ABSTRACT
Background: Adolescent pregnancy is a serious health and social problem worldwide. The aim of this study was to determine the obstetrical and perinatal outcomes of nulliparous adolescent pregnancies in a tertiary care centre in rural India.Methods: This is a retrospective study conducted between April 2017 and March 2018.Adolescent primigravidae completing 28 weeks of gestation with singleton pregnancy were included in the study group. Primigravidae aged between 20 and 25 years were taken as a control group. The factors under study included obstetric complications and neonatal outcomes. The association was considered significant at P-value <0.05.Results: 450 women were included in the study group and 460 to the control group. The incidence of adolescent pregnancy was 18.3% during the study period. The adolescent mothers had a significantly higher incidence of preeclampsia (12.8 % vs 8.4 %; p = 0.03), eclampsia (3.5% vs 1.5%; p = 0.01), preterm delivery (18.6% vs 10.8%; p = 0.0009), low birth weight (39.1 % vs 24.2 %; p = 0.00001),very low birth weight babies (13.7 % vs 8.7 %; p = 0.01) compared to control group. There was higher proportion of NICU admissions in adolescent group (20.8% vs 12.3 %; p = 0.0005) compared to control group. No significant difference was found regarding postpartum complications and still birth.Conclusions: Adolescent pregnancy is associated with poorer feto-maternal outcomes. Regular antenatal visits, adequate nutritional supplementation and early detection of high-risk factors may contribute in decreasing the obstetric risk of childbirth in adolescent mothers.
ABSTRACT
Background: Caesarean section is one of the most common procedures performed. Recent studies found that surgical-site infection (SSI) was the most common healthcare-associated infection. Authors hypothesized that optimization of preoperative skin antisepsis may decrease postoperative infections. The objective was to establish the efficacy of chlorhexidine-based antiseptic protocol versus povidone-iodine protocol in reducing SSI for patients undergoing caesarean deliveries.Methods: This is a randomized prospective study conducted from April 2017 to September 2017 at a tertiary care center in India. Women who underwent caesarean sections were allocated into either group. Enrolled patients were randomly assigned to have the surgical site painted with chlorhexidine-alcohol preparation or painted with a solution of 10% povidone-iodine and then with surgical spirit. The outcomes were any SSI occurring within a week or during the 30 day follow up period of the surgery including any of: superficial or deep surgical site infection, or endometritis, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definitions.Results: A total of 560 subjects (273 in the chlorhexidine group and 287 in the iodine group) qualified for the study. The number of surgical-site infection was significantly lower in the chlorhexidine group than in the iodine group (6.95% vs. 14.28%; P=0.005). Chlorhexidine–alcohol was significantly more protective than iodine-alcohol against both superficial incisional infections (5.49% vs. 10.10%, P=0.03) and deep incisional infections (1.46% vs. 4.18%, P=0.04).Conclusions: This study highlighted that Chlorhexidine-alcohol provided superior skin antisepsis in comparison to povidone iodine-alcohol.