Barriers and Opportunities of Oncofertility Practice in Nine Developing Countries and the Emerging Oncofertility Professional Engagement Network.

PURPOSE: Oncofertility practice continues to grow in developing countries despite the lack of health care services, especially those related to cancer care. The purpose of this study is to further explore oncofertility practice in these countries and identify opportunities for field-wide coalescence. METHODS: We generated a survey to learn more about oncofertility practice in nine developing countries within our Oncofertility Consortium Global Partners Network-Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, Nigeria, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and India. Their responses were collected, reviewed, and discussed. RESULTS: Surveyed centers from the nine developing countries continue to experience a similar set of common challenges, including a lack of awareness among providers and patients, cultural and religious constraints, lack of insurance coverage and funding to help to support oncofertility programs, and high out-of-pocket costs for patients. Despite these barriers, many opportunities exist and there is great potential for the future. CONCLUSION: The current need is to unify the new technologies and best practices that emerge from rural communities and developing countries with those in large metropolitan cities, both domestically (US based) and abroad, into a functional unit: the Oncofertility Professional Engagement Network. The Oncofertility Professional Engagement Network will bridge the gap between domestic and international programs to establish a strong global network in which members share resources, methodologies and experiences and further build cultural competency.

Barriers and Opportunities of Oncofertility Practice in Nine Developing Countries and the Emerging Oncofertility Professional Engagement Network.

PURPOSE: Oncofertility practice continues to grow in developing countries despite the lack of health care services, especially those related to cancer care. The purpose of this study is to further explore oncofertility practice in these countries and identify opportunities for field-wide coalescence. METHODS: We generated a survey to learn more about oncofertility practice in nine developing countries within our Oncofertility Consortium Global Partners Network-Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, Nigeria, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and India. Their responses were collected, reviewed, and discussed. RESULTS: Surveyed centers from the nine developing countries continue to experience a similar set of common challenges, including a lack of awareness among providers and patients, cultural and religious constraints, lack of insurance coverage and funding to help to support oncofertility programs, and high out-of-pocket costs for patients. Despite these barriers, many opportunities exist and there is great potential for the future. CONCLUSION: The current need is to unify the new technologies and best practices that emerge from rural communities and developing countries with those in large metropolitan cities, both domestically (US based) and abroad, into a functional unit: the Oncofertility Professional Engagement Network. The Oncofertility Professional Engagement Network will bridge the gap between domestic and international programs to establish a strong global network in which members share resources, methodologies and experiences and further build cultural competency.

Global variation in pregnancy complications in women with epilepsy: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Women with epilepsy are at risk of pregnancy complications. Whether these vary globally is unknown. We undertook a systematic review to assess the overall rates of obstetric outcomes in women with epilepsy, and variations in estimates across geographical region, economic status of country, and over time. STUDY DESIGN: We searched Medline, Embase, Cochrane, AMED and CINAHL, (January 1, 1990 and November 29, 2016), without any language restrictions for studies reporting core maternal and fetal outcomes in women with epilepsy. We pooled the results using Freeman-Tukey Transformation random effectsanalysis, and reported our findings as rates of complications per 100 pregnancies with 95% confidence intervals (CI). We assessed for differences in risk across World Health Organisation (WHO) regions, income status, and year of publication. RESULTS: From the 7420 articles screened, we included 60 studies (62 articles). In women with epilepsy (116,105 pregnancies), the commonest complications were caesarean section (29.2 per 100 pregnancies; 95% CI 25.4-33.1, I2=98.44%), and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (12.5 per 100 pregnancies; 95% CI 9.6-15.8, I2=60.63%). There were significant differences across the WHO regions, with the highest rates of caesarean section (37%, 95% CI 32%-42%); spontaneous miscarriage (39%, 95% CI 35%-44%) and preterm birth (10%, 95% CI 8%-12%) in the Americas; postpartum haemorrhage (9%, 95% CI 7%-12%), hypertensive disorders (14%, 95% CI 8%-21%) and perinatal death (2%, 95% CI 1%-7%) in the Western Pacific; induction of labour (30%, 95% CI 19%-41%) in South East Asia and antepartum haemorrhage (10%, 95% CI 5%-17%) in the Eastern Mediterranean. The reported rates of antepartum haemorrhage, caesarean section, gestational diabetes and spontaneous miscarriage were highest in high income and high-middle income countries. Over time, there was a significant increase in caesarean section, and reduction in stillbirths, perinatal deaths and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit in women with epilepsy. CONCLUSION: There is significant variation in reported maternal and offspring outcomes in pregnant women with epilepsy across geographical regions, economic status of country and over time, which needs to be considered in setting priorities for clinical management and research.

Epilepsy in pregnancy and reproductive outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Antenatal care of women with epilepsy is varied. The association of epilepsy and antiepileptic drug exposure with pregnancy outcomes needs to be quantified to guide management. We did a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the association between epilepsy and reproductive outcomes, with or without exposure to antiepileptic drugs. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane, AMED, and CINAHL between Jan 1, 1990, and Jan 21, 2015, with no language or regional restrictions, for observational studies of pregnant women with epilepsy, which assessed the risk of obstetric complications in the antenatal, intrapartum, or postnatal period, and any neonatal complications. We used the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale to assess the methodological quality of the included studies, risk of bias in the selection and comparability of cohorts, and outcome. We assessed the odds of maternal and fetal complications (excluding congenital malformations) by comparing pregnant women with and without epilepsy and undertook subgroup analysis based on antiepileptic drug exposure in women with epilepsy. We summarised the association as odds ratio (OR; 95% CI) using random effects meta-analysis. The PROSPERO ID of this Systematic Review's protocol is CRD42014007547. FINDINGS: Of 7050 citations identified, 38 studies from low-income and high-income countries met our inclusion criteria (39 articles including 2,837,325 pregnancies). Women with epilepsy versus those without (2,809,984 pregnancies) had increased odds of spontaneous miscarriage (OR 1·54, 95% CI 1·02-2·32; I(2)=67%), antepartum haemorrhage (1·49, 1·01-2·20; I(2)=37%), post-partum haemorrhage (1·29, 1·13-1·49; I(2)=41%), hypertensive disorders (1·37, 1·21-1·55; I(2)=23%), induction of labour (1·67, 1·31-2·11; I(2)=64%), caesarean section (1·40, 1·23-1·58; I(2)=66%), any preterm birth (<37 weeks of gestation; 1·16, 1·01-1·34; I(2)=64%), and fetal growth restriction (1·26, 1·20-1·33; I(2)=1%). The odds of early preterm birth, gestational diabetes, fetal death or stillbirth, perinatal death, or admission to neonatal intensive care unit did not differ between women with epilepsy and those without the disorder. INTERPRETATION: A small but significant association of epilepsy, exposure to antiepileptic drugs, and adverse outcomes exists in pregnancy. This increased risk should be taken into account when counselling women with epilepsy. FUNDING: EBM CONNECT Collaboration.