Prognosis of neonates in maternal diseases

Maternal diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, preeclampsia, hypothyroidism and epilepsy in pregnancy are associated with fetal and neonatal complications. The aim of this study was to compare the prognosis of neonates in maternal diseases.

This study was a cross-sectional study. The present study was performed on 600 preterm infants with mothers with diabetes, hypertension, preeclampsia, hypothyroidism and epilepsy. This study was done in Ghaem Hospital of Mashhad from March 2015 to April 2021 with available sampling. The data collection tool was a researcher-made checklist including infant (gestational age, Apgar score of the first minute, Apgar score of the fifth minute) and maternal (mode of delivery, prenatal care, premature rupture of the membranes) characteristics. Neonatal prognosis was compared at birth. All clinical and diagnostic examinations of newborns were performed by a neonatologist. Neonatal and maternal data in the group of newborns with normal mothers and newborns with maternal diseases were analyzed by Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Chi-square tests. The significance level was considered p≤0.05 in all cases.

The results show that 161 newborns (28.90%) had normal mothers, 89 newborns (15.98%) had diabetic mothers, 117 newborns (21.01%) had hypertensive mothers, and 50 newborns (8.98%) had hypothyroid mothers. One hundred tweny newborns (21.72%) had mothers with preeclampsia, 19 newborns (3.41%) had mothers with epilepsy. Newborns with mothers with epilepsy had the lowest Apgar score of the first minute and the lowest gestational age and newborns with mothers with diabetes had the lowest Apgar score of the fifth minute. Mothers with hypothyroidism had the highest rate of premature rupture of the membranes and mothers with hypertension and preeclampsia had the highest incidence of cesarean section.

Maternal diseases including diabetes, hypertension, preeclampsia, hypothyroidism and epilepsy affect the prognosis of neonates in terms of the severity of prematurity, premature rupture of the membranes, type of delivery, Apgar scores of the first and fifth minutes. Therefore, proper control and treatment of these diseases may improve neonatal prognosis.