Objectives: To assess the maternal and fetal perinatal morbidities in uncontrolled asthmatic pregnant women requiring hospitalization and to describe and quantify the impact of asthma severity and medications during pregnancy on maternal and fetal health. Design: Hospital- based prospective study. Patients and methods: The study included all pregnant women admitted with uncontrolled asthma in Chest Departments, Assiut University hospital as well as similar number of normal pregnant women attending the Maternity out-patients clinic during the period from June 2010 to June 2011. All subjects were followed during their pregnancy and one month after delivery and any associated complications in both the mother and her infant were recorded. Results: the study included 66 pregnant women with uncontrolled asthma. The most common maternal complications were early rupture of membranes (18.1%), antepartum hemorrhage (18.1%), gestational diabetes (9.1%) and pre-eclampsia (9.1%). Mechanical ventilation was indicated in 9.1%. Fetal complications were low birth weight (14.6%), intrauterine growth retardation (18.1%) and intrauterine fetal death (9.1%). Uncontrolled bronchial asthma was the most common maternal respiratory illness associated with both maternal and fetal morbidities (31.8% - 61.5% respectively). Conclusion: In our Hospital, pregnant women with uncontrolled asthma accounted for 31.8% maternal morbidities and 61.5% of fetal morbidities compared to pregnant women admitted with other respiratory diseases. Intervention efforts to increase awareness to improve respiratory care in pregnant women with asthma should be encouraged in our community.
Mohamed-Hussein et al. (Sun,) studied this question.