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Early induction of labor in high-risk intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy: what are the costs?

  • Maternal-Fetal Medicine
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Induction of labor among pregnant women with high levels of total bile acid (TBA) is common among clinicians. We examined, if women with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) and TBA ≥ 40 μmol/l have a higher risk of maternal–fetal complications, when labor is induced at 37 weeks of gestation, compared with induction of labor at term in women with low-risk ICP.

Methods

Retrospective cohort study of 16,185 women delivering at Roskilde University Hospital in the period 2006–2011. Women with high-risk ICP (TBA ≥ 40 μmol/l) had labor induced at 37 weeks of gestation; women with low-risk ICP (TBA < 40 μmol/l) at term.

Outcomes

Mode of delivery, duration of induction procedures, highest level of TBA and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and for the neonates: Apgar scores at 5 min, umbilical cord pHs and SBEs, NICU admissions and birthweights.

Results

The incidences of ICP was 1.2 % (95 % CI 1.05–1.39 %) altogether and for high-risk ICP 0.4 % (95 % CI 0.27–0.46 %). No difference was found in mode of delivery, length of induction of labor nor in neonatal outcomes, except for an expected difference in birthweight. In high-risk ICP, ALT was not raised in 10.3 % (95 % CI 2.5–18.2 %).

Conclusion

Early induction of labor at 37 weeks of gestation seems justified in high-risk ICP, as, except for abbreviating gestational age by 9 days with 296 g smaller babies, induction of labor was not followed by detectable maternal–fetal disadvantages and is favored by an expected major reduction in ICP stillbirth risk.

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Notes

  1. Until November 25th 2009 the Reactionlab A/S—BIO-STAT Bile Acid kit (Cat.no. 495000) was used. The kit was calibrated by performing measurements in parallel with the laboratorium in Gothenburg that performed the analyses in the large Swedish prospective study by A. Glantz (1) and was accordingly corrected by a factor 40/30; later a Sentinel Bile Acids TBA (REF 6K9001) were used and calibrated against its standard.

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Correspondence to Anne Katrine Friberg.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

The Danish Data Protection Agency approved the study (file number: SN-21-2012). No ethic approval was neccesary for this study according to The National Committee on Health Research Ethics.

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Friberg, A.K., Zingmark, V. & Lyndrup, J. Early induction of labor in high-risk intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy: what are the costs?. Arch Gynecol Obstet 294, 709–714 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-016-4019-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-016-4019-8

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