LOW-BIRTH-WEIGHT AND POSTPARTUM ENDOMETRITIS-MYOMETRITIS

Background. The study aims at confirming or rejecting the hypothesis o f an association between birthweight and post partum uterine infection . Methods. A case-referent study was performed on 51 puerperal women w ith clinical signs of endometritis-myometritis. To each case an otherw ise healthy puerperal woman was recruited and matched for age, parity and days after delivery. Results. The proportion of women having had n ewborns with birthweight<2500 g was 20/49 among cases and 2/50 among r eferents (odds ratio 16.6; 95% CI 3.5-152.3). Preterm births were regi stered in 15/50 cases and 2/49 referents (odds ratio 10.1; 95% CI 2.1- 94.5). The average gestational age at delivery was approximately 2 wee ks shorter among cases than among referents (37.5 versus 39.5 weeks). Conclusions. Low birth weight was ten times more prevalent among women with puerperal infection than among healthy puerperal women. The find ings indicate that giving birth to a low birth weight baby is strongly associated with ensuing puerperal infection, possibly by a subclinica l antenatal intrauterine infection, predisposing to both adverse fetal and maternal outcomes of pregnancy.