Cigarettes, coffee, and preterm premature rupture of the membranes.

Premature (prior to 37 completed weeks of gestation) rupture of the membranes (preterm PROM) is one of the most common underlying causes of preterm delivery. However, there have been few epidemiologic studies of this obstetric complication. The authors studied the relation of maternal cigarette smoking and coffee consumption to both preterm PROM and spontaneous preterm labor not complicated by premature rupture of the membranes (preterm NONPROM) in a large cross-sectional data base. The 307 preterm PROM and 488 preterm NONPROM cases who delivered during 1977-1980 at the Boston Hospital for Women were compared with 2,252 randomly selected women who delivered at term at that institution. Multiple logistic regression techniques were used to derive maximum likelihood estimates of adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). After confounders had been adjusted for, the relative risk of preterm PROM for women who reported ever having smoked during pregnancy, as compared with nonsmokers, was 1.6 (95% CI 1.1-2.4). However, no gradient between the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the risk of preterm PROM was observed. Similar results were observed for preterm NONPROM. Women who consumed three or more cups of coffee daily during the first trimester had a 2.2-fold greater risk of preterm PROM than did women who drank two or fewer cups (95% CI 1.5-3.3). Among coffee drinkers, there was some evidence of a linear trend in the risk of preterm PROM as coffee consumption increased. Consumption of three or more cups of coffee per day was less strongly associated with the occurrence of preterm NONPROM (adjusted OR = 1.4, 95% CI 1.0-1.9).

No association between coffee consumption and adverse outcomes of pregnancy.

We analyzed interview and medical-record data of 12,205 non-diabetic, non-asthmatic women to evaluate the relation between coffee consumption and adverse outcomes of pregnancy. Low birth weight and short gestation occurred more often among offspring of women who drank four or more cups of coffee a day and more often among the offspring of smokers. After controlling for smoking, other habits, demographic characteristics, and medical history by standardization and logistic regression, we found no relation between low birth weight or short gestation and heavy coffee consumption. Furthermore, there was no excess of malformations among coffee drinkers. These negative results suggest that coffee consumption has a minimal effect, if any, on the outcome of pregnancy.

A novel mechanism of resistance to penicillin-gentamicin synergism in Streptococcus faecalis.

A patient with enterococcal endocarditis, who relapsed after repeated courses of apparently adequate treatment with ampicillin plus gentamicin, was subsequently cured with ampicillin-tobramycin therapy. The organisms isolated from this patient were strains of Streptococcus faecalis that were resistant to penicillin (or ampicillin)-gentamicin synergism but not to penicillin (or ampicillin)-tobramycin synergism. The mechanism of resistance in these strains appears to be related to a specific defect in the intracellular uptake of gentamicin (but not tobramycin) in the presence of penicillin.

Propranolol and parturition.

Propranolol is a beta-adrenergic blocking drug with a wide spectrum of use and may diverse pharmacologic effects. This case report is an example of a parturient who was on a large dose of propranolol for idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis. The effects of this drug on pregnancy, labor, and above all, the fetus are discussed.