title: Maternal herpes labialis in pregnancy and neural tube defects.
abstract: According to previous case reports, some congenital abnormalities (CAs) of the brain, such as microcephaly, are a result of intrauterine herpes simplex virus infection. A population-based case-control study was conducted to determine the risk of neural tube defects (NTDs) after maternal herpes labialis infection during pregnancy. Data were taken from the Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities from 1980 to 1996, which included 1202 children with NTDs and 21641 comparison children with CAs other than NTDs. The adjusted relative risks (odds ratio [OR]) for NTDs associated with maternal herpes labialis in the first trimester of pregnancy was OR 1.19 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.68-2.06), and in the entire pregnancy was OR 0.94 (95% CI 0.61-1.44). Self-reported maternal herpes labialis during pregnancy was not associated with a substantially increased risk of NTDs in infants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. bn@dce.au.dk
authors.forename: Bente
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nørgård
authors.forename: Mette
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nørgaard
authors.forename: Andrew E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Czeizel
authors.forename: Erzsébet
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Puhó
authors.forename: Henrik T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Sørensen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006560:Herpes Labialis / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary / Q000453:epidemiology; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D011264:Pregnancy Trimesters; D012307:Risk Factors