Is there a seasonal variation in the diagnosis of oligohydramnios?
OBJECTIVE
We hypothesized that oligohydramnios would be diagnosed more frequently in the warm summer months when dehydration might be more common.


METHODS
The clinical diagnosis of oligohydramnios was extracted from the databases of four completed National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Maternal Fetal Medicine Units Network protocols. These data were stratified by quarter of delivery and compared using Fisher's Exact Test.


RESULTS
The clinical diagnosis of oligohydramnios was made more frequently in deliveries occurring in the summer months of June, July and August as compared with the remainder of the calendar year (7.2% vs 5.9%, p=0.0178).


CONCLUSIONS
In these studies the diagnosis of oligohydramnios is made more frequently in those pregnancies delivered during the summer months. Although not proven by this association, maternal dehydration may contribute to this finding.
Varner
Michael W
MW
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City 84132, USA. mvarner@hsc.utah.edu
Noble
William D
WD
Dombrowski
Mitchell
M
Sibai
Baha
B
Rouse
Dwight J
DJ
Paul
Richard
R
Caritis
Steve N
SN
Miodovnik
Menachem
M
Moawad
Atef
A
Iams
Jay D
JD
Witter
Frank
F
Romero
Roberto
R
Leveno
Kenneth
K
Meis
Paul
P
Wapner
Ronald
R
Rosen
Mortimer
M
Thurnau
Gary
G
van Dorsten
Peter
P
O'Sullivan
Mary J
MJ
Conway
Deborah
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D016104:Oligohydramnios / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D012621:Seasons; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology