ABSTRACT
Perinatal statistics are one of the most essential outcome indicators used by many developed countries in order to evaluate perinatal services provided to newborns. In this retrospective study, we collected 15 years of perinatal data at King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in order to determine stillbirth and other mortality rates in our institute and compare them with international figures. A total of 58,073 babies were evaluated. Data were collected from maternal and neonatal registry books and from perinatal mortality and morbidity meeting reports between 1994 and 2008. Data were entered and analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel 2007. The stillbirth rate was 11.7/1000, early neonatal death rate was 3.4/1000, perinatal mortality rate (PMR) was 14.9/1000, and corrected PMR was 11.9/1000. Our rates were not significantly different from those of North American and European ones. We noticed a dramatic reduction in the corrected PMR in the last 3 years of the study because of greater advancement in perinatal and neonatal care. Our mortality rates were comparable to the North American and European rates which may reflect the quality of perinatal care provided in our institute.
ABSTRACT
Pregnancy in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is associated with a greater incidence of fetal abnormality. Animal studies suggested that increased free-radical production and antioxidant depletion may contribute to this risk. The objective of this work was to evaluate oxidative stress and antioxidant capacity in hypertensive, diabetics, and healthy control women during labor. Simultaneous determination of antioxidant enzymes activities, namely glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), glutathione reductase (GSH-red), superoxide dismutase (SOD), total antioxidant, and lipid peroxides measured as thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) levels, were carried out in maternal plasma during labor. Plasma GSH-Px activity was found to be significantly increased as it doubled in hypertensive, and diabetic women when compared with healthy control women (P < 0.05). In contrast, plasma SOD activity was significantly decreased in both groups when compared to the control group (P < 0.05). No significant differences were detected in GSH-Red activity between diabetic, hypertensive and control groups. Alterations in antioxidant enzyme activities were accompanied by a significant increase in the levels of plasma lipid peroxides in hypertensive and diabetic women during labor. Plasma levels of total antioxidants were significantly increased in diabetic women as compared with the control group. Based on our results, it may be concluded that enhanced generation of oxidative stress causes alteration of antioxidant capacity in diabetic and hypertensive women during labor. Alterations in antioxidant and prooxidant components may result in various complications including peroxidation of vital body molecules which may be regarded as an increased risk factor for pregnant women as well as the fetus.
