Outcome of prelabor rupture of membranes before or at the limit of viability: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Counseling of pregnancies complicated by pre- and periviable premature rupture of membranes to reach shared decision-making is challenging, and the current limited evidence hampers the robustness of the information provided. This study aimed to elucidate the rate of obstetrical and neonatal outcomes after expectant management for premature rupture of membranes occurring before or at the limit of viability. DATA SOURCES: Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and Web of Science databases were searched electronically up to September 2023. STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Our study included both prospective and retrospective studies of singleton pregnancies with premature rupture of membranes before and at the limit of viability (ie, occurring between 14 0/7 and 24 6/7 weeks of gestation). METHODS: Quality assessment of the included studies was performed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for cohort studies. Moreover, our study used meta-analyses of proportions to combine data and reported pooled proportions. Given the clinical heterogeneity, a random-effects model was used to compute the pooled data analyses. This study was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews database (registration number: CRD42022368029). RESULTS: The pooled proportion of termination of pregnancy was 32.3%. After the exclusion of cases of termination of pregnancy, the rate of spontaneous miscarriage or fetal demise was 20.1%, whereas the rate of live birth was 65.9%. The mean gestational age at delivery among the live-born cases was 27.3 weeks, and the mean latency between premature rupture of membranes and delivery was 39.4 days. The pooled proportion of cesarean deliveries was 47.9% of the live-born cases. Oligohydramnios occurred in 47.1% of cases. Chorioamnionitis occurred in 33.4% of cases, endometritis in 7.0%, placental abruption in 9.2%, and postpartum hemorrhage in 5.3%. Hysterectomy was necessary in 1.2% of cases. Maternal sepsis occurred in 1.5% of cases, whereas no maternal death was reported in the included studies. When focusing on neonatal outcomes, the mean birthweight was 1022.8 g in live-born cases. The neonatal intensive care unit admission rate was 86.3%, respiratory distress syndrome was diagnosed in 66.5% of cases, pulmonary hypoplasia or dysplasia was diagnosed in 24.0% of cases, and persistent pulmonary hypertension was diagnosed in 40.9% of cases. Of the surviving neonates, the other neonatal complications included necrotizing enterocolitis in 11.1%, retinopathy of prematurity in 27.1%, and intraventricular hemorrhage in 17.5%. Neonatal sepsis occurred in 30.2% of cases, and the overall neonatal mortality was 23.9%. The long-term follow-up at 2 to 4 years was normal in 74.1% of the available cases. CONCLUSION: Premature rupture of membranes before or at the limit of viability was associated with a great burden of both obstetrical and neonatal complications, with an impaired long-term follow-up at 2 to 4 years in almost 30% of cases, representing a clinical challenge for both counseling and management. Our data are useful when initially approaching such patients to offer the most comprehensive possible scenario on short- and long-term outcomes of this condition and to help parents in shared decision-making. El resumen está disponible en Español al final del artículo.

Maternal morbidity after preterm premature rupture of membranes at <24 weeks' gestation.

BACKGROUND: After preterm premature rupture of membranes at <24 weeks' gestation, pregnant women may choose continuation (expectant management) or termination of pregnancy, via either dilation and evacuation or labor induction. Neonatal outcomes after expectant management are well described. In contrast, limited research addresses maternal outcomes associated with expectant management compared to termination of pregnancy. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare maternal morbidity after preterm premature rupture of membranes at <24 weeks' gestation in women who choose either expectant management or termination of pregnancy. STUDY DESIGN: This retrospective cohort study included women with preterm premature rupture of membranes between 14 0/7 and 23 6/7 weeks' gestation with singleton or twin pregnancies at 3 institutions from 2011 to 2018. We excluded pregnancies complicated by fetal anomalies, rupture of membranes immediately after obstetrical procedures (chorionic villus sampling, amniocentesis, cerclage placement, fetal reduction), spontaneous delivery <24 hours after membrane rupture, and contraindications to expectant management. Our primary outcome was the difference in composite maternal morbidity between women choosing expectant management and women choosing termination of pregnancy. We defined composite maternal morbidity as at least 1 of the following: chorioamnionitis, endometritis, sepsis, unplanned operative procedure after delivery (dilation and curettage, laparoscopy, or laparotomy), injury requiring repair, unplanned hysterectomy, unplanned hysterotomy (excluding cesarean delivery), uterine rupture, hemorrhage of >1000 mL, transfusion, admission to the maternal intensive care unit, acute renal insufficiency, venous thromboembolism, pulmonary embolism, and readmission to the hospital within 6 weeks. We compared the demographic and antenatal characteristics of women choosing expectant management with that of women choosing termination of pregnancy and used logistic regression to quantify the association between initial management decision and composite maternal morbidity. RESULTS: We identified 350 women with pregnancies complicated by preterm premature rupture of membranes at <24 weeks' gestation, and 208 women were eligible for the study. Of the 208 women, 108 (51.9%) chose expectant management as initial management, and 100 (48.1%) chose termination of pregnancy as initial management. Among women selecting termination of pregnancy, 67.0% underwent labor induction, and 33.0% underwent dilation and evacuation. Compared to women who chose termination of pregnancy, women who chose expectant management had 4.1 times the odds of developing chorioamnionitis (38.0% vs 13.0%; 95% confidence interval, 2.03-8.26) and 2.44 times the odds of postpartum hemorrhage (23.1% vs 11.0%; 95% confidence interval, 1.13-5.26). Admissions to the intensive care unit and unplanned hysterectomy only occurred after expectant management (2.8% vs 0.0% and 0.9% vs 0.0%). Of women who chose expectant management, 36.2% delivered via cesarean delivery with 56.4% non-low transverse uterine incisions. Composite maternal morbidity rates were 60.2% in the expectant management group and 33.0% in the termination of pregnancy group. After adjusting for gestational age at rupture, site, race and ethnicity, gestational age at entry to prenatal care, preterm premature rupture of membranes in a previous pregnancy, twin pregnancy, smoking, cerclage, and cervical examination at the time of presentation, expectant management was associated with 3.47 times the odds of composite maternal morbidity (95% confidence interval, 1.52-7.93), corresponding to an adjusted relative risk of 1.91 (95% confidence interval, 1.35-2.73). Among women who chose expectant management, 15.7% avoided morbidity and had a neonate who survived to discharge. CONCLUSION: Expectant management for preterm premature rupture of membranes at <24 weeks' gestation was associated with a significantly increased risk of maternal morbidity when compared to termination of pregnancy.