Publications by authors named "Agmgj Mulders"

The compulsory Mental Healthcare Act (Dutch: Wvggz) provides, in exceptional cases, a legal framework for the implementation of psychiatric and somatic treatment without the patients consent. We describe a pregnant patient with a psychotic disorder who was compulsorily admitted to a psychiatric ward and treated with antipsychotic medication. She was unable to give informed consent regarding obstetric care.

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Background: The dietary glycemic index (GI) and load (GL) reflect carbohydrate quality and quantity, potentially impacting fertility through modulation of insulin sensitivity and generation of oxidative stress. While fertility is influenced by both women and men, reproductive research often emphasizes maternal factors. We first examined periconception dietary intake in both women and male partners, and subsequent associations of dietary GI and GL with fecundability and subfertility.

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Article Synopsis
  • Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are major contributors to complications in pregnancy, prompting research into the role of maternal tryptophan metabolites in placental health and development.
  • The study involved 911 women and assessed serum tryptophan metabolites early in pregnancy, analyzing their relationships with placental volume and vascular development, as well as odds of developing HDP.
  • Findings showed that higher kynurenine levels negatively impacted placental development, while increased levels of 5-hydroxytryptophan were linked to higher risks of early pregnancy hypertension and preeclampsia.
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Background & Aims: The quantity and quality of maternal nutrition in the periconception period is an important determinant for embryonic and foetal development and subsequent pregnancy course and outcome. The intake of ultra-processed foods (UPF) has increased worldwide and adverse health outcomes have been reported. However, the impact of UPF intake on the placenta, essential for prenatal nourishment, is unknown.

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Article Synopsis
  • Obesity in both women and men can lead to reduced fertility rates and an increased risk of miscarriage, which may apply across various BMI categories.
  • A study conducted in Rotterdam from 2017 to 2021 examined how preconception BMI influences time to pregnancy and miscarriage among 3604 couples.
  • Results indicated that higher BMI in both partners correlates with decreased chances of conceiving within a month, with every unit increase in BMI linked to lower fecundability and greater risks of subfertility and miscarriage.
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Objective (s): Circulating angiogenic factors are used for prediction of placenta-related complications, but their associations with first-trimester placental development is unknown. This study investigates associations between maternal angiogenic factors and utero-placental vascular volume (uPVV) and utero-placental vascular skeleton (uPVS) as novel imaging markers of volumetric and morphologic (branching) development of the first-trimester utero-placental vasculature.

Methods: In 185 ongoing pregnancies from the VIRTUAL Placenta study, a subcohort of the ongoing prospective Rotterdam Periconception cohort, three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasounds of the placenta were obtained at 7-9-11 weeks gestational age (GA).

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Study Question: Is morphologic development of the first-trimester utero-placental vasculature associated with embryonic growth and development, fetal growth, and birth weight percentiles?

Summary Answer: Using the utero-placental vascular skeleton (uPVS) as a new imaging marker, this study reveals morphologic development of the first-trimester utero-placental vasculature is positively associated with embryonic growth and development, fetal growth, and birth weight percentiles.

What Is Known Already: First-trimester development of the utero-placental vasculature is associated with placental function, which subsequently impacts embryonic and fetal ability to reach their full growth potential. The attribution of morphologic variations in the utero-placental vascular development, including the vascular structure and branching density, on prenatal growth remains unknown.

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Introduction: Early utero-placental vascular development impacts placental development and function throughout pregnancy. We investigated whether impaired first-trimester utero-placental vascular development is associated with pathologic features of the postpartum placenta.

Methods: In this prospective observational study of 65 ongoing pregnancies, we obtained three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasounds of the placenta at 7, 9 and 11 weeks of gestation.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to examine the impact of gestational hypertensive disorders and maternal blood pressure on the heart structure and function of children during childhood.
  • Conducted in Rotterdam, the population-based cohort study involved 2502 mother-offspring pairs, measuring maternal blood pressure at various pregnancy stages and assessing children's cardiac health at age 10 using advanced imaging techniques.
  • Results indicated that while pre-eclampsia was linked to lower right ventricular function in children, higher maternal diastolic blood pressure was correlated with reduced heart sizes, highlighting the importance of maternal health on offspring cardiac development, without significant links to paternal blood pressure.
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Study Question: Is there a difference in embryonic morphological development between ongoing pregnancies and live pregnancies ending in a miscarriage?

Summary Answer: Embryonic morphological development, assessed by the Carnegie stages, is delayed in live pregnancies ending in a miscarriage compared to ongoing pregnancies.

What Is Known Already: Pregnancies ending in a miscarriage tend to have smaller embryos and slower heart rates.

Study Design, Size, Duration: Between 2010 and 2018, 644 women with singleton pregnancies, in the periconception period, were enrolled in a prospective cohort study with follow up until 1 year after delivery.

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Study Question: Can three-dimensional (3D) Power Doppler (PD) ultrasound and a skeletonization algorithm be used to assess first-trimester development of the utero-placental vascular morphology?

Summary Answer: The application of 3D PD ultrasonography and a skeletonization algorithm facilitates morphologic assessment of utero-placental vascular development in the first trimester and reveals less advanced vascular morphologic development in pregnancies with placenta-related complications than in pregnancies without placenta-related complications.

What Is Known Already: Suboptimal development of the utero-placental vasculature is one of the main contributors to the periconceptional origin of placenta-related complications. The nature and attribution of aberrant vascular structure and branching patterns remain unclear, as validated markers monitoring first-trimester utero-placental vascular morphologic development are lacking.

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Objectives: To study pregnancy outcomes in a closely monitored, well-defined cohort of women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In particular, pregnancy outcomes of women that used a TNFi during pregnancy.

Methods: Patients were derived from a prospective study on pregnancy and RA (Preconception Counseling in Active RA study) and treated according to a treatment protocol aimed at minimal disease activity.

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Background: Preconception care (PCC) is care prior to conception to optimize parental health, and health of the future child, through biomedical and behavioral changes. Providing PCC to all women with a wish to conceive will improve perinatal health. PCC is especially important for women with a chronic disease, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and rheumatic diseases (RD).

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Study Question: Is periconceptional maternal smoking associated with embryonic morphological development in ongoing pregnancies?

Summary Answer: Smoking during the periconceptional period is associated with a delayed embryonic morphological development which is not fully recuperated beyond the first trimester of pregnancy.

What Is Known Already: Smoking during pregnancy decreases prenatal growth, increasing the risk of preterm birth, small for gestational age (GA) and childhood obesity.

Study Design, Size, Duration: Between 2010 and 2018, 689 women with ongoing singleton pregnancies were periconceptionally enrolled in a prospective cohort study with follow-up until 1 year after delivery.

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Introduction: To investigate the reproducibility of first-trimester fetal organ volume measurements using three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound and a Virtual Reality system.

Methods: Within a population-based prospective cohort study, 3D ultrasound datasets of 25 first-trimester fetuses were collected by three sonographers. We used the V-scope application to perform Virtual Reality volume assessments of the fetal heart, lungs, and kidneys.

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Background Offspring exposed to gestational hypertensive disorders have higher blood pressure and increased risk of stroke in later life. Gestational hypertensive disorders might influence vascular development in the offspring, predisposing them to a higher blood pressure and stroke in later life. Methods and Results In a population-based cohort among 4777 mother-offspring pairs, we examined whether gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and higher gestational blood pressure across the full blood pressure spectrum were associated with offspring blood pressure, carotid intima media thickness, and distensibility at the age of 10 years.

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Objectives: Lupus anticoagulans (LACs) and aPLs, both further summarized as aPL, are frequently assessed in routine daily clinical practice in diagnostic workups for suspected autoimmune diseases or to test for underlying risk factors in patients with thrombosis or obstetric complications. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of aPL positivity in patients with an indication for aPL testing in routine clinical practice.

Methods: In this retrospective single-centre study, indication for aPL testing, aPL test results and clinical data were collected for patients tested between June 2015 and April 2018.

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Objective: To identify, besides maternal age and the number of previous pregnancy losses, additional characteristics of couples with unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) that improve the prediction of an ongoing pregnancy.

Design: Hospital-based cohort study in couples who visited specialized RPL units of two academic centers between 2012 and 2020.

Setting: Two academic centers in the Netherlands.

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Background: Pregnancies with > 1 corpus luteum (CL) display a hyperdynamic circulation and an increased risk of small-for-gestational age deliveries. Among the factors released by the CL is prorenin, the inactive precursor of renin. Since the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) is involved in early hemodynamic pregnancy adaptation, we linked both CL number and first-trimester concentrations of prorenin (as an indicator of RAAS activity) and the aldosterone/renin ratio (as an indicator of angiotensin-independent aldosterone effectiveness) to non-invasive markers of utero-placental (vascular) development, measured longitudinally from the first trimester onwards.

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Objective: To investigate whether first-trimester maternal haemodynamic adaptation impacts placental, embryonic and fetal development as well as birth outcomes in pregnancies with and without placenta-related complications.

Design: Prospective observational cohort.

Setting: A Dutch tertiary hospital.

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Introduction: Maternal elevated plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) is involved in the origin of several placenta-related pregnancy complications. The first trimester is the most sensitive period for placentation influenced by maternal and paternal health. The aim is to study associations between periconceptional parental tHcy levels and utero-placental growth trajectories in the first trimester of pregnancy.

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Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the associations of dietary glycemic index and load with gestational blood pressure, placental hemodynamic parameters and the risk of gestational hypertensive disorders.

Methods: In a population-based cohort among 3378 pregnant Dutch women, dietary glycemic index and load were assessed from food frequency questionnaires at median 13.4 (95% range 9.

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Introduction: Impaired placental development is a major cause of fetal growth restriction (FGR) and early detection will therefore improve antenatal care and birth outcomes. Here we aim to investigate serial first-trimester ultrasound markers of utero-placental (vascular) development in association with embryonic and fetal growth.

Methods: In a prospective cohort, we periconceptionally included 214 pregnant women.

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