[Urine test to diagnose urinary tract infection in high-risk pregnant women]. / Exame simples de urina no diagnóstico de infecção urinária em gestantes de alto risco.

PURPOSE: To identify the accuracy of urinalysis in the diagnosis of urinary tract infection in pregnant women at high risk. METHODS: a prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted on 164 pregnant women admitted to the high-risk the ward of the Instituto de Medicina Integral Prof. Fernando Figueira (IMIP) during the period from January to June 2011. Patients who had been taking antibiotics in the last ten days were excluded. All patients were subjected to simple urine tests and urine culture at the beginning of their admission. The agreement between the results of the examinations was evaluated by Kappa indices (K), and accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive values were also determined. RESULTS: When only the presence of pus cells in urinalysis was used as a diagnostic criterion suggesting bacteriuria, there was a poor agreement when compared to uroculture (K=0.16). Accuracy was 61%, sensitivity 62.5%, and specificity 60.6%. PPV was 27.78% and NPV was 87%. CONCLUSION: The presence of alteration of urinalysis does not necessarily indicate an ongoing urinary tract infection, with urine culture being necessary. However, when urinalysis data are normal, uroculture may be avoided.

[Pre-eclampsia treatment according to scientific evidence]. / Tratamento da pré-eclâmpsia baseado em evidências.

Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy deserve special attention in the setting of global public health. Currently, they represent the third cause of maternal mortality in the world and first in Brazil. From a practical standpoint, pre-eclampsia remains a syndrome that leads to serious repercussions on maternal and fetal mortality and its etiology is not well known. Currently, the best treatment for forms of pre-eclampsia is being discussed at different times in pregnancy and puerperium, with the objective to reduce the high rates of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Considering the pathophysiology of the event, anticipation of delivery is the best treatment for pre-eclampsia. The use of magnesium sulfate is recommended in all cases of severe pre-eclampsia and eclampsia for prevention and treatment of seizures. Likewise, treatment of hypertensive crises is recommended. Hydralazine, nifedipine and labetalol have been the most commonly used drugs for this purpose, but their use depends on the familiarity of the treating physician. Antenatal corticoid therapy is indicated whenever there is an imminent risk of preterm delivery between 24 and 34 weeks. In contrast, there is insufficient evidence to recommend bed rest and routine plasma volume expansion, and there is an urgent need for randomized clinical trials to determine whether maintenance antihypertensive treatment in pregnant women has benefits or risks for mothers and fetuses in all clinical forms of disease, particularly in cases of pure pre-eclampsia.