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Maternal urogenital infection and fetal heart functional assessment – what is the missing link?

  • Julia Murlewska ORCID logo , Oskar Sylwestrzak ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Iwona Strzelecka and Maria Respondek-Liberska
Published/Copyright: August 11, 2022

Abstract

Objectives

Maternal urogenital infections during pregnancy are worldwide frequent problem. The aim was to analyze influence of maternal genitourinary infection on fetal cardiac function, pregnancy development and obstetrical outcomes.

Methods

This was a single-center cohort study on fetuses (average at 28th week) in two groups: with maternal urogenital infections (study group n=49) and control group with no infections (n=59). Parvovirus B19, toxoplasmosis, cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex infections, congenital malformations, fetal growth restriction, chronic maternal diseases, as well as patients with body mass index (BMI) >25 kg/m2 were excluded. We analyzed: maternal age, time of delivery, neonatal birth weight, Apgar scores, average time of hospitalization of newborns after birth and several fetal echocardiographic parameters.

Results

The only statistical differences was found for shorter isovolumetric relaxation time (IRT) (40 ± 10 vs. 45 ± 9; p=0.03) and longer ejection time (ET) [ms] for right ventricle (RV) (176 ± 24 vs. 164 ± 18; p=0.01). Thick placenta was observed more frequent in study group than in controls (36.7 vs. 16.9%; p= 0.02).

Conclusions

The missing link for explanation of these findings was coincidence with thick placenta. This is probably the first observation suggesting that thick placenta (>5 cm) may affect fetal RV function in normal heart anatomy: prolongation of right ventricular ET and shortening of fetal right ventricular IVRT.


Corresponding author: Oskar Sylwestrzak, MD, Department of Prenatal Cardiology, Polish Mother’s Memorial Hospital Research Institute, Rzgowska 281/289, 93-338 Lodz, Poland, Phone: +48 42 271 15 56, E-mail:

  1. Research funding: None declared.

  2. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.

  4. Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.

  5. Ethical approval: The local Institutional Review Board deemed the study exempt from review.

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Received: 2022-02-08
Accepted: 2022-07-03
Published Online: 2022-08-11
Published in Print: 2023-03-28

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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