (NB - Born in Brazil), a national survey on labor and birth, conducted in 2011-12, before the start implementation of RC. ARC was conducted in 2017, in 606 maternity hospitals involved in RC and NB included a sample with national representation of 266 hospitals. In the current analysis, we included the 136 SUS hospitals that participated in both studies, totaling 3,790 and 12,227 puerperal women. We perform comparisons of best practices and interventions in the management of labor and delivery using Pearson's chi-square test for independent samples. The prevalence of best practices was, on average, 150% higher in ARC than in NB, with a greater relative increase in less developed regions, for older, brown and black women and less educated. Regarding interventions, there was an average reduction of 30% between NB and ARC, with a greater relative reduction in less developed regions and less educated women. There was a significant improvement in the scenario of care for labor and childbirth, with a reduction in regional, educational and racial inequalities in access to appropriate technologies, suggesting that the RC intervention was effective.

This paper describes and analyzes the process of providing feedback on the results of the second evaluation cycle of good practices of delivery and birth care in maternity hospitals linked to the Rede Cegonha, a Ministry of Health strategy implemented in 2011 to improve obstetric and neonatal healthcare and management. This is a qualitative study based on the documentary analysis of 27 reports from the states and the Federal District referring to the feedback workshops with 1.641 participants, 40% of whom were professionals and managers of the maternity hospitals evaluated, 25% of state representatives, 20% of municipal health secretariats and 15% of federal representatives. Around 46% of maternity hospitals' action plans in 11 states were received from January to August 2019. The results show the challenge of incorporating the monitoring and evaluation processes in these maternity hospitals' daily lives due to structural issues in institutional culture. This situation interferes with the local systematic analysis of information and the implementation of national evaluation cycles with the swift and continuous feedback of the results since access to secondary national data is non-existent in good delivery care practices.

Neonatal units should be organized as a progressive care line, with intermediate and intensive care beds (conventional and kangaroo). The aim of this study was to evaluate the status and adequacy of neonatal beds in maternity hospitals linked to the 'Stork Network' ("Rede Cegonha"). A descriptive study was conducted in 606 maternity hospitals in all regions of Brazil. The databases used belonged to the Stork Network Evaluation Survey and the National Live Birth System. To assess the distribution of neonatal beds by typology, the parameters proposed in Ordinance N. 930/2012 of the Ministry of Health were used. Most neonatal units are not organized as a progressive care line with the three types of bed planned. Kangaroo intermediate care beds comprise the minority of implanted beds. There is a concentration of intensive and intermediate beds in the Southeast and South regions, which show a kangaroo intermediate care bed deficit. Analyzing the adequacy of beds by the number of live births, one can observe an inadequacy of Kangaroo care beds in all regions of Brazil, as well as intensive bed deficit in the North and Northeast regions, and adequacy of conventional intermediate care beds in all regions.

This study aimed to assess whether nurses' presence in delivery care in maternity hospitals linked to the Rede Cegonha program promotes access to best obstetric practices during labor and delivery. We conducted an evaluative study in 2017 in all 606 SUS maternity hospitals that joined this strategic policy in all Brazilian states. We collected data from maternity hospital managers and puerperae. The analysis was performed at two levels: hospital with or without a nurse in delivery care; and professionals that attended vaginal delivery, whether doctors or nurses. We used best practices and interventions for vaginal deliveries and cesarean section rates as dependent variables. We included 5.016 subjects for analyses of vaginal deliveries and 9.692 to calculate cesarean section rates. Multiple regressions were adjusted for geographic region, maternity hospital size, and puerperae skin color and parity. Maternity hospitals with nurses in delivery care used more the partograph and less oxytocin, lithotomy, episiotomy, and cesarean section. Deliveries attended by nurses had more frequent use of the partograph and a lower likelihood of lithotomy and episiotomy. The inclusion of nurses in vaginal delivery care has successfully brought women closer to a more physiological and respectful delivery.

Objective:  To analyze the factors associated with the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for up to six months in mother/infant binomials cared for at a usual-risk maternity hospital., Methods:  The present is a descriptive, longitudinal, prospective, quantitative study. Socioeconomic, obstetric and perinatal variables from 101 mother/infant binomials in a Public Maternity Hospital in the city of Curitiba, state of Paraná, Brazil, were investigated during hospitalization after delivery and 6 months after birth. For the statistical analysis, the Chi-squared test was used. The variables that showed values of p  < 0.25 for the Chi-squared test were also submitted to an odds ratio (OR) analysis., Results:  The prevalence (42.6%) of EBF was observed. Most women (93.1%) had had more than 6 prenatal consultations, and the variables maternity leave and support to breastfeeding were associated with EBF. Support to breastfeeding by professionals and family members increased 4-fold the chance of maintenance of EBF (OR = 0.232; 95% confidence intercal [95%CI]: 0.079 to 0.679; p  = 0.008). Cracked nipples were the biggest obstacle to breastfeeding, and low milk production was the main responsible factor for weaning., Conclusion:  The encouragement of breastfeeding and the mother's stay for a longer period with the child contributed to the maintenance of EBF until the sixth month of life of the infant., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflict of interests to declare., (Federação Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).)

Objective: This study evaluates the association between sociodemographic factors, maternal characteristics, organization of health services and neonatal near miss in public and private maternity hospitals in Brazil., Methods: This is a prospective cohort of live births from the Nascer no Brasil survey, carried out between 2011 and 2012. Variables were established from the literature and organized on three levels: distal, intermediate, and proximal. The assessment was performed based on results of the bivariate analyzes and their respective p-values, with a significance level <0.20, using the Wald test. For multivariate analysis, the variables contained at the distal level were inserted, preserved in the model when significant (p < 0.05). This was also done when adjusting the intermediate and proximal levels., Results: At the distal level, no variable was significantly associated with the outcome. At the intermediate level, mother's age greater than or equal to 35 years (relative risk - RR = 1.32; 95%CI 1.04-1.66), cesarean delivery (RR = 1.34; 95%CI 1.07-1.67), smoking (RR = 1.48; 95%CI 1.04-2.10), gestational hypertensive syndrome (RR = 2.29; 95%CI 1.98-3.14), pre-gestational diabetes (RR = 2.63; 95%CI 1.36-5.05) and twin pregnancy (RR = 2.98; 95%CI 1.90-4.68) were variables associated with the outcome. At the proximal level, inadequate prenatal care (RR = 1.71; 95%CI 1.36-2.16) and the hospital/maternity being located in a capital city (RR = 1.89; 95%CI 1.40-2.55) were associated with neonatal near miss., Conclusions: The results show that neonatal near miss was influenced by variables related to the organization of health services and by maternal characteristics.

Objective:  To analyze the rates of cesarean delivery longitudinally in a university hospital using the Robson classification., Methods:  Data related to births performed between 2014 and 2018 and recorded in the Maternal and Neonatal Health Information System (Sistema de Informações em Saúde Materna e Neonatal, SISMATER, in Portuguese) were analyzed using the Robson classification. As an aid, we used articles published in the last five years that approach the same topic in other Brazilian maternity hospitals; they were retrieved from the LILACS, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases., Results:  There was little variation in the total rate of cesarean sections in the period; however, the profile of each group changed over the years. It was possible to verify a significant reduction in the participation of groups of pregnant women with lower risk and an increase in high-risk pregnancies, attributable to the decrease in beds in the institution, with a greater transfer of patients. In addition, there was a reduction in cesarean sections among the lower-risk groups, while the rate among the higher-risk groups remained stable., Conclusion:  The use of the Robson classification to stratify cesarean deliveries contributes to a better analysis of the indications for cesarean delivery, enabling the establishment of strategies to reduce the rates, generating a positive impact on hospital management and quality of care., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflict of interests to declare., (The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).)

This article aims to analyze the practices and meanings involved in obstetric ultrasound (USG) in women undergoing abortion at public maternity hospital in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. This is a qualitative ethnographic study that included three months of participant observation in the interactions between these women and medical and non-medical staff in the USG room of a public maternity hospital. USG has a central place in women's abortion itinerary, and its practice is incorporated into the institution's routine and the definition of approaches to abortion care at the maternity hospital studied here. In this context, distinct categories of "women with abortion" are produced and mobilized according to the interpretation of the USG images. The way the health condition and moral status of a woman with suspected abortion are defined depends on the presence or absence of a live fetus in her uterus, in addition to the gestational age at which the attempted or completed abortion occurred. We conclude that when the USG evidence indicates that there was (probably) an abortion in the initial stages of a pregnancy, the health professionals themselves help the women by disconnecting the semiotic process that would result in assigning a sense of human nature to the embryo. The later a pregnancy is terminated, the more likely the process of defining the images will sustain the idea that there was a person there. The hegemonic morals on abortion and its criminalization in Brazil modulate the symbolic constructions and practices involved in the USG test in women experiencing abortion.

Objective to assess the applicability of the Brazilian List of Avoidable Causes of Death (BAL) to perinatal mortality in public maternity hospitals in the states of Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and São Paulo (SP) in 2011. Methods this was a descriptive case series study of perinatal deaths using primary data from the Mortality Information System; the BAL was applied, with adaptations (codes P20.9 and P70-74) and, in addition in Rio de Janeiro the Extended Wigglesworth (EW) Classification was also used. Results according to the BAL, 61.2% of the 98 perinatal deaths were avoidable, mainly by providing adequate attention to women in pregnancy; 'Ill-defined causes of death' accounted for 26.6% of cases, mainly fetal deaths; use of EW in RJ indicated that the 'Antepartum Fetal Death' category was predominant and was related to inadequate prenatal care; this was in line with the BAL. Conclusions after reallocating some codes, the BAL can improve fetal death evaluation, whereby studies with a larger number of participants are needed.

Objectives: to investigate the factors associated with the mode of delivery in pregnant women in the city of Belo Horizonte., Methods: cross-sectional study developed with data from the study "Being born in Belo Horizonte: survey on childbirth and birth" carried out in seven maternity hospitals in Belo Horizonte - Minas Gerais. The final sample consisted of 1088 pregnant/postpartum women. In this study, to verify the magnitude of the association between the outcome variable and its possible determinants (exposure variables) logistic regression models were constructed to estimate the Odds Ratio., Results: increasing age, the lack of companionship, the hospital's private financing for performing delivery and being a first-time pregnant woman increased the chance of delivery by cesarean section. Final Considerations: the knowledge of factors associated with the prevalence of cesarean sections can support reflections among health professionals about this surgical procedure in certain situations, especially when there are no precise clinical indications.

Objective: To describe the socioeconomic, demographic and obstetric profile of pregnant women with Gestational Hypertensive Syndrome., Methods: A descriptive and correlational study, conducted in Maternity School Assis Chateaubriand, with 120 pregnant women, through a questionnaire analyzed by descriptive and analytical statistics., Results: most women had chronic hypertension (60.83%). Regarding the socioeconomic and demographic profile, most pregnant women had a mean age of 30.9 ± 6.9 years, were Catholic, brown skin color, employed, in stable unions, complete high school education, and income of up to R$ 954.00. Regarding the obstetric profile, their Body Mass Index was up to 66, slightly elevated blood pressure, an average of five prenatal consultations, two pregnancies, one delivery and no abortions. Women with chronic hypertension were older (p = 0.0024), had lower gestational age (p = 0.0219) and a higher number of abortions (p = 0.0140)., Conclusions: Pregnant women are overweight/obese, with a mean age of 30.9 years and are socially vulnerable. Pregnant women with chronic hypertension are older and have a higher number of abortions.

Objective:  To evaluate conditions associated with stillbirth (SB), and possible trends related with it, in a maternity hospital school in the North zone of São Paulo., Methods:  An observational, cross-sectional study conducted at the Hospital Maternidade-escola de Vila Nova Cachoeirinha with 1,139 SBs in the period of 2003 to 2017. Cases of intermediate SB (ISB) (weight between 500 and 999 g) and late SB (LSB) (weight ≥ 1,000 g) were compared. We evaluated clinical data, laboratory tests, and fetal and placental studies. Data were stored in Windows Excel (Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA, USA) worksheets, according to which graphs and tables were constructed. We used the statistical software SPSS for Windows version 18.0 (SPSS In., Chicago, IL, USA), estimating the prevalence ratio (PR) and odds ratio (OR), considering the 95% confidence interval (95% CI)., Results:  The general SB rate was 11.9%, and the in-hospital SB rate was 2.8%. Pregnant women younger than 16 years of age were more likely to have ISB (OR 0.32, 0.15-0.76), while patients older than 40 years old had a higher chance of LSB (PR 0.85, 0.72-0.99). A total of 25.7% of the general population did not have prenatal care, and 77.1% of the cases presented fetal death at admission. The cases of ISB had a statistically significant association with home birth (OR 0.61, 0.46-0.80). Cesarean section was performed in 16.1% of the subjects, and misoprostol was the most used method for induction. Necropsy and placental study of the fetuses were performed, respectively, in 94.2% and 97.3% of the cases. Associated causes were not identified in 22.1% of the cases, and the main causes identified were amniotic sac infections (27.9%), fetal malformations (12.5%), placental abruption (11.2%), hypertensive syndromes (8.5%), and maternal syphilis (3.9%), the latter with an increasing trend., Conclusion:  Among the factors associated to SB were: hypertensive syndromes, amniotic sac infections, fetal malformations, placental abruption and syphilis. There was a growing trend in the number of cases of syphilis, which translates an alert. Diagnostic limitations justify indeterminate causes., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest., (Thieme Revinter Publicações Ltda Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.)

This study aimed to evaluate the association between a set of pro-breastfeeding practices in facilities providing maternity and newborn services and the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding at 30 days postpartum, considering the contribution of each practice. A cross-sectional study nested within a cohort study was conducted with 287 women who delivered healthy term infants in two hospitals in southern Brazil. They were interviewed at home at 30 days postpartum. The following practices were evaluated: skin-to-skin contact soon after birth, breastfeeding in the first hour, uninterrupted rooming-in, professional support with breastfeeding, breastfeeding guidance, encouragement to breastfeed on demand, no supplementation with infant formula, and no pacifier use. A score of pro-breastfeeding practices was calculated using a logistic model, which allowed each practice to have its discriminatory capacity and difficulty estimated individually. Poisson regression was used to estimate the association between exclusive breastfeeding at 30 days and the pro-breastfeeding practice score. The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding at 30 days was 61.7%. The practices with greatest discriminatory capacity, that is, those that contributed most to the score estimates, were professional support with breastfeeding, breastfeeding guidance, and encouragement to breastfeed on demand. The most difficult ones were breastfeeding in the first hour, encouragement to breastfeed on demand, and non-utilization of infant formula. For each unit (standard deviation) of increase in the score, there was an increase of 20% in the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding at 30 days. We conclude that the set of pro-breastfeeding practices assessed here increased the effect of these practices on exclusive breastfeeding rates at 30 days., (© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: To investigate the association between sociodemographic and obstetric variables and delays in care with maternal near misses (MNMs) and their health indicators., Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted at a high-risk maternity hospital in northeastern Brazil from June 2015 to May 2016 that included all pregnant women seen at the maternity hospital during the data collection period and excluded those who had not been discharged at the end of the study or whom we were unable to contact after the 42nd postpartum day for MNM control. We used the MNM criteria recommended by the WHO. Risk ratios (RRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Hierarchical multiple logistic regression analysis was performed. The p values of all tests were two-tailed, and the significance level was set to 5%., Results: A total of 1094 pregnant women were studied. We identified 682 (62.4%) women without adverse maternal outcomes (WOAMOs) and 412 (37.6%) with adverse maternal outcomes (WAMOs), of whom 352 had potentially life-threatening conditions (PLTCs) (85.4%), including 55 MNM cases (13.3%) and five maternal deaths (1.2%). During the study period, 1002 live births (LBs) were recorded at the maternity hospital, resulting in an MNM ratio of 54.8/1000 LB. The MNM distribution by clinical condition identified hypertension in pregnancy (67.2%), hemorrhage (42.2%) and sepsis (12.7%). In the multivariate analysis, the factors significantly associated with an increased risk of MNM were fewer than six prenatal visits (OR: 3.13; 95% CI: 1.74-5.64) and cesarean section in the current pregnancy (OR: 2.91; 95% CI: 1.45-5.82)., Conclusions: The factors significantly associated with the occurrence of MNM were fewer than six prenatal visits and cesarean section in the current pregnancy. These findings highlight the need for improved quality, an increased number of prenatal visits and the identification of innovative and viable models of labor and delivery care that value normal delivery and decrease the percentage of unnecessary cesarean sections.

This article aims to describe the preliminary results of two evaluations studies, one about the Stork Network program and the other about the Adequate Birth program, called Stork Network Assessment and Healthy Birth, and to identify possible improvements in comparison to the Birth in Brazil study. Both studies used a cross-sectional design and were conducted in 2017. The Stork Network Assessment study included all 606 public and mixed maternity hospitals from the Stork Network and a total of 10,675 postpartum women. The Healthy Birth study included a convenience sample of 12 private hospitals and 4,798 women. Indicators of labour and childbirth care were: presence of a companion person, care by obstetric nurse, use of partograph, use of non-pharmacological methods, walking during labor, eating, use of peripheral venous catheter, position for delivery, episiotomy, and Kristeller maneuver. The indicators were compared to those verified in Birth in Brazil, a nationwide population-based study in 2011-2012, before the start of the two intervention programs. Comparisons used the chi-square test for independent samples and 95% confidence interval. There was a significant increase in the number of women with access to appropriate technology for labour and childbirth from 2011 to 2017 and a reduction in harmful practices. The private sector also showed a decrease in cesarean rates and an increase in gestational age at birth. The study's results show that properly conducted public policies can change the scenario of care for labor and childbirth, helping to reduce in negative maternal and neonatal outcomes.

Objective:  To evaluate the clinical epidemiological state of women with suspected postpartum depression (PPD) in a public maternity hospital in Salvador, state of Bahia, Brazil., Methods:  A cross-sectional research was performed with puerperal patients attended at a public maternity hospital in Salvador, Bahia. Data collection was performed from June to September 2017. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was used as a screening instrument, and, subsequently, women with positive scores answered a questionnaire to identify their clinical and epidemiological status., Results:  Out of 151 postpartum women from the research, 30 (19.8%) presented suspicion of PPD. There was a prevalence of single mothers 13 (43.3%), women with complete fundamental education 15 (50.0%), women with black skin color 14 (46.7%), and those with a monthly family income of up to one minimum wage 18 (40.0%)., Conclusion:  Although PPD is an underdiagnosed disease, a high prevalence of the condition was found in our research. It is, then, considered that these results reinforce its significance as a public health problem, requiring prevention strategies, early diagnosis and effective treatment., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Thieme Revinter Publicações Ltda Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.)

The aim of this study was to learn how mothers interpret and explain the death of a newborn child. The study used a qualitative approach. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 women in São Luís, Maranhão State, Brazil, whose newborn infants died between July 2012 and July 2014. Data were collected from April 1st to August 29th, 2014. The interviews included questions on labor, delivery, birth, and postpartum. Thematic content analysis was performed. The mothers' testimony evidenced weaknesses in the network of care. Many of the mothers linked the care they received to events leading to their infants' death. Core meanings identified by the analysis included slow and negligent care in the maternity hospital, revealing a context of obstetric violence against the women. There is an evident need to create strategies to promote humane care during labor and childbirth, strengthening comprehensive and integrated public policies to meet the demands for care for pregnant women and their infants.

Background: There is little information on the frequency of drug incompatibilities in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) and the agents most commonly involved in them. The objective of the study was to characterize potential Drug Incompatibilities (DI) in the NICU by frequency, type and combination of drugs., Methods: Between August 2015 and December 2016, all neonates admitted for more than 24 h and who received any drug treatment were included in this cohort study conducted in the NICU of a teaching maternity hospital in Brazil. Patient data were collected from patient records and prescription orders, and the compatibilities of all drug pairs were classified using the Trissel's™ 2 IV Compatibility tool. Network analysis was performed in order to visualize the drug pairs commonly involved in potential DI., Results: The study population consisted of 281 neonates with a median NICU length of stay of 11 days (range 2-184) and received 1343 intravenous medications. A total of 1114 potential DI were identified, 469 (42.1%) were restricted compatibilities, 348 (31.2%) unknown compatibilities and 297 (26.7%) documented incompatibilities. The incidence of documented incompatibilities in the NICU was 25.0% patient-days (95% confidence interval (CI) 19.4-30.7% patient-days). Incompatible potential DI affected 46.3% (95%CI 40.3-52.3%) of the neonates. Ampicillin (408 of 1114 pairs), gentamicin (216 of 1114 pairs) and aminophylline (197 of 1114 pairs) were the main medicines involved in potential DI., Conclusion: Potential DI are extremely common in NICU, with half of the population susceptible to simultaneous administration of incompatible medications. More research is needed to understand the actual drug incompatibilities and their clinical outcomes.

Background: Maternal morbidity and mortality are still serious public health concerns in Brazil, and access to quality obstetric care is one critical point of this problem. Despite efforts, obstetric care quality problems and sub-optimal/poor outcomes persist. The study aimed to identify contextual elements that would potentially affect the implementation of an obstetric care quality improvement intervention., Methods: A qualitative study was conducted in three public maternity hospitals of a large Brazilian city, with high annual volume of births and buy-in from high-level managers. Individual interviews with doctors and nurses were conducted from July to October 2015. Semi-structured interviews sought to explore teamwork, coordination and communication, and leadership, being open to capture other contextual elements that could emerge. Interviews were recorded and transcribed, and the categories of analysis were identified and updated based on the constant comparative method., Results: Twenty-seven interviews were carried out. Extra-organizational context concerning the dependence of the maternity hospitals on primary care units, responsible for antenatal care, and on other healthcare organizations' services emerged from interviews, but the main findings of the study centered on intra-organizational context with potential to affect healthcare quality and actions for its improvement, including material resources, work organization design, teamwork, coordination and communication, professional responsibility vis-à-vis the patient, and leadership. A major issue was the divergence of physicians' and nurses' perspectives on care quality, which in turn negatively affected their capacity to work together., Conclusion: Overall, the findings suggest that care on the maternity hospitals was fragmented and lacked continuity, putting at risk the quality. Redesigning work organization, promoting conditions for multi-professional teamwork, better communication and coordination, improving more systemic accountability/lines of authority, and investing in team members' technical competence, and fitness of organizational structures and processes are all imbricated actions that may contribute to obstetric care quality improvement.

The scope of this article is to estimate the prevalence and factors associated with alcohol use during pregnancy. It involved a cross-sectional study in a sample of 361 pregnant women in a reference service for gynecological and prenatal care. The data related to socio-demographic characteristics, alcohol use and potential associated factors were collected through face-to-face interviews. Poisson regression with robust variance was used to identify factors associated with the outcome analyzed. The consumption of alcohol in the sample was 17.7% (95% CI: 95% CI: 14.1% to 22.0%). A history of pre-gestational or gestational diabetes, suicidal ideation and tobacco use in the last 30 days was associated with alcohol use during pregnancy (p < 0.05). The study showed a high prevalence of alcohol use during the current pregnancy and its association with important factors. Actions such as screening for alcohol and advice on problems associated with the use of this substance, especially during the prenatal period, can contribute to effective reduction of alcohol use in pregnant women and related maternal and fetal injuries.

Vitamin A is essential for mother and child; however, vitamin A deficiency (VAD) remains a public health issue in various countries, affecting around 19 million pregnant women. In Brazil, the scarcity and inconsistency of data have prevented the prevalence and epidemiological status of VAD from being established. This study aimed to analyze vitamin A nutritional status in women receiving prenatal care at a reference center in northeastern Brazil. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 676 women. Serum retinol was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. Subclinical infection was detected by measuring C-reactive protein (CRP). The World Health Organization criteria were used in the prevalence analysis, VAD classification level, and CRP effect evaluation. The prevalence of VAD (serum retinol <0.70 μmol/L) was 6.2% (95% confidence interval 4.5⁻8.3). In the univariate analysis, the variables significantly associated with VAD ( p < 0.05) were having <12 years of schooling, being in the third trimester of pregnancy, and anemia. In the final multivariate model, the variables that remained significantly associated ( p < 0.05) were being in the third trimester of pregnancy and anemia. VAD constituted a mild public health problem in this sample of pregnant women and was associated with the third trimester of pregnancy and maternal anemia.

Objective: to identify the support actions undertaken for the woman during labor, birth, cesarean section and the postpartum period., Method: a transversal study, undertaken in three public maternity hospitals, with a sample of 1,147 companions. The data were collected through interviews and were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The support actions were classified in four dimensions: emotional, physical, informational and relating to intermediation., Results: the majority of interviewees were the partner/father of the baby (76.7%). In labor, birth and the postpartum period, the actions of emotional support - such as calming, encouraging and praising, were performed by more than 80.0% of the companions; informational support, by approximately 70.0%; and intermediation by fewer than 65.0% of them. In childbirth, the emphasis on physical support was observed in assisting with walking (84.4%), and in changing position (90.4%)., Conclusion: the companions participate actively in the birth process, performing actions of support in the four dimensions. Emotional support is the most frequent, followed by physical and informational support, mainly during labor and birth. The results contribute to valuing the companion from the woman's social network in the birth scenario and to the recognition of his/her role as a provider of support.

Objective: To verify the association between the macroscopic characteristics of the umbilical cord, high-risk pregnancy and neonatal repercussions., Method: A cross-sectional study carried out from January 2012 to January 2015 in a public maternity hospital in Goiânia/GO. The study population consisted of 126 recent puerperal women with diagnosis of high-risk pregnancy, and 139 clinically normal women (control group). Macroscopic features of the umbilical cord, maternal, fetal and neonatal diseases, gestational age, Apgar score, birth weight, head circumference and parity were evaluated. Data were descriptively analyzed., Results: 265 puerperal women and their respective newborns participated in the study. The most frequent characteristics of the umbilical cord of those with high-risk pregnancy and those from the control group were the absence of true knots (97.6% and 2.4%, respectively), length between 35 and 70 centimeters and paracentral insertion (81.7% and 18.3%). A statistical difference was observed between the high-risk pregnancy group and extremes of maternal age (p=0.004)., Conclusion: The analysis and description of the characteristics of the umbilical cord carried out by the nurse lend important information about the neonatal prognosis. This evaluation subsidizes clinical practice and seeks to ensure the safety of the (mother-baby) binomial throughout the perinatal period.

Objective  To assess the knowledge and compliance of health professionals regarding the diagnostic and treatment practices for syphilis in patients admitted for childbirth in public maternity hospitals in the city of Teresina, in the state of Piauí, Northeastern Brazil. Methods  A cross-sectional study was performed in 2015 with obstetricians and nurses working in the public maternity hospitals in Teresina ( n  = 159) using a self-administered questionnaire, with 5% of losses and 10% of refusals. The study used 21 evaluation criteria: 13 of them were related to knowledge (5 on serological tests and 8 on treatment adequacy); 8 were related to practices (3 on diagnosis, 4 on treatment, and 1 on post-test counseling). The knowledge of and compliance to the practices was estimated as the proportion of health professionals' answers that were in agreement with Brazilian Ministry of Health protocols. Results  The obstetricians were in agreement with two criteria concerning the knowledge of serological tests, one for diagnostic practices, and one for treatment practice. Among nurses, no single match between actual procedures and guidelines was observed. Conclusions  Low compliance with the protocols results in missed opportunities for the diagnosis and treatment of pregnant and postpartum women and their partners. Strategies for training and integrating the various professional groups, improved data recording on prenatal cards, and greater accountability of the hospital team in managing the women's partners are needed to overcome the barriers identified in the study and to interrupt the syphilis transmission chain., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interests: The authors have no potential conflict of interests to declare., (Thieme Revinter Publicações Ltda Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.)

Objectives: To describe early-onset neonatal sepsis (EOS) epidemiology in a public maternity hospital in Brasilia, Brazil., Methods: We defined EOS as a positive blood culture result obtained from infants aged ≤72 hours of life plus treatment with antibiotic therapy for ≥5 days. Incidence was calculated based on the number of cases and total live births (LB). This is a descriptive study comparing the period of 2012-2013 with the period of 2014-September 2015, before and after implementation of antibiotic prophylaxis during labor for group B streptococcus (GBS) prevention, respectively., Results: Overall, 36 infants developed EOS among 21,219 LB (1.7 cases per 1000 LB) and 16 died (case fatality rate of 44%). From 2014, 305 vaginal-rectal swabs were collected from high-risk women and 74 (24%) turned out positive for GBS. After implementation of GBS prevention guidelines, no new cases of GBS were detected, and the EOS incidence was reduced from 1.9 (95% CI 1.3-2.8) to 1.3 (95% CI 0.7-2.3) cases per 1000 LB from 2012-2013 to 2014-September 2015 (p=0.32)., Conclusions: Although the reduction of EOS incidence was not significant, GBS colonization among pregnant women was high, no cases of neonatal GBS have occurred after implementation of prevention guidelines., (Copyright © 2016 Sociedade Brasileira de Infectologia. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.)

Background: Maternal supplementation with vitamin A is one of the strategies for controlling its deficiency in the mother-child dyad, although studies with animals showed that supplementation with high doses of vitamin A reduces the levels of α-tocopherol (vitamin E) in the mother's serum and milk. The objective of the present study was to assess the influence of maternal supplementation with vitamin A on the concentration of retinol and α-tocopherol in human milk., Methods: Healthy puerperal women were randomly distributed into a control group (n = 44) and a supplemented group (n = 44). Blood and colostrum samples were collected after delivery, and mature milk samples were collected 30 days later. The supplemented group received 200 000 IU of retinyl palmitate after the first colostrum collection. The retinol and α-tocopherol levels in the samples were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography., Results: The mean (SD) retinol and α-tocopherol levels in the maternal serum were considered adequate at 46.4 (15.9) and 1023.6 (380.4) μg dL(-1) , respectively. The colostrum retinol levels of the supplemented group increased significantly 24 h after the intervention (P < 0.001). However, the retinol levels in the mature milk of both groups did not differ (P > 0.05). Moreover, after maternal supplementation with vitamin A, the colostrum α-tocopherol level decreased by 16.4%, which is a significant reduction (P < 0.05). However, vitamin A supplementation did not affect the α-tocopherol level of mature milk (P > 0.05)., Conclusions: Maternal supplementation with high doses of vitamin A increased the colostrum level of this nutrient but reduced the bioavailability of α-tocopherol, which may harm the newborn's health because newborns have limited vitamin E reserves., (© 2016 The British Dietetic Association Ltd.)

Objective: To evaluate the occurrence of severe obstetric complications associated with antepartum and intrapartum hemorrhage among women from the Brazilian Network for Surveillance of Severe Maternal Morbidity., Design: Multicenter cross-sectional study., Setting: Twenty-seven obstetric referral units in Brazil between July 2009 and June 2010., Population: A total of 9555 women categorized as having obstetric complications., Methods: The occurrence of potentially life-threatening conditions, maternal near miss and maternal deaths associated with antepartum and intrapartum hemorrhage was evaluated. Sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics and the use of criteria for management of severe bleeding were also assessed in these women., Main Outcome Measures: The prevalence ratios with their respective 95% confidence intervals adjusted for the cluster effect of the design, and multiple logistic regression analysis were performed to identify factors independently associated with the occurrence of severe maternal outcome., Results: Antepartum and intrapartum hemorrhage occurred in only 8% (767) of women experiencing any type of obstetric complication. However, it was responsible for 18.2% (140) of maternal near miss and 10% (14) of maternal death cases. On multivariate analysis, maternal age and previous cesarean section were shown to be independently associated with an increased risk of severe maternal outcome (near miss or death)., Conclusion: Severe maternal outcome due to antepartum and intrapartum hemorrhage was highly prevalent among Brazilian women. Certain risk factors, maternal age and previous cesarean delivery in particular, were associated with the occurrence of bleeding., (© 2014 Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology.)