ID-5184 Wonca Abstracts supplement A-K 13-10-23 - Flipbook - Page 199
WONCA 2023 Supplement 1: WONCA 2023 abstracts (A–K)
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Don’t worry be pregnant
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Dr Ruth Kirk Ertmann, Dagny Ros Nicolaisdottir, Jakob Kragstrup, Gritt Overbeck, Margit Kriegbaum,
Volkert Dirk Siersma
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University of Copenhagen
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Introduction
The aim was to investigate whether common pregnancy-related symptoms – nausea, vomiting, back
pain, pelvic girdle pain, pelvic cavity pain, vaginal bleeding, itching of the vulva, pregnancy itching,
leg cramps, uterine contractions and varicose veins – in the first trimester of pregnancy add to the
identification of women at high risk of future pregnancy and birth complications.
Materials and methods
Survey data linked to national register data. All women booking an appointment for a first prenatal visit
in one of 192 randomly selected GP practices in east Denmark in the period April 2015–August 2016.
The GPs included 1491 women to this prospective study. From the Danish medical birth register two
outcomes were collected: pregnancy complications and birth complications.
Results
Among the 1413 included women, 199 (14%) experienced complications in later pregnancy. The most
serious complication, miscarriage, was experienced by 65 (4.6%) women. Other common pregnancy
complications were gestational diabetes (n = 11; 0.8%), gestational hypertension without proteinuria
(n = 34; 2.4%), mild to moderate pre-eclampsia (n = 34; 2.4%) and gestational itching with effect on
liver (n = 17; 1.2%).
Women who experienced pelvic girdle pain, pelvic cavity pain or vaginal bleeding in the first trimester
of pregnancy had a higher risk of pregnancy complications later on in later pregnancy. None of the
other examined symptoms showed associations to pregnancy complications. No associations were
found between pregnancy-related physical symptoms in first trimester and birth complications.
Conclusion
Symptoms in early pregnancy do not add much information about the risk of pregnancy or birth
complications, although pain and bleeding may give reason for some concern. This is an important
message to women experiencing these common symptoms and to their caregivers.
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