Risk of adverse birth outcome after group B meningococcal disease: results from a Danish national cohort.
BACKGROUND
Group B meningococcal (GBM) disease induces antibodies that react in vitro with neural cell adhesion molecules in fetal brain tissue. Because IgG antibodies to GBM cross the placenta, the authors investigated whether women with a previous GBM disease had an increased risk of giving birth to preterm or to stillborn infants and whether the live-born children had an increased risk of birth defects.


METHODS
Data were obtained from 4 national registries in the period 1974-2005 to form 2 cohorts: (1) 1422 women with confirmed GBM disease, and (2) their 502 firstborn children.


RESULTS
Overall, there was no increased risk of preterm or stillbirths among the first cohort. Among the children, there was no increased risk of being born small for the gestational age, having birth defects (OR: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.53-1.90), diseases of the nervous system (HR: 0.38; 95% CI: 0.08-1.74), or any diseases within the first 3 years of life (HR: 1.06; 95% CI: 0.78-1.45) compared to births from a reference population with prior group C meningococcal disease.


CONCLUSIONS
The results do not support the proposal that GBM is associated with immunoreactive disease that may affect the health of the offspring and are consistent with previous findings that GBM disease is not associated with an increased risk of autoimmune disease.
Howitz
Michael F
MF
Department of Epidemiology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark. how@ssi.dk
Simonsen
Jacob
J
Krause
Tyra Grove
TG
Robbins
John B
JB
Schneerson
Rachel
R
Mølbak
Kåre
K
Miller
Mark A
MA
D015331:Cohort Studies; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D038541:Neisseria meningitidis, Serogroup B; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000382:microbiology*; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D012042:Registries; D012306:Risk