Obstetric outcomes of influenza A H1N1 (2009) infection in pregnancy--experience of a Singapore tertiary hospital

ABSTRACT

<p><b>INTRODUCTION</b>Influenza A H1N1 (2009) pandemic has affected countries worldwide including Singapore. Data on obstetric outcomes of women with H1N1 (2009) in pregnancy are lacking.</p><p><b>MATERIALS AND METHODS</b>This was an observational study analysing the obstetric outcomes of pregnant women with influenza A H1N1 (2009) infection who had delivered at a viable gestation (24 weeks or more) in our centre.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Between 23 June 2009 and 30 September 2009, 235 pregnant women were diagnosed with influenza A H1N1 (2009) at our centre, with 42 having delivered and comprising the study cohort. Median age was 27.5 years (range, 16 to 42). Multiparous women comprised 59.5% (25/42) whilst 40.5% (17/42) were primiparous. In terms of ethnicity, 61.9% were Malays, 26.2% Chinese, 4.8% Indians and 7.1% Others. All women received oseltamivir. All had shown recovery from the acute influenza infection. There were no respiratory complications. Twenty-nine women (69.0%) delivered at term. Twenty-fi ve women (59.5%) had spontaneous labour whilst 15 (35.7%) had labour induction. Two women (4.8%) did not labour. Thirty-six women (85.7%) had vaginal delivery, of whom 3 were instrumental deliveries. Apgar scores of greater than 8 at 1 min and 5 min were documented in babies of 95.2% (40/42) women, respectively. Thirty-two women (76.2%) delivered babies with birthweights greater than 2500 g. Compared with historical data from 2008, the H1N1 cohort had comparable mean birthweight and average gestational age at delivery of 38 weeks.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Our study suggested that obstetric outcomes were not adversely affected by influenza A H1N1 (2009) infection.</p>