title: Viable pregnancy after prolonged periods of secondary infertility.
abstract: Case records of 206 pregnant patients who had not had a viable pregnancy for 10 years or more, are presented. In the antenatal period, 59.7% of patients went through their pregnancy with no complications. The commonest complications were pre-eclampsia and non-proteinuric hypertension. Labour was essentially normal in the majority of cases, and of the 183 patients who were allowed to labour, 171 (93.4%) were delivered vaginally. Caesarean section was performed in 17% of cases, which is 3 times the over-all Caesarean section rate for the hospital during the same period. The indications for Caesarean section are appreciably less restricted in these patients. There was a two-fold increase in the incidence of breech presentation. This may be partly explained by the higher incidence of premature births found in this group of patients. The over-all risk to the infant is increased, mainly because of prematurity, but also owing to a slight increase in the number of congenital abnormalities.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007247:Infertility, Female; D007746:Labor Presentation; D007751:Labor, Induced; D007743:Labor, Obstetric; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D011644:Puerperal Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors