Anencephaly: do the pregnancy and maternal characteristics impact the pregnancy outcome?

Abstract

Objective. To describe the characteristics of obstetric and perinatal outcome of a group of pregnancies complicated by an anencephalic fetus. Methods. Observational study including anencephalic fetuses, divided into groups according to the evolution of pregnancy: elective termination of pregnancy ETP; stillbirths (SBs); live births (LBs), and loss of follow-up. After a univariate description of the sample, some variables were compared using statistical tests. Results. 180 anencephalic fetuses were included. The mean maternal age was 25.3 years. In 71 fetuses (39%) were found additional anomalies. Comparing the groups, no statistical differences in maternal age (P = 0.5315), parity (P = 0.6070), number of previous abortion (P = 0.7464), fetal sex (P = 0.0502) and additional anomalies (P = 0.186) were found. Among those fetuses whose parents opted for continuation of pregnancy (n = 53), 20 spontaneous intrauterine deaths occurred (38%) and 33 were live births (62%). The average postnatal survival time was 51 minutes. There was no association between survival time and gestational age (P = 0.6125) or the presence of additional malformations (P = 0.1948). Conclusion. Results presented here could contribute to a better understanding of the natural history of this malformation, allowing obstetricians a more detailed discussion with the families.

Figure 1

Frequency distribution of the anencephalic fetuses according to the outcome. ETP: elective terminated pregnancies. n = 180 (all included), n = 130 (excluding the cases without postnatal follow-up).