07 Mar Dengue During Pregnancy Linked to Adverse Fetal Outcomes

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Mrs Enny S Paixão
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
London UK 

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Dengue is a vector borne disease endemic in more than 100 countries (mainly in South America and southeast Asia) and is spreading to new areas, with outbreaks of increasing magnitude and severity. It is estimated that each year, 390 million people are infected with dengue and 96 million develop clinical symptoms. Despite of the importance of this disease, the effects of disease during pregnancy on fetal outcomes remain unclear. Using the published scientific literature, we investigated the risk of stillbirth, miscarriage, preterm birth, and low birth weight for women who had dengue infection during pregnancy.

This study showed some evidence that dengue infection alone, in the absence of clinical symptoms, does not affect the outcome of pregnancy, but also that clinical dengue during pregnancy seems to increase the frequency of stillbirth, prematurity, and low birthweight.

MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Response: More studies are required to prove the association between dengue during pregnancy and negative fetal outcomes, however if this association is confirmed, recommendations should be made for the close monitoring of pregnancies during which dengue is diagnosed and for strategies for dengue control to include pregnant women as an at-risk population.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: In view of how common dengue infection is, original research needs to be done with appropriately sized studies and rigorous methodology to investigate the effects of dengue in pregnancy and the relevance of clinical symptoms and the gestational age at which the infection occurs. 

MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.

Citation:

Dengue during pregnancy and adverse fetal outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Paixão, Enny S et al.

The Lancet Infectious Diseases , Volume 0 , Issue 0
Published Online: 03 March 2016
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(16)00088-8

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More Medical Research Interviews on MedicalResearch.com

Mrs Enny S Paixão (2016). Dengue During Pregnancy Linked to Adverse Fetal Outcomes 

Last Updated on March 7, 2016 by Marie Benz MD FAAD