Change in smoking prevalence among pregnant women 1982-93.

Maternal smoking is the most prevalent risk factor for low birthweight in Canada. This study compared the prevalence of maternal smoking before and during pregnancy from 1983 to 1992. Population-based surveys of 3,296 women during six months in 1983 and 7,940 women during 12 months in 1992 were conducted in Ottawa-Carleton using a self-administered questionnaire completed in the hospital postpartum period. The proportion of women smoking after the first trimester of pregnancy decreased from 28.5% in 1983 to 18.7% in 1992. This difference was due mainly to a reduction in the proportion of women who smoked before pregnancy (37.4% to 26.4%). Another factor was that more women stopped smoking early in pregnancy (23.9% to 29.2%). Gradients in levels of smoking by age, education, marital status and poverty level still exist; however, this is true for the general population. Programs to decrease smoking in pregnancy should continue to focus on reducing smoking among women in general and among those in the preconception and early stages of pregnancy in particular.

An unexpected fetal outcome following a severe maternal motor vehicle accident.

BACKGROUND: Maternal motor vehicle injury occurs commonly and can cause serious fetal injury. Optimum pregnancy management at the time of maternal presentation following trauma requires reliable methods of fetal assessment. In this report, we present a case in which currently accepted methods of fetal assessment initially failed to demonstrate catastrophic fetal brain injury following a maternal motor vehicle accident. CASE: A 28-year-old primigravida woman at 27 weeks' gestation was in a pedestrian motor vehicle accident, suffering a closed head injury and multiple fractures. Initial fetal assessment included cardiotocographic monitoring for 24 hours fetal ultrasound, both of which were normal, as was a biophysical profile done on the fifth day after the accident. These were repeated at intervals, but definite evidence of fetal brain injury was not seen until unilateral ventricular dilatation was documented on ultrasound at 35 weeks' gestation. Postnatal imaging showed microcephaly, hydrocephalus ex vacuo, and multiple hemispheric hypodensities, likely representing post-traumatic hemorrhages with secondary infarction. At the age of 4 years, the child is cortically blind, epileptic, and quadriparetic. CONCLUSION: This pregnancy outcome was unexpectedly poor despite the reassuring initial assessment. We caution that these methods may not provide accurate early fetal assessment, especially when fetal brain stem function is spared.

Mosaic r(13) in an infant with aprosencephaly.

We report on a stillborn male infant with a mosaic ring 13 karyotype (45,XY,-13/46,XY,-13,+r(13)) with apparent aprosencephaly and clinical findings similar to those reported previously in the XK-aprosencephaly syndrome. Findings of patients with r(13) are often similar to those seen in individuals with del(13q). This case was unusual because of the presence of aprosencephaly, although brain malformations such as arhinencephaly and cerebellar hypoplasia are present in at least one-half of reported patients with 13q-. The overlap between these syndromes suggests a possible chromosomal model of the XK-aprosencephaly syndrome.