Pregnancy outcome following mid-trimester amniocentesis.

To determine the institutional pregnancy complications rate associated with genetic amniocentesis and ascertain whether procedural variables or pre-existing factors may determine an increased risk of having a procedural-related fetal loss, we retrospectively evaluated all the consecutive amniocentesis, with known pregnancy outcome (n = 2990), performed between January 2001 and December 2009 by two very experienced clinicians. The patients who had counselling in the same period but declined to undergo amniocentesis represent the control group (n = 487). A total of 30 fetal losses occurred within 24 weeks' gestation (1%), while in the control group, we had four losses (0.8%). Procedural variables (transplacental sample, multiple needle insertions and gestational age) were not found to be predictive of increased fetal loss rate. Previous vaginal bleeding increased the risk of pregnancy loss after amniocentesis with an OR 4.1 (95% CI 2.0-8.7); on the contrary, a history of two or more miscarriages is not associated with a greater fetal loss rate, while the increased percentage (OR 3.4, 95% CI 1.2-9.0) in patients affected by uterine myoma appears connected, after the comparison with the control group, with the presence of fibroids rather than procedure.

Body composition estimated by bioimpedance analysis in Sicilian climacteric women.

AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of menopause transition on body weight, and body composition in a Sicilian climacteric population. METHODS: Two hundred and nine (60 pre- and one 149 postmenopausal) untreated, healthy women were selected. Body composition was estimated by BIA101 of AKERN SRL. Body Mass Index (BMI), waist and hip circumferences were also measured. RESULTS: The mean BMI of the study population was 29.4+/-0.7. There was no significative difference between pre- and postmenopausal subjects regarding BMI (chi-squared=9.25; P=0.16), its class distribution, fat mass (FM), TBW and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). The FM was significantly more represented in pre- than in postmenopausal women (47.43+/-1.33 vs 45.02+/-0.81 kg) (P<0.01). Linear regression analysis showed a positive correlation between BMI and fat free mass (FM) percentage (chi-squares=0.7045) nevertheless among the subjects aged=or>55 years, in 57% of the normo-weight the body fat (BF) percentage was undesirably high. CONCLUSION: Climacteric changes and aging process are related to changes in body weight and fat distribution; even subjects apparently ''normo-weight'' (BMI below 25) were ''over-fat'', because revealed undesirably high BF%. Further investigation in larger population is needed to define whether BMI or BF% better predicts the risk of obesity-related diseases in climacteric Sicilian women.