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Objective: To describe adverse outcomes and fetal abnormalities in women with a positive prenatal screening result for more than one disorder.Study Design: Study participants were drawn from a population of 452 901 women pregnant with singletons entering the California Prenatal Screening Program in their first-trimester. Risk assessment was provided for trisomy 21 and trisomy 18 in the first-trimester and trisomy 21, trisomy 18, neural tube defects, and Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome in the second-trimester. Inclusion in this study required positive screening for more than one of the screened conditions and a completed outcome of pregnancy survey.Results: A total of 874 women met our study inclusion criteria. Over 25% of these pregnancies had a fetus with a chromosomal abnormality. Of the euploid pregnancies, 6.9% had a fetus with a major birth defect. Of the pregnancies with a fetus with neither a chromosomal abnormality nor a major birth defect, 9.3% ended in fetal demise. Overall, more than 50% of women with multiple positive screening results had either a fetus with a birth defect or a poor pregnancy outcome.Conclusion: Although it is rare to screen positive for more than one condition, such results indicate a very high risk for chromosomal abnormality, fetal demise, or structural abnormality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:To examine associations with morbidly adherent placenta (MAP) among women with placenta previa.Study Design:Women with MAP (cases) and previa alone (controls) were identified from a cohort of 236 714 singleton pregnancies with both first and second trimester prenatal screening, and live birth and hospital discharge records; pregnancies with aneuploidies and neural tube or abdominal wall defects were excluded. Logistic binomial regression was used to compare cases with controls.Result:In all, 37 cases with MAP and 699 controls with previa alone were included. Risk for MAP was increased among multiparous women with pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) ⩾95th percentile (⩾2.63 multiple of the median (MoM); adjusted OR (aOR) 8.7, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.8 to 27.4), maternal-serum alpha fetoprotein (MS-AFP) ⩾95th percentile (⩾1.79 MoM; aOR 2.8, 95% CI 1.0 to 8.0), and 1 and ⩾2 prior cesarean deliveries (CDs; aORs 4.4, 95% CI 1.5 to 13.6 and 18.4, 95% CI 5.9 to 57.5, respectively).Conclusion:Elevated PAPP-A, elevated MS-AFP and prior CDs are associated with MAP among women with previa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the relationship between maternal characteristics, serum biomarkers and preterm birth (PTB) by spontaneous and medically indicated subtypes., Design: Population-based cohort., Setting: California, United States of America., Population: From a total population of 1 004 039 live singleton births in 2009 and 2010, 841 665 pregnancies with linked birth certificate and hospital discharge records were included., Methods: Characteristics were compared for term and preterm deliveries by PTB subtype using logistic regression and odds ratios adjusted for maternal characteristics and obstetric factors present in final stepwise models and 95% confidence intervals. First-trimester and second-trimester serum marker levels were analysed in a subset of 125 202 pregnancies with available first-trimester and second-trimester serum biomarker results., Main Outcome Measure: PTB by subtype., Results: In fully adjusted models, ten characteristics and three serum biomarkers were associated with increased risk in each PTB subtype (Black race/ethnicity, pre-existing hypertension with and without pre-eclampsia, gestational hypertension with pre-eclampsia, pre-existing diabetes, anaemia, previous PTB, one or two or more previous caesarean section(s), interpregnancy interval ≥ 60 months, low first-trimester pregnancy-associated plasma protein A, high second-trimester α-fetoprotein, and high second-trimester dimeric inhibin A). These risks occurred in 51.6-86.2% of all pregnancies ending in PTB depending on subtype. The highest risk observed was for medically indicated PTB <32 weeks in women with pre-existing hypertension and pre-eclampsia (adjusted odds ratio 89.7, 95% CI 27.3-111.2)., Conclusions: Our findings suggest a shared aetiology across PTB subtypes. These commonalities point to targets for further study and exploration of risk reduction strategies., Tweetable Abstract: Findings suggest a shared aetiology across preterm birth subtypes. Patterns may inform risk reduction efforts., (© 2015 Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.)