Pregnancy Outcomes in Women with Spinal Cord Injuries: A Population-Based Study.
Deborah A Crane, David R Doody, Melissa A Schiff and 1 others
PMID 30729746WHAT IT FOUND
Mothers with spinal cord injury, paralysis, or spina bifida faced high risks of infection, blood clots, and preterm birth.
Infants were often born early or small. However, these babies did not have higher rates of hospitalization or death in their first two years compared to other infants.
Key findings
01Mothers with these disabilities had greatly increased risks of urinary tract infections and blood clots during pregnancy.
02Infants of mothers with these disabilities were more likely to be born preterm, have low birth weight, or be small for gestational age.
03Despite higher risks of preterm birth and low birth weight, infants did not have increased risks of rehospitalization or death in the first two years.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study relied on ICD-9 codes to identify disabilities, which may have missed some cases or included women with paralysis from other causes. There was no data on the severity of the disability, neurological level of injury, or functional status of the mothers. Rare events like autonomic dysreflexia may have been under-reported due to coding limitations. The study could not determine if the increased risk of preterm birth was directly caused by the disability or by associated factors like infection.
Declared interests
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (N.I.H., Extramural). No specific commercial conflicts of interest were declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that infants born to mothers with these disabilities have poor long-term health outcomes. While they are more likely to be born preterm or small, this study found they did not have higher rates of rehospitalization or death in the first two years compared to other infants.