Adverse foetal outcome in specific IgM positive Chlamydia trachomatis infection in pregnancy.

ABSTRACT

PIP: Health workers screened 108 18-30 year old asymptomatic pregnant women (78 pregnant women and 30 nonpregnant women) who attended Queen Mary's Hospital in Lucknow, India between March 1989-February 1990 for Chlamydia trachomatis infection (specific IgM antibodies) to determine if it adversely affects the fetus. None of the women had 3 children. 35.9% (21) of pregnant women tested positive for IgM antibodies against chlamydia compared to 3.3% of nonpregnant women. Health workers were only able to follow 60 pregnant women to delivery. 28.7% of IgM positive mothers gave birth to LBW infants while only 2.6% of IgM negative mothers did (p.05). Indeed 85.7% of LBW infants were born to mothers with chlamydia infection compared to 14.3% born to mothers free of chlamydia infection in (p.05). The average birth weight for infants born to IgM positive mothers stood at 2.21 kg whereas it stood at 2.74 kg for infants born to IgM negative mothers (p.001). Moreover 9.7% of all IgM positive cases experienced premature labor and 4.7% gave birth to still born infant while none of the IgM negative cases experienced either 1 of these 2 adverse outcomes. These differences were significant. These results demonstrate that IgM seropositivity against chlamydia induces premature labor (probably due to rupture of membranes), slows intrauterine fetal growth, and results in fetal death.