Possible association between acute pelvic inflammatory disease in pregnant women and congenital abnormalities in their offspring: a population-based case-control study.
BACKGROUND
The possible association between acute pelvic inflammatory diseases (APID) of pregnant women and structural birth defects, that is, congenital abnormalities (CA) in their offspring, has not been studied.


METHODS
The data set of the Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities, 1980 and 1996, were evaluated.


RESULTS
There were 67 out of 22,843 (0.29%) cases and 128 out of 38,151 (0.34%) controls with mothers who had prospectively and medically recorded APID during the second and/or third gestational months (adjusted prevalence OR with 95% CI: 0.95, 0.70-1.29). However, of 12 CA groups evaluated, APID was associated with a higher risk only for cardiovascular CAs (adjusted prevalence OR with 95% CI: 2.6, 1.2-5.4) and the observed number of cases with atrial septal defect, type II with maternal APID exposure exceeded 4.2-fold its expected number.


CONCLUSIONS
A possible explanation for the association of APID with higher risk for cardiovascular CA is the high fever of APID, but this signal finding needs confirmation.
Second Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Semmelweis University, School of Medicine, Budapest, Hungary.
Nándor
N
Acs
Ferenc
F
Bánhidy
Erzsébet H
EH
Puhó
Andrew E
AE
Czeizel
D000014:Abnormalities, Drug-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology; D000208:Acute Disease; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D000292:Pelvic Inflammatory Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors
D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents