Labor and delivery unit practices and racial and ethnic disparities in severe maternal and neonatal morbidity among nulliparous individuals with low-risk pregnancies.

Persistent racial and ethnic disparities exist in severe maternal and neonatal morbidity, which may be due in part to differences in labor and delivery unit practices across hospitals. We used data collected from 184 hospitals in California (2015-2018) to assess whether nulliparous individuals with low-risk pregnancies differ by race and ethnicity in giving birth at hospitals that tend to use lower-interventional labor and delivery unit practices, and whether such differences contribute to disparities in severe maternal and neonatal morbidity. We classified labor and delivery units as higher- or lower-interventional based on a latent class analysis of survey responses about the frequency of using lower-interventional practices.

Lithium Use During Pregnancy in 14 Countries.

Importance: In pregnancy, the benefits of lithium treatment for relapse prevention in psychiatric conditions must be weighed against potential teratogenic effects. Currently, there is a paucity of information on how and when lithium is used by pregnant women.

Objective: To examine lithium use in the perinatal period.

Consensus Statement on Pain Management for Pregnant Patients with Opioid-Use Disorder from the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology, Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine.

Pain management in pregnant and postpartum people with an opioid-use disorder (OUD) requires a balance between risks associated with opioid tolerance, including withdrawal or return to opioid use, considerations around social needs of the maternal-infant dyad, and the provision of adequate pain relief for the birth episode that is often characterized as the worst pain a person will experience in their lifetime. This multidisciplinary consensus statement between the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP), Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), and American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA) provides a framework for pain management in obstetric patients with OUD. The purpose of this consensus statement is to provide practical and evidence-based recommendations and is targeted to health care providers in obstetrics and anesthesiology.

Maternal periconception hyperglycemia, preconception diabetes, and risk of major congenital malformations in offspring.

Study Question: What are the roles of maternal preconception diabetes and related periconceptional hyperglycemia on the risk of major congenital malformations (MCMs) in offspring?

Summary Answer: Maternal periconceptional glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels over 5.6% were associated with an increased risk of congenital heart defects (CHD) in the offspring, and maternal preconception diabetes was associated with an increased risk of CHD, including when HbA1c levels were within euglycemic ranges.

What Is Known Already: Maternal preconception diabetes has been linked with MCMs in the offspring.