Fever in pregnancy at term: fetal-maternal impact on maternity at the Talangai reference hospital in Brazzaville

Abstract

Objectives: Determine the fetal-maternal impact of fever on term pregnancy in order to control complications for better management of the mother-child relationship. Patients and methods: This was a case-control study. Any pregnant woman with a fever of 38.5˚C or more was considered as a case, the non-febrile one as a control. Socio-demographic and obstetrical variables; etiologies of fever; maternal and fetal complications were studied. The results were analyzed using Stata 14 software. The logistic regression model and Pearson's Chi-square test were applied. Results: The frequency of fever and pregnancy is estimated at 1.48% of births. The average age of the pregnant women was 28.32 years; the average parity was 1.79 years; 26.2% were married, 15% had a low level of education and 80.4% had an average socio-economic level. The etiologies of fever were: malaria 27/55 (49%); chorioamniotitis 12/55(21.8%), occupational hyperthermia 13/55 (23.6%); acute pyelonephritis 2/55 (3.6%) and pneumonia 1/55 (1.8%). The difference between the two groups (cases and controls) is not significant in induction of labour 16/55 (29%) cases versus 10/52 (19.2%) controls; Complications of childbirth outcomes 20/55 (26.3%) in cases versus 10/52 (19.2%) in controls. On the other hand, the difference is significant in the number of cesarean sections 30/55 (54.5%) of cases versus 9/52 (17.3%) in controls; and stillbirths 22/55 (40%) in cases versus 2/52 (3.8%) in controls. According to the logistic regression, the age of the mother, the Apgar score, the socio-economic level and the quality of prenatal consultations are the only determining variables for the fetomaternal impact of fever on full-term pregnancy. Conclusion: Fever in full-term pregnancy is harmful to the fetal-maternal development.