Blood pressure, arterial stiffness, and cardiovascular risk profiles in 8-12-year-old children following preeclampsia (FINNCARE-study).

Objectives: The aim was to study if children following preeclampsia (PE) develop alterations in blood pressure (BP) and arterial stiffness already early in life, and how this is associated with gestational, perinatal and child cardiovascular risk profiles.

Methods: One hundred eighty-two PE (46 early-onset with diagnosis before 34 gestational weeks, and 136 late-onset) and 85 non-PE children were assessed 8-12 years from delivery. Office and 24-h ambulatory BP, body composition, anthropometrics, lipids, glucose, inflammatory markers, and tonometry-derived pulse wave velocity (PWV) and central BPs were assessed.

A comparison of risk factors for breech presentation in preterm and term labor: a nationwide, population-based case-control study.

Purpose: To determine if the common risks for breech presentation at term labor are also eligible in preterm labor.

Methods: A Finnish cross-sectional study included 737,788 singleton births (24-42 gestational weeks) during 2004-2014. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the risks of breech presentation.

Alcohol and substance use are associated with altered metabolome in the first trimester serum samples of pregnant mothers.

Background: Although the effects of alcohol on metabolic processes in the body have been studied widely, there do not appear to be any previous reports clarifying how substance abuse changes metabolic profiles of pregnant women during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Objective: Our aim was to evaluate the effect of substance abuse, especially alcohol use, on the metabolic profile of pregnant women during the first trimester.

Study Design: We applied mass spectrometry based non-targeted metabolite profiling of serum collected during routine visit to the hospital between gestational weeks 9 + 0 to 11 + 6 from controls (n = 55), alcohol users (n = 19), drug users (n = 24) and tobacco smokers (n = 40).

Feasibility of a lifestyle intervention in early pregnancy to prevent deterioration of glucose tolerance.

Background: In conjunction with the growing prevalence of obesity and the older age of pregnant women gestational diabetes (GDM) is a major health problem.The aim of the study was to evaluate if a lifestyle intervention since early pregnancy is feasible in improving the glucose tolerance of women at a high-risk for GDM in Finland.

Methods: A 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed in early pregnancy (n = 102).

Obstetric outcome in women with endometriosis--a matched case-control study.

Background: Immunological deficiencies, altered angiogenic activity, infiltrative potential and growth factors are plausible factors behind endometriosis. The aim of this study was to determine whether endometriosis interferes with the course or outcome of pregnancy.

Study Design: In this matched case-control study, we analyzed obstetric outcome among 137 women with endometriosis and 137 controls matched as regards IVF procedures and parity who gave singleton births at Kuopio University Hospital between January 1994 and December 2000.

Myometrial inflammation in human delivery and its association with labor and infection.

The presence of inflammation in decidual and myometrial samples as defined by histopathologic examination and the association between the myometrial inflammation and different maternal infectious morbidity and labor-related clinical variables were evaluated in 648 consecutive women who underwent cesarean section at various gestational periods. Altogether, 1,205 histologic (559 decidual and 646 myometrial) samples were studied. In normal pregnancies, myometrial inflammatory lesions were detected rarely before parturition, indicating their abnormality in these cases.

Multidrug resistance 3 gene mutation 1712delT and estrogen receptor alpha gene polymorphisms in Finnish women with obstetric cholestasis.

Objective: To investigate the contribution of the estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) polymorphism in the development of obstetric cholestasis and to determine whether multidrug resistance 3 (MDR3) gene 1712delT mutation detected in French patients is also present in Finnish women with obstetric cholestasis.

Study Design: In a retrospective case-control study, two ERalpha polymorphisms and MDR3 gene mutation 1712delT were investigated in healthy control women (N=47) and in women with diagnosis of obstetric cholestasis (N=57). PvuII and XbaI polymorphisms in ERalpha gene were evaluated in genomic DNA by using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Multidrug resistance 3 gene mutation 1712delT and estrogen receptor alpha gene polymorphisms in Finnish women with obstetric cholestasis.

Objective: To investigate the contribution of the estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) polymorphism in the development of obstetric cholestasis and to determine whether multidrug resistance 3 (MDR3) gene 1712delT mutation detected in French patients is also present in Finnish women with obstetric cholestasis.

Study Design: In a retrospective case-control study, two ERalpha polymorphisms and MDR3 gene mutation 1712delT were investigated in healthy control women (N = 47) and in women with diagnosis of obsteric cholestasis (N = 57). PvuII and XbaI polymorphisms in ERalpha gene were evaluated in genomic DNA by using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).