A retrospective comparison of pregnancy outcomes between women with alpha-thalassaemia 1 trait and normal controls

作者：Traisrisilp Kuntharee^*; Jatavan Phudit; Tongsong Theera

来源：Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2017, 37(8): 1000-1003.

DOI：10.1080/01443615.2017.1313822

• Alpha-thalassaemia-1
• haemoglobin
• outcomes
• pregnancy
• trait

The objective of this retrospective cohort study was to compare pregnancy outcomes between low-risk pregnant women with alpha-thalassaemia-1 trait and normal controls. The database of the Maternal Foetal Medicine unit was used to identify low-risk singleton pregnant women complicated by alpha-thalassaemia-1 trait who gave birth between January 2002 and October 2014. The low-risk pregnancies with non-carrier status for thalassaemia were assigned into the control group, with a control to-case ratio of 10:1. During the study period, 595 women with alpha-thalassaemia-1 trait and 5950 normal controls were identified. There was no significant difference in the incidence of preterm birth and most obstetric outcomes between the two groups. However, a statistically significant difference was detected between them in terms of gestational age at delivery, 37.76 +/- 2.81 vs. 38.11 +/- 2.50 weeks (p=.001), birth weight, 2876 +/- 581 vs. 2948 +/- 5278 (p=.002) as well as the rate of low-birth weight, 17.1 vs. 12.8% (p=.002). In conclusion, this study provides new insights that alpha-thalassaemia-1 trait has minimal effect on gestational age at delivery and low-birth weight whereas other common adverse pregnancy outcomes are not increased.
IMPACT STATEMENT
What is already known on this subject: Thalassaemia trait is associated with some degree of anaemia.
What the results of this study add: The prevalence of common adverse outcomes such as pre-term birth, stillbirth, low Apgar scores and pregnancy-induced hypertension were not significantly different between both the groups, possibly caused by too small sample size to gain enough power. However, the rate of low-birth weight was significantly increased among pregnancy with alpha-thalassaemia-1 trait.
What the implications are of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research: The information may be provided for alpha thalassaemia-1 trait mothers and their families. Physicians should guard against the occurrence of adverse pregnancy in these mothers. Prospective control study should be conducted to overcome the limitation of retrospective nature.

• 出版日期2017-11