Prevalence of illicit drug use at the end of pregnancy: a cross-sectional study at the time of birth.

BACKGROUND: Drug use during pregnancy is associated with adverse perinatal outcomes. This study was conducted to assess the prevalence of consumption of drugs of abuse in pregnant women at the end of gestation. METHODS: Cross-sectional study of all consecutive pregnant women in labor admitted to a regional hospital in Calella (Barcelona, Spain) in labor over one year (2014-2015). Women who gave written consent to take part in the study provided a urine sample on admission and completed a questionnaire with toxic-habit-related questions. RESULTS: The study population included 862 women, 721 (83.6%) of which agreed to participate. Of the 721 urine samples obtained, 719 (99.7%) were valid for analysis. The prevalence of drugs of abuse was 5.4% (N.=39). Cannabis was the most frequently detected substance. No participant tested positive for opioids. In the multivariate analysis, predictors of illicit drug use were history of more than two abortions, premature delivery, self-reporting of consumption during pregnancy, poor obstetric control during gestation, and consideration of vulnerable pregnant woman. Based on the ß coefficients of these five factors, a scoring system for discriminating positivity or negativity of drugs of abuse in urine testing was calculated (area under the ROC 0.84). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of consumption of drugs of abuse at the end of pregnancy was 5.4%. A simple test based on five anamnestic variables is useful to discriminate women with positive and negative results of urine testing for drugs of abuse tested in this study.

Asthma and insulin resistance in obese children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Obese children and adolescents have an increased risk for asthma. A few studies have evaluated the association of insulin resistance and asthma in obese pediatric populations. We examined whether there was a relationship between high degrees of insulin resistance and the presence of asthma in obese children and adolescents. METHODS: A total of 153 patients aged 4-15 years with at or above the 95th percentile BMI for age were prospectively recruited. Assessments included diagnosis of asthma, skin prick test reactivity to common environmental aeroallergens, and HOMA estimated insulin resistance, with the median (2.22) used as a cutoff value to categorize insulin resistance. RESULTS: There were 56 (36.6%) asthmatic and 97 (63.4%) non-asthmatic patients. HOMA values were significantly associated with positive skin tests (p = 0.008) and allergic asthma diagnosis (p = 0.016). Baseline insulin value was significantly associated with the risk of presenting asthma with positive skin testing (odds ratio 1.084, p = 0.037). Differences in age, BMI, and waist circumference were found between the groups of HOMA-IR <2.22 and ≥2.22. Waist circumference (WC) was significantly associated with FVC (p = 0.0001) and FEV1 (p < 0.0003); the greater the WC, the lower FVC and FEV1 values. CONCLUSIONS: Insulin resistance is a risk for allergic asthma in obese children and adolescents. Waist circumference was related to CVF and FEV1 impairment.