ASSESSMENT OF HUMAN FETUSES UNDERGOING ACUTE PAIN: VALIDATION OF THE FETAL-7 SCALE.

Improvements in fetal ultrasound have allowed for the diagnosis and treatment of fetal diseases in the uterus, often though surgery. However, little attention has been drawn to the assessment of fetal pain. To address this gap, a fetal pain scoring system, known as the Fetal-7 scale, was developed. The present study is a full validation of the Fetal-7 scale. The validation involved two steps: i. four fetuses with indication of surgery were evaluated in three conditions perioperatively: acute pain, rest, and under loud sound stimulation. Facial expressions were assessed by 30 raters using screenshots from 4D high-definition ultrasound films; ii., assessment of sensitivity and specificity of the Fetal-7 scale in 54 healthy fetuses and two fetuses undergoing acute pain after preoperative anesthetic intramuscular injection. There was high internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha (α) of 0.99. Intra-rater reliability of the Fetal-7 scale (test-retest) calculated by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.95, and inter-rater reliability was 0.99. The scale accurately differentiated between healthy fetuses at rest and those experiencing acute pain (sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 94.4%). The Fetal-7 scale is a valid tool for assessing acute pain-related behavior in third trimester fetuses and may be of value in guiding analgesic procedures efficacy in these patients. Further research is warranted to explore the presence of post-operative pain in fetuses and its effects afterbirth. PERSPECTIVE: Recordings with three-dimension ultrasound of human fetuses undergoing pre-operative anesthetic injections revealed complex facial expressions during acute pain, similar to those collected in newborns. This study presented the validation process and cut-off value of the Fetal-7 scale, paving the way for the study of pain before birth in humans.

Post-Viral Fatigue Following SARS-CoV-2 Infection during Pregnancy: A Longitudinal Comparative Study.

Studies reported post-COVID-19 fatigue in the general population, but not among pregnant women. Our objectives were to determine prevalence, duration, and risk factors of post-viral fatigue among pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2. This study involved 588 pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy or delivery in Brazil. Three groups were investigated: G1 (n = 259, symptomatic infection during pregnancy); G2 (n = 131, positive serology at delivery); G3 (n = 198, negative serology at delivery). We applied questionnaires investigating fatigue at determined timepoints after infection for G1, and after delivery for all groups; fatigue prevalence was then determined. Cox regression was used to estimate hazard ratio (HR) and 95% CI of the risk of remaining with fatigue in G1. Overall fatigue prevalence in G1 at six weeks, three months and six months were 40.6%, 33.6%, and 27.8%, respectively. Cumulative risk of remaining with fatigue increased over time, with HR of 1.69 (95% CI: 0.89-3.20) and 2.43 (95% CI: 1.49-3.95) for women with moderate and severe symptoms, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed cough and myalgia as independent risk factors in G1. Fatigue prevalence was significantly higher in G1 compared to G2 and G3. Post-viral fatigue prevalence is higher in women infected during pregnancy; fatigue's risk and duration increased with the severity of infection.

Dietary Pattern Influences Gestational Weight Gain: Results from the ProcriAr Cohort Study-São Paulo, Brazil.

The maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG) influence maternal and infant outcomes. This study identified patterns of habitual dietary intake in 385 pregnant women in São Paulo and explored their associations with excessive weight gain (EGWG). Weight at the first visit (<14 weeks) was used as a proxy for pre-pregnancy weight. Food consumption was assessed using the 24HR method, administered twice at each gestational trimester, and dietary patterns were identified by principal component analysis. Three dietary patterns were identified: "Vegetables and Fruits," "Western," and "Brazilian Traditional." Descriptive data analysis was performed using absolute and relative frequencies for each independent variable and multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression was used to analyze excessive gestational gain weight (EGWG) and dietary patterns (DP). The Brazilian Traditional dietary pattern showed a protective effect on EGWG (p = 0.04) and age > 35 years (p = 0.03), while subjects overweight at baseline had a higher probability of EGWG (p = 0.02), suggesting that the identification of dietary and weight inadequacies should be observed from the beginning of pregnancy, accompanied by nutritional intervention and weight monitoring throughout the gestational period to reduce risks to the mother and child's health.

Placental pathological findings in coronavirus disease 2019: Perinatal outcomes.

INTRODUCTION: Placental alterations caused by severe acute respiratory coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection have already been described, but most studies used small sample groups and the difference according to the severity of the disease has not been verified. Our objective was to describe placental alterations in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and analyze the association of pathological placental findings with the clinical parameters of COVID-19 and perinatal results. METHODS: This was a nested study within a prospective cohort study involving 109 symptomatic pregnant women with COVID-19. The prevalence of observed placental alterations was described, and the associations of pathological findings with the clinical parameters of COVID-19 severity and with perinatal outcomes were assessed. RESULTS: The frequency of types of placental features was poor maternal vascular perfusion in 45% of cases, poor fetal vascular perfusion in 33.9%, hematogenous origin infection in 32.1%, and morphological changes corresponding to ascending infection in 21.1%. Hematogenous infection differed significantly according to COVID-19 severity (p = 0.008), with a prevalence ratio (PR) of 1.74 (95% confidence interval, 1.02-2.98) in the moderate COVID-19 group compared to the mild COVID-19 group. Among the perinatal outcomes, there was an unexpected inverse association between prematurity and placental infection of hematogenous origin, with lower rates of prematurity among cases with inflammation of hematogenous origin (p = 0.029). DISCUSSION: Moderate SARS-Cov-2 infection presented a higher prevalence of placental pathological findings. There was no association of placental findings with adverse perinatal outcomes.

Individual exposure to urban air pollution and its correlation with placental angiogenic markers in the first trimester of pregnancy, in São Paulo, Brazil.

Pollution of the atmosphere is known that may lead to adverse obstetric outcomes, including fetal growth restriction, gestational hypertension, and preeclampsia. Such disorders are correlated with imbalances in angiogenic factors, which may also be involved in the pathological mechanism as the pollutants impact placental and maternal physiology. In the first trimester of gestation, this study assessed the outcomes of personal maternal short period exposure to air pollution on soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt1) and placental growth factor (PLGF) of pregnant women blood concentrations. This was a cross-sectional study, held in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, and conducted with low-risk pregnant women, who carried personal passive nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3) monitors for about a few days preceding the ultrasound evaluation, and on this day, the venous blood sample was collected to measure the angiogenic factors sFlt1 and PLGF and their ratio (sFlt1/PLGF) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). By means of multiple regression models, the effect of the studied pollutants on the log-transformed concentrations of the angiogenic factors was evaluated. One hundred thirty-one patients were included. The log of the sFlt1/PLGF ratio increased with rising NO2 levels (p = 0.021 and beta = 0.206), and the log of the PLGF concentration showed a negative correlation with NO2 (p = 0.008 and beta = - 0.234). NO2, an indicator of the levels of primary air pollutants, presented significant positive correlation with an increased sFlt1/PLGF ratio and diminished PLGF levels, which may reflect an antiangiogenic state generated by air pollution exposure.

Association between exposure to air pollution during intrauterine life and cephalic circumference of the newborn.

It has been observed that air pollution can affect newborn health due to the negative effects of pollutants on pregnancy development. However, few studies have evaluated the impact of maternal exposure to urban air pollution on head circumference (HC) at birth. Reduced head growth during pregnancy may be associated with neurocognitive deficits in childhood. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the association between maternal exposure to air pollution and HC at birth and to provide context with a systematic review to investigate this association. This was a prospective study of low-risk pregnant women living in São Paulo, Brazil. Exposure to pollutants, namely, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3), was measured during each trimester using passive personal samplers. We measured newborn HC until 24 h after birth. We used multiple linear regression models to evaluate the association between pollutants and HC while controlling for known determinants of pregnancy. To perform the systematic review, four different electronic databases were searched through November 2018: CENTRAL, EMBASE, LILACS, and MEDLINE. We selected longitudinal or transversal designs associating air pollution and HC at birth. Two reviewers evaluated the inclusion criteria and risk of bias and extracted data from the included papers. Thirteen studies were selected for the systematic review. We evaluated 391 patients, and we did not observe a significant association between air pollution and HC. Regarding the systematic review, 13 studies were selected for the systematic review, 8 studies showed an inverse association between maternal exposure to pollutants and HC, 4 showed no association, and one observed a direct association. In the city of São Paulo, maternal exposure to pollutants was not significantly associated with HC at birth. The systematic review suggested an inverse association between air pollution and HC at birth.

An unfavorable intrauterine environment may determine renal functional capacity in adulthood: a meta-analysis.

Since studies show that an unfavorable environment during intrauterine development predisposes individuals to several diseases in adulthood, our objective is to assess the relation between fetal growth restriction and chronic renal disease in adults. We searched four different electronic databases through November 2017: CENTRAL, EMBASE, LILACS and MEDLINE. We selected studies with longitudinal or transversal designs associating kidney function in adulthood with low birth weight. Two reviewers evaluated the inclusion criteria and the risk of bias and extracted data from the included papers. Thirteen studies were selected for the systematic review and meta-analysis. We observed increased risks of presenting end-stage renal disease (risk ratio 1.31, 95% confidence interval: 1.17, 1.47), a lower glomerular filtration rate (ml/min) (mean difference 7.14; 95% confidence interval: -12.12, -2.16), microalbuminuria (risk ratio 1.40; 95% confidence interval: 1.28, 1.52) and a small increase in the albumin/creatinine ratio (mean difference 0.46; 95% confidence interval: 0.03, 0.90) in the low birth weight patients, compared with control group. These findings suggest that low birth weight is associated with renal dysfunction in adults.

An unfavorable intrauterine environment may determine renal functional capacity in adulthood: a meta-analysis

Since studies show that an unfavorable environment during intrauterine development predisposes individuals to several diseases in adulthood, our objective is to assess the relation between fetal growth restriction and chronic renal disease in adults. We searched four different electronic databases through November 2017: CENTRAL, EMBASE, LILACS and MEDLINE. We selected studies with longitudinal or transversal designs associating kidney function in adulthood with low birth weight. Two reviewers evaluated the inclusion criteria and the risk of bias and extracted data from the included papers. Thirteen studies were selected for the systematic review and meta-analysis. We observed increased risks of presenting end-stage renal disease (risk ratio 1.31, 95% confidence interval: 1.17, 1.47), a lower glomerular filtration rate (ml/min) (mean difference 7.14; 95% confidence interval: -12.12, -2.16), microalbuminuria (risk ratio 1.40; 95% confidence interval: 1.28, 1.52) and a small increase in the albumin/creatinine ratio (mean difference 0.46; 95% confidence interval: 0.03, 0.90) in the low birth weight patients, compared with control group. These findings suggest that low birth weight is associated with renal dysfunction in adults.

Short-Term Exposure to Urban Air Pollution and Influences on Placental Vascularization Indexes.

BACKGROUND: It has been widely demonstrated that air pollution can affect human health and that certain pollutant gases lead to adverse obstetric outcomes, such as preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction. OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the influence of individual maternal exposure to air pollution on placental volume and vascularization evaluated in the first trimester of pregnancy. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study on low-risk pregnant women living in São Paulo, Brazil. The women carried passive personal NO2 and O3 monitors in the week preceding evaluation. We employed the virtual organ computer-aided analysis (VOCAL) technique using three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasound to evaluate placental volume and placental vascular indexes [vascularization index (VI), flow index (FI), and vascularization flow index (VFI)]. We analyzed the influence of pollutant levels on log-transformed placental vascularization and volume using multiple regression models. RESULTS: We evaluated 229 patients. Increased NO2 levels had a significant negative association with log of VI (p = 0.020 and beta = -0.153) and VFI (p = 0.024 and beta = -0.151). NO2 and O3 had no influence on the log of placental volume or FI. CONCLUSIONS: NO2, an estimator of primary air pollutants, was significantly associated with diminished VI and VFI in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Pregnancy outcomes in severe polyhydramnios: no increase in risk in patients needing amnioreduction for maternal pain or respiratory distress.

INTRODUCTION: Polyhydramnios is a common complication of fetal malformations and has been described to have high risk of pregnancy complications such as prematurity and placental abruption. In a subgroup of women severe polyhydramnios may lead to maternal dyspnea or untreatable pain, and amnioreduction is the procedure indicated to relieve those symptoms. There is a lack of information concerning the increase in the risk for the pregnancy when the procedure is indicated. Therefore, this study sought to evaluate the risk of complications in pregnancies with severe polyhydramnios that needed amnioreduction in relation to the basal risk for the pregnancy of having polyhydramnios without the need for the procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with singleton pregnancies and severe polyhydramnios followed in our fetal medicine center were evaluated retrospectively. Pregnancy complications (prematurity rate, fetal death, premature rupture of membranes, placental abruption and chorioamnionitis) were studied in the group of patients needing the procedure and their risk was compared to the risk of having a pregnancy with severe polyhydramnios but with no need for the procedure. RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-five patients were evaluated. Forty-four patients (32.6%) needed amnioreduction. There was no increase in the risk of having complications when the procedure was needed OR = 1.4 (CI 0.46-1.26). CONCLUSION: Amnioreduction performed to relieve maternal symptoms did not statistically increase the risk of pregnancy complications with severe polyhydramnios in single pregnancies.