Summary
Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. 2019;41(3):191-198
To identify the quality of life (QoL) assessment instruments related to the health of women with fecal incontinence (FI) or anal incontinence (AI).
Systematic review conducted in the Virtual Health Library (VHL), PubMed and Cochrane Library databases. The descriptors used were: Questionnaire, Questionnaires, Quality of life, validation, validation Studies, anal incontinence, fecal incontinence and constipation. The search was performed between December 26, 2017 and the beginning of January 2018. The limits used were female gender.
Initially, 5,143 articles were obtained in the search. The articles of validation for Portuguese of questionnaires for the evaluation of the impact of FI/AI on the QoL of women were considered eligible.
The article search was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes (PRISMA) guidelines.
Of the 5,143 articles, only 2 fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria: Fecal Incontinence Quality of Life (FIQL) and the Wexner scale (WS). The FIQL evaluates the QoL related to FI, not covering flatus incontinence. The WS assesses flatus incontinence and the severity of the AI. The WS obtained an interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.932 and a Cronbach α coefficient > 0.90. The FIQL obtained intraexaminer and interexaminer reproducibility ranging from 0.929 to 0.957 and from 0.944 to 0.969, respectively.
The WS and the FIQL have satisfactory reliability and validity for use during gynecological consultations.
Summary
Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. 2019;41(2):104-115
Diabetes during pregnancy has been linked to unfavorable maternal-fetal outcomes. Human insulins are the first drug of choice because of the proven safety in their use. However, there are still questions about the use of insulin analogs during pregnancy. The objective of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of insulin analogs compared withhuman insulin in the treatment of pregnant women with diabetes througha systematic review withmeta-analysis. The search comprised the period since the inception of each database until July 2017, and the following databases were used:MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, ISIWeb of Science, LILACS, Scopus, SIGLE andGoogle Scholar.We have selected 29 original articles: 11 were randomized clinical trials and 18 were observational studies.We have explored data from 6,382 participants. All of the articles were classified as having an intermediate to high risk of bias. The variable that showed favorable results for the use of insulin analogs was gestational age, with a mean difference of - 0.26 (95 % confidence interval [CI]: 0.03-0.49; p = 0.02), but with significant heterogeneity (Higgins test [I2] = 38%; chi-squared test [χ2] = 16.24; degree of freedom [DF] = 10; p = 0.09). This result, in the clinical practice, does not compromise the fetal well-being, since all babies were born at term. There was publication bias in the gestational age and neonatal weight variables. To date, the evidence analyzed has a moderate-to-high risk of bias and does not allow the conclusion that insulin analogs are more effective when compared with human insulin to treat diabetic pregnant women.
Summary
Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. 2018;40(10):625-630
Improving infrastructural conditions of the in vitro fertilization laboratory, such as the air quality, has profound positive effects on embryo culture. Poor environmental conditions reduce the rate of embryo formation and, therefore, of pregnancy. This review article presents important publications regarding the impact of air quality in human reproduction laboratories on embryo quality, pregnancy success, and live births. The studies demonstrate that the replacing the air filtration system improves significantly the environmental air quality, and, consequently, improves laboratory parameters, such as the fertilization rate, the number of blastocysts, the embryo implantation rate, and the number of live births. On the other hand, improving air quality decreases the number of abortions. Therefore, environmental parameters that improve embryo quality and increase healthy child birth ratesmust be themain targets for the assisted reproduction laboratory quality control.
Summary
Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. 2018;40(9):554-562
Twin pregnancy accounts for 2 to 4% of total births, with a prevalence ranging from 0.9 to 2.4% in Brazil. It is associated with worse maternal and perinatal outcomes. Many conditions, such as severe maternal morbidity (SMM) (potentially life-threatening conditions and maternal near-miss) and neonatal near-miss (NNM) still have not been properly investigated in the literature. The difficulty in determining the conditions associated with twin pregnancy probably lies in its relatively low occurrence and the need for larger population studies. The use of the whole population and of databases from large multicenter studies, therefore, may provide unprecedented results. Since it is a rare condition, it ismore easily evaluated using vital statistics from birth e-registries. Therefore, we have performed a literature review to identify the characteristics of twin pregnancy in Brazil and worldwide. Twin pregnancy has consistently been associated with SMM, maternal near-miss (MNM) and perinatal morbidity, with still worse results for the second twin, possibly due to some characteristics of the delivery, including safety and availability of appropriate obstetric care to women at a high risk of perinatal complications.
Summary
Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. 2018;40(8):471-476
Evaluate the influence of prenatal care on the occurrence of gestational hypertension.
The Web of Science, Scopus, Pubmed, Cochrane and ClinicalTrials electronic databases were searched for articles published between January 1st, 2012 and December 31st, 2016. No language restrictions were imposed. The following keywords were used: prenatal care, medical assistance, prenatal education, pregnancy-induced hypertension. The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) checklist was employed. Two hundred and forty articles were identified during the initial search, but only seven met the inclusion criteria. This systematic review is registered with the international prospective register of systematic reviews (PROSPERO; #CRD42017064103).
The seven studies hada lowriskof bias,withmethodological quality scores ranging fromsix to eight points. Five studies found a positive relationship between prenatal care and pregnancy-induced hypertension, whereas two studies found no significant association between the two variables. The divergence among the studies may have been due to the type of healthcare service at which the study was conducted and the sample size.
Although the studies analyzed differed with regard to methodological aspects, the findings demonstrate the importance of prenatal care during the gestational period as a prevention and health promotion measure.