Anencephaly : Do the Pregnancy and Maternal Characteristics Impact the Pregnancy Outcome?

Abstract EN

Objective.

To describe the characteristics of obstetric and perinatal outcome of a group of pregnancies complicated by an anencephalic fetus.

Methods.

Observational study including anencephalic fetuses, divided into groups according to the evolution of pregnancy: elective termination of pregnancy ETP; stillbirths (SBs); live births (LBs), and loss of follow-up.

After a univariate description of the sample, some variables were compared using statistical tests.

Results.

180 anencephalic fetuses were included.

The mean maternal age was 25.3 years.

In 71 fetuses (39%) were found additional anomalies.

Comparing the groups, no statistical differences in maternal age (P=0.5315), parity (P=0.6070), number of previous abortion (P=0.7464), fetal sex (P=0.0502) and additional anomalies (P=0.186) were found.

Among those fetuses whose parents opted for continuation of pregnancy (n=53), 20 spontaneous intrauterine deaths occurred (38%) and 33 were live births (62%).

The average postnatal survival time was 51 minutes.

There was no association between survival time and gestational age (P=0.6125) or the presence of additional malformations (P=0.1948).

Conclusion.

Results presented here could contribute to a better understanding of the natural history of this malformation, allowing obstetricians a more detailed discussion with the families.