Postpartum dyslipidaemia in women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus.

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease which should prompt screening for other cardiovascular risk factors, including dyslipidaemia. Women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are not routinely screened for cardiovascular risk factors.

Aims: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of dyslipidaemia postpartum in women with GDM.

Defining the residual risk of adverse perinatal outcome in growth-restricted fetuses with normal umbilical artery blood flow.

Objective: We sought to determine the cause of adverse perinatal outcome in fetal growth restriction (FGR) where umbilical artery (UA) Doppler was normal, as identified from the Prospective Observational Trial to Optimize Pediatric Health (PORTO). We compared cases of adverse outcome where UA Doppler was normal and abnormal.

Study Design: The PORTO study was a national multicenter study of >1100 ultrasound-dated singleton pregnancies with an estimated fetal weight <10th centile.

National variations in operative vaginal deliveries in Ireland.

Objective: To compare the percentage of operative vaginal delivery (OVD) among all publicly funded maternity hospitals in Ireland and to develop quality control performance tables to facilitate national benchmarking.

Methods: The analysis included deliveries of neonates weighing 500 g or more in publicly funded hospitals in Ireland in 2010. Information was obtained from the Irish National Perinatal Reporting System.

Maternal obesity and induction of labor.

Objective: To review induction of labor analyzed by body mass index (BMI) category in primigravidas and multigravidas.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Population: Women enrolled after sonographic confirmation of singleton pregnancy in the first trimester.

Offspring birth weight and maternal fasting lipids in women screened for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

Objectives: Maternal lipid metabolism is altered during pregnancy but little is known about the influence of these alterations on either intrauterine fetal development or maternal wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between both fasting cholesterol and triglycerides and offspring birth weight in women screened selectively for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

Study Design: In a prospective observational study in a University Maternity Hospital, women were recruited at their convenience when they were screened for GDM with a diagnostic 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).

Correlation between birth weight and maternal body composition.

Objective: To estimate which maternal body composition parameters measured using multifrequency segmental bioelectric impedance analysis in the first trimester of pregnancy are predictors of increased birth weight.

Methods: Nondiabetic women were recruited after ultrasonographic confirmation of an ongoing singleton pregnancy in the first trimester. Maternal body composition was measured using bioelectric impedance analysis.

Miscarriage after sonographic confirmation of an ongoing pregnancy in women with moderate and severe obesity.

Objective: To compare the incidence of spontaneous miscarriage in women with moderate to severe obesity to that in women with a normal BMI after sonographic confirmation of the foetal heart rate in the first trimester.

Methods: Women were enrolled in a prospective observational study at their convenience in the first trimester after an ultrasound confirmed an ongoing singleton pregnancy with foetal heart activity present. Maternal height and weight were measured digitally and BMI was calculated.

Ultrasound assessment of placental function: the effectiveness of placental biometry in a low-risk population as a predictor of a small for gestational age neonate.

Objective: The aims of the study were to establish reference ranges for placental length and thickness in a low-risk obstetric population and to assess the likelihood of a small for gestational age (SGA) neonate on the basis of placental length at 18-24 weeks' gestation.

Methods: Placental length and thickness were measured by two sonographers in 520 singleton pregnancies. Uterine artery Doppler studies and a placental morphological assessment were also performed.

Maternal mortality and the rising cesarean rate.

Objective: To review maternal mortality in a large stand-alone maternity hospital in a European city and to determine whether the increased cesarean rate was associated with an increase in maternal deaths.

Methods: The details of maternal deaths at Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland, as published in the hospital's Annual Clinical Reports for 1995-2009, were reviewed. Maternal mortality ratio was defined as the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.

Influence of maternal glycemia on intrauterine fetal adiposity distribution after a normal oral glucose tolerance test at 28 weeks gestation.

Objective: To examine the relationship between maternal glucose levels and intrauterine fetal adiposity distribution in women with a normal oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) at 28 weeks gestation.

Study Design: We recruited 231 women with a singleton pregnancy. At 28 and 37 weeks gestation, sonographic measurements of fetal body composition were performed.

Timing of screening for gestational diabetes mellitus in women with moderate and severe obesity.

Objective: We evaluated screening with a diagnostic oral glucose tolerance test earlier than 20 weeks gestation in women with moderate to severe obesity.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: Large university teaching hospital.

The risk of caesarean section in obese women analysed by parity.

Objective: This study looked at the association between caesarean section (CS) and Body Mass Index (BMI) in primigravidas compared with multigravidas.

Study Design: We enrolled women at their convenience, in the first trimester after an ultrasound examination confirmed an ongoing pregnancy. Weight and height were measured digitally and BMI calculated.

Dyspnoea at term in an obese mother.

Peripartum cardiomyopathy is a serious, potentially life-threatening heart disease of uncertain aetiology in previously healthy women. We report a morbidly obese woman who presented with peripartum shortness of breath. We discuss the differential diagnosis of dyspnoea in pregnancy and highlight the complexity of care of the morbidly obese woman.