Maternal characteristics and outcomes in relation to the number of previous abortions.

<p>Data are <i>n</i> (percent) unless otherwise indicated.</p>a<p>Number (percent) missing data: height, 106,661 (14.6); marital status, 70,585 (9.6); smoking status (1992–2008), 43,998 (10.6).</p>b<p>Sub-group of births was used to calculate proportions: neonatal death data were available from 1985 onwards, and smoking data were available from 1992 onwards.</p><p>IQR, inter-quartile range.</p

Crude rates of spontaneous preterm birth for nulliparous women with (<i>n</i> = 63,428) and without (<i>n</i> = 669,291) a past history of abortion in Scotland, 1980–2008.

<p>Crude rates of spontaneous preterm birth for nulliparous women with (<i>n</i> = 63,428) and without (<i>n</i> = 669,291) a past history of abortion in Scotland, 1980–2008.</p

Forest plots of odds ratios for preterm birth in Scotland by epoch.

<p>(A) Unadjusted odds ratio for a one-unit increase in number of previous abortions (coded as 0, 1, 2, and 3 or more) in relation to risk of preterm first birth among 732,719 women for births from 1980 to 2008. (B) As in (A), but odds ratio adjusted for maternal characteristics (deprivation category, previous miscarriage, maternal age, height, and marital status). (C) Adjusted odds ratio for a one-unit increase in number of previous abortions in relation to risk of preterm first birth among 414,373 women for births from 1992 to 2008. Odds ratios adjusted for maternal characteristics as in (B), but also for smoking. (D) Adjusted odds ratio for a 10-cm decrease in maternal height in relation to the risk of preterm first birth among 732,719 women for births from 1980 to 2008. Odds ratios adjusted for deprivation category, maternal age, marital status, previous abortion, and previous miscarriage. The interaction <i>p</i>-value is for a Wald test of the null hypothesis that the odds ratios did not significantly differ across the period 1980 to 2008. Year is treated as a continuous variable in all the statistical tests of interaction.</p

Annual numbers of abortions by method among nulliparous women in Scotland, 1992–2008.

<p>These data were aggregated and were not linked to SMR02 data. (A) Observed data. (B) Sensitivity analysis where 5% of medical procedures are re-classified as surgical procedures with cervical pre-treatment. (C) Sensitivity analysis where 10% of medical procedures are re-classified as surgical procedures with cervical pre-treatment.</p

Logistic regression analysis of the association between previous abortion and the risk of preterm birth and neonatal death.

a<p>Adjusted for maternal height, age, history of miscarriage, marital status, socioeconomic status, and year of delivery.</p>b<p>Expressed as 0, 1, 2, and 3 or more.</p>c<p><i>p</i>-Value for trend.</p

Selection of the study cohorts.

<p>Selection of the study cohorts.</p

Cumulative incidence of preterm birth from 24 wk onwards in relation to number of previous abortions for 732,719 nulliparous women, Scotland 1980–2008.

<p>The relative risk of preterm birth for women with zero, one, two, or three or more previous abortions significantly varied across the range 24 to 36 wk gestational age (global test of proportional hazards assumption: <i>p</i> = 0.02). The graph is confined to the risk prior to 34 wk to allow better visualisation of the differences in incidence of extreme preterm births.</p

Safety of Men with Small and Medium Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms Under Surveillance in the National Health Service Screening Programme.

BACKGROUND: Population screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) has commenced in several countries, and has been shown to reduce AAA-related mortality by up to 50%. Most men who screen positive have an AAA below 5.5cm in diameter, the referral threshold for treatment, and are entered into an ultrasound surveillance programme. This study aimed to determine the risk of ruptured AAA (rAAA) in men under surveillance. METHODS: Men in the NHS AAA Screening Programme who initially had a small (3-4.4cm) or medium (4.5-5.4cm) AAA were followed-up. The screening programme's database collected data on ultrasound AAA diameter measurements and dates of referral and loss to follow-up. Local screening programmes recorded adverse outcomes, including rAAA and death. Rupture and mortality rates were calculated by initial and final known AAA diameter. RESULTS: A total of 18,652 men were included (50,103 men years of surveillance). Thirty-one men had rAAA in surveillance, of whom 29 died. Some 952 men died from other causes during surveillance, mainly cardiovascular complications (26.3%) and cancer (31.2%). The overall mortality rate was 1.96% per annum, similar for men with small and medium AAA. The rAAA risk was 0.03% per annum (95% confidence interval 0.02-0.05%) for men with small AAA, and 0.28% (0.17-0.44%) for medium AAA. The rAAA risk for men with AAA just below the referral threshold (5.0 to 5.4 cm) was 0.40% (0.22-0.73%). CONCLUSIONS: The risk of rAAA in surveillance is below 0.5% per annum, even just below the present referral threshold of 5.5cm and only 0.4% of men in surveillance are estimated to rupture before referral. It can be concluded that men with small and medium screen-detected AAA are safe provided they are enrolled in an intensive surveillance program, and that there is no evidence that the current referral threshold of 5.5cm should be changed

Assessment of study quality through the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.

<p>Assessment of study quality through the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.</p

General characteristics of prospective studies of cardiovascular disease outcomes included in review.

<p>General characteristics of prospective studies of cardiovascular disease outcomes included in review.</p