Implementation of a Home Blood Pressure Monitoring Program for the Management of Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy, an Observational Study in British Columbia, Canada

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 pandemic has influenced health care delivery. We conducted an observational study to understand how obstetric medicine (ObM) physicians utilized home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) to manage hypertension in pregnancy. METHODS: Pregnant participants with risk factors or diagnosis of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) were enrolled, May 2020-December 2021, and provided with validated home blood pressure (BP) monitor. ObM physicians completed questionnaires to elicit how home BP readings were interpreted to manage HDP. RESULTS: We enrolled 103 people: 44 antepartum patients (33.5 ± 5 years, gestational age of 24 ± 5 weeks); 59 postpartum patients (35 ± 6 years, enrolled 6 ± 4 days post-partum). ObM physicians used range of home BP readings (70%) for management of HDP. CONCLUSIONS: HBPM to manage HDP is acceptable and can be used to manage hypertension during pregnancy. Further studies are needed to assess the generalizability of our findings and the safety of HBPM reliance alone in management of HDP

Assessment of Hypertension Using Clinical Electrocardiogram Features: A First-Ever Review

Hypertension affects an estimated 1.4 billion people and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Early diagnosis and intervention can potentially decrease cardiovascular events later in life. However, blood pressure (BP) measurements take time and require training for health care professionals. The measurements are also inconvenient for patients to access, numerous daily variables affect BP values, and only a few BP readings can be collected per session. This leads to an unmet need for an accurate, 24-h continuous, and portable BP measurement system. Electrocardiograms (ECGs) have been considered as an alternative way to measure BP and may meet this need. This review summarizes the literature published from January 1, 2010, to January 1, 2020, on the use of only ECG wave morphology to monitor BP or identify hypertension. From 35 articles analyzed (9 of those with no listed comorbidities and confounders), the P wave, QTc intervals and TpTe intervals may be promising for this purpose. Unfortunately, with the limited number of articles and the variety of participant populations, we are unable to make conclusions about the effectiveness of ECG-only BP monitoring. We provide 13 recommendations for future ECG-only BP monitoring studies and highlight the limited findings in pregnant and pediatric populations. With the advent of convenient and portable ECG signal recording in smart devices and wearables such as watches, understanding how to apply ECG-only findings to identify hypertension early is crucial to improving health outcomes worldwide

Oral contraceptive pill use and the risk of stroke, a meta-analysis of observational studies

grantor: University of TorontoThe oral contraceptive pill (OCP) is common and effective form of birth control for women worldwide. Ever since its introduction in the 1960s, use of OCP was reported to be associated with increased stroke risk. However, with formulation changes in OCP over the last four decades the association with stroke risk required evaluation. In this thesis, a meta-analysis was conducted to investigate if current use of low-dose OCP was associated with increased stroke risk. After pooling all available observational studies, the risk of stroke was found to be increased with current use of low-dose OCP. In particular, this risk increase was significant for thrombotic strokes, but not for hemorrhagic strokes or stroke deaths. There were however aspects of study design and study quality that might influence the pooled effect estimate, like the use of hospital- versus community-based controls, use of various comparison groups (never versus past users). When one is counseling women with regards to OCP use, the potential small increase in absolute risk of stroke should be weighed against the tremendous benefit of the pill.M.Sc

Consumer behavior of Singapore youth on group buying sites and its managerial implications.

Group buying site (also named as collective buying site) is a new marketing channel which offers deals to a large group of consumers. Group buying sites have received tremendous surge in popularity among consumers due to the attractive discount offered. This paper focuses on the non-price factors in affecting consumer behavior of Singapore youth on purchasing deals on group buying websites. Coupled with extensive literature review as well as newly collected survey data, this study attempts to provide a comprehensive research on consumer behavior. In addition, a set of managerial implications is developed in 1) assisting merchant companies’ decision in adopting group buying sites as a marketing channel; 2) advising group buying sites to formulate effective deals based on consumer demand.BUSINES

sj-docx-1-obm-10.1177_1753495X221150302 - Supplemental material for A systematic review of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome in pregnant women with severe preeclampsia and eclampsia

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-obm-10.1177_1753495X221150302 for A systematic review of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome in pregnant women with severe preeclampsia and eclampsia by Dalal A Tawati and Wee-Shian Chan in Obstetric Medicine</p

Association between gestational weight gain and severe adverse birth outcomes in Washington State, US: A population-based retrospective cohort study, 2004-2013.

BACKGROUND:Suboptimal weight gain during pregnancy is a potentially modifiable risk factor. We aimed to investigate the association between suboptimal gestational weight gain and severe adverse birth outcomes by pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) categories, including obesity class I to III. METHODS AND FINDINGS:We conducted a population-based study of pregnant women with singleton hospital births in Washington State, US, between 2004 and 2013. Optimal, low, and excess weight gain in each BMI category was calculated based on weight gain by gestational age as recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Institute of Medicine. Primary composite outcomes were (1) maternal death and/or severe maternal morbidity (SMM) and (2) perinatal death and/or severe neonatal morbidity. Logistic regression was used to obtain adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals. Overall, 722,839 women with information on pre-pregnancy BMI were included. Of these, 3.1% of women were underweight, 48.1% had normal pre-pregnancy BMI, 25.8% were overweight, and 23.0% were obese. Only 31.5% of women achieved optimal gestational weight gain. Women who had low weight gain were more likely to be African American and have Medicaid health insurance, while women with excess weight gain were more likely to be non-Hispanic white and younger than women with optimal weight gain in each pre-pregnancy BMI category. Compared with women who had optimal weight gain, those with low gestational weight gain had a higher rate of maternal death, 7.97 versus 2.63 per 100,000 (p = 0.027). In addition, low weight gain was associated with the composite adverse maternal outcome (death/SMM) in women with normal pre-pregnancy BMI and in overweight women (AOR 1.12, 95% CI 1.04-1.21, p = 0.004, and AOR 1.17, 95% CI 1.04-1.32, p = 0.009, respectively) compared to women in the same pre-pregnancy BMI category who had optimal weight gain. Similarly, excess gestational weight gain was associated with increased rates of death/SMM among women with normal pre-pregnancy BMI (AOR 1.20, 95% CI 1.12-1.28, p < 0.001) and obese women (AOR 1.12, 95% CI 1.01-1.23, p = 0.019). Low gestational weight gain was associated with perinatal death and severe neonatal morbidity regardless of pre-pregnancy BMI, including obesity classes I, II, and III, while excess weight gain was associated with severe neonatal morbidity only in women who were underweight or had normal BMI prior to pregnancy. Study limitations include the ascertainment of pre-pregnancy BMI using self-report, and lack of data availability for the most recent years. CONCLUSIONS:In this study, we found that most women do not achieve optimal weight gain during pregnancy. Low weight gain was associated with increased risk of severe adverse birth outcomes, and in particular with maternal death and perinatal death. Excess gestational weight gain was associated with severe adverse birth outcomes, except for women who were overweight prior to pregnancy. Weight gain recommendations for this group may need to be reassessed. It is important to counsel women during pregnancy about specific risks associated with both low and excess weight gain

Maternal age and severe maternal morbidity: A population-based retrospective cohort study

<div><p>Background</p><p>One of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals of 2000 was to reduce maternal mortality by 75% in 15 y; however, this challenge was not met by many industrialized countries. As average maternal age continues to rise in these countries, associated potentially life-threatening severe maternal morbidity has been understudied. Our primary objective was to examine the associations between maternal age and severe maternal morbidities. The secondary objective was to compare these associations with those for adverse fetal/infant outcomes.</p><p>Methods and findings</p><p>This was a population-based retrospective cohort study, including all singleton births to women residing in Washington State, US, 1 January 2003–31 December 2013 (<i>n = </i> 828,269).</p><p>We compared age-specific rates of maternal mortality/severe morbidity (e.g., obstetric shock) and adverse fetal/infant outcomes (e.g., perinatal death). Logistic regression was used to adjust for parity, body mass index, assisted conception, and other potential confounders. We compared crude odds ratios (ORs) and adjusted ORs (AORs) and risk differences and their 95% CIs.</p><p>Severe maternal morbidity was significantly higher among teenage mothers than among those 25–29 y (crude OR = 1.5, 95% CI 1.5–1.6) and increased exponentially with maternal age over 39 y, from OR = 1.2 (95% CI 1.2–1.3) among women aged 35–39 y to OR = 5.4 (95% CI 2.4–12.5) among women aged ≥50 y. The elevated risk of severe morbidity among teen mothers disappeared after adjustment for confounders, except for maternal sepsis (AOR = 1.2, 95% CI 1.1–1.4). Adjusted rates of severe morbidity remained increased among mothers ≥35 y, namely, the rates of amniotic fluid embolism (AOR = 8.0, 95% CI 2.7–23.7) and obstetric shock (AOR = 2.9, 95% CI 1.3–6.6) among mothers ≥40 y, and renal failure (AOR = 15.9, 95% CI 4.8–52.0), complications of obstetric interventions (AOR = 4.7, 95% CI 2.3–9.5), and intensive care unit (ICU) admission (AOR = 4.8, 95% CI 2.0–11.9) among those 45–49 y. The adjusted risk difference in severe maternal morbidity compared to mothers 25–29 y was 0.9% (95% CI 0.7%–1.2%) for mothers 40–44 y, 1.6% (95% CI 0.7%–2.8%) for mothers 45–49 y, and 6.4% for mothers ≥50 y (95% CI 1.7%–18.2%). Similar associations were observed for fetal and infant outcomes; neonatal mortality was elevated in teen mothers (AOR = 1.5, 95% CI 1.2–1.7), while mothers over 29 y had higher risk of stillbirth. The rate of severe maternal morbidity among women over 49 y was higher than the rate of mortality/serious morbidity of their offspring. Despite the large sample size, statistical power was insufficient to examine the association between maternal age and maternal death or very rare severe morbidities.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>Maternal age-specific incidence of severe morbidity varied by outcome. Older women (≥40 y) had significantly elevated rates of some of the most severe, potentially life-threatening morbidities, including renal failure, shock, acute cardiac morbidity, serious complications of obstetric interventions, and ICU admission. These results should improve counselling to women who contemplate delaying childbirth until their forties and provide useful information to their health care providers. This information is also useful for preventive strategies to lower maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity in developed countries.</p></div

The association between maternal age and severe maternal morbidity and adverse birth outcomes among singleton births, Washington State, US, 2003–2013.

<p>The association between maternal age and severe maternal morbidity and adverse birth outcomes among singleton births, Washington State, US, 2003–2013.</p

Age-specific rates of severe maternal morbidity and perinatal mortality/severe neonatal morbidity.

<p>(A) Unadjusted rates and (B) rates adjusted for demographic and pre-pregnancy factors; singleton births, Washington State, US, 2003–2013. Bars show 95% CIs.</p