LONG-TERM OUTCOME OF CHILDREN FOLLOWING MATERNAL HUMAN PARVOVIRUS B19INFECTION

Objective: To determine the long-term outcomes of children exposed in utero to maternal parvovirus B19 infection. Methods: All pregnant wome n with serologic evidence of recent parvovirus B19 infection and a com parison group with serologic evidence of past infection from January 1 988 to December 1994 were sent questionnaires or contacted by phone ab out the health and development of their children. information requeste d included: pregnancy complications, date of delivery, birth weight, s ex, birth defects, need for special care, significant health problems, and developmental delays. All women had serology done at either the C enters for Disease Control and Prevention or the virology laboratory o f the Connecticut Department of Health. The data were analyzed using d escriptive statistics, chi(2) analysis with Fisher exact test, or Stud ent t test in appropriate cases, P < .05 was considered significant. R esults: Outcome information was obtained from 113 of 117 immunoglobuli n-M positive women. The 113 respondents had 103 term singletons, two s ets of twins (of which one neonate died of complications of prematurit y), one hydropic stillborn, four spontaneous abortions, and one ectopi c pregnancy. The mean gestational age at time of exposure was 15.6 wee ks. The median age of the liveborn infants in study and comparison gro ups was 4 years. Eight of the 108 (7.3%) surviving children, one set o f twins (exposed at 27 weeks), and six singletons (exposed at 7, 8, 9, 20, 27, and 35 weeks) had developmental delays in speech, language, i nformation processing, and attention. Outcomes were obtained for 99 of 110 patients with past infection; they had 83 liveborn singletons, fi ve sets of twins, two stillborns, and five spontaneous abortions. Seve n of the 93 (7.5%) children had developmental delays, similar to the s tudy group. Post-hoc power analysis revealed that 712 infected patient s would be needed to find a twofold difference in the risk of abnormal neurologic development; our study had 30% power to find such a differ ence. Conclusion: There is no apparent increase in the frequency of de velopmental delays in children with exposure in utero to parvovirus, b ut larger studies are needed.