Pregnancy and Perinatal Health Flashcards
What are examples of fertility issues? (7)
- Age
- Smoking
- BMI
- Exercise
- Drugs
- Folate (neural tube defects like spina bifida are more likely to happen if folic acid levels are low so anyone considering pregnancy should be taking folic acid supplements)
- Alcohol (now recognised as being a major issue in causing a range of neurological changes and developmental changes - all termed foetal alcohol syndrome)
What can be considered when fertility is a problem?
- Assisted conception
When is early pregnancy times from?
- Timed from the date of conception - this can be difficult to ascertain
When is the first trimester from?
- Up to 12 weeks
- Typically during this trimester the structures of the embryo are forming and the tissues are differentiating
When is the second trimester from?
- 12-28 weeks
- There is more specialisation and final differentiation
When is the third trimester from?
- 28-40 weeks
- Largely all that is happening is growth and acquisition of changes necessary for successful birth
What are the different types of maternal changes that happen in pregnancy? (5)
- Physical changes
- Hormonal changes
- Haematological changes
- Cardiovascular changes
- Coagulation changes
What is the overall weigh gain of a women during pregnancy?
11-16kg
What is the weight gain in the breasts for a women during pregnancy?
0.5kg
What is the weight gain in the placenta for a women during pregnancy?
0.7kg
What is the weight gain in the uterus for a women during pregnancy?
1.6kg
What is the weight gain of the baby for a women during pregnancy?
3.5kg
What is the weight gain in the amniotic fluid for a women during pregnancy?
1-1.5kg
What is the weight gain in the extra blood volume and fluid for a women during pregnancy?
4kg
Why is it important that more blood volume is produced in a women in pregnancy?
- It is important that more blood volume is produced because there will be blood loss during birth
- Allowing for that by making the circulation larger, it protects the mother against hypovolaemia should there be a significant amount of bleeding at the time of delivery
Why is there increased oestrogen and progesterone in pregnancy? (6)
- Act on kidneys to increase renin secretion
- Increased salt & water retention
Increased plasma volume by 45%
- Dilution effect makes Hb fall from 15-12g/dL
- Protects against haemorrhage at birth
- The patient will appear to have a low haemoglobin but because this is being measured against a larger circulating volume - the absolute amount of haemoglobin carrying oxygen to the tissues remains high
- Therefore the anaemia of pregnancy is to some extent an artificial name as although the mother is anaemic by normal definitions, she has more haemoglobin but has also more circulating volume
- Often this is treated with extra iron as doctors tend to treat values that they feel are not normal but the dilution that you see within the pregnancy is perfectly normal and is likely to protect against haemorrhage at birth
One maternal change during pregnancy is the lower oesophageal sphincter relaxes, what can this lead to?
- This with an increased abdominal pressure gives increased GORD
One maternal change during pregnancy is that hormonal changes increase reduce insulin sensitivity. What can this result in?
- Diabetes in pregnancy
Give examples of haematological changes in pregnancy? (4)
- Increased production of RC, WC and platelets
- 20% increase in RC mass
- Increased platelet consumption makes platelets normal to low
- Increased WC makes diagnosing infections difficult
One maternal change in pregnancy is relaxation of vascular smooth muscle. What does this lead to? (3)
- Reduced peripheral resistance
- Reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure
- Compensatory increase in heart rate by 25%
One maternal change in pregnancy is the vascular compression by the uterus - what problem can be caused by this (especially in dentistry)?
- Vena cava and aorta affected
- Difficulty with venous return when supine
- One thing that is important in dentistry is the positioning of the vena cava and the aorta behind the uterus so when the mother is lying supine the pressure of the baby onto these vessels can cause significant vascular compression
- So consider treating the mother slightly propped to one side to prevent vascular compression
In pregnancy coagulation screens remain normal. However what changes? (3)
- Clotting factor production increases
- Fibrinolysis increases
- Increased system sensitivity with increased DVT risk