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The effect of substance use during pregnancy on neonatal outcomes in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Substance use during pregnancy mainly khat chewing (20%) and alcohol drinking (18.1%) are commonly practiced in Ethiopia. However, the effect of using these substances has not been studied nationally yet. Thus, this study was aimed to examine national evidence about the effect of substance use during pregnancy on birth outcome in the country, 2020.

Methods

Primary studies were accessed through Google scholar, HINARI, SCOPUS and PubMed databases. The methodological and evidence quality of the included studies were critically appraised by the modified Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment tool scale adapted for observational studies. From eligible studies, two authors extracted author/year, study region, study design, sample size and reported effect of antenatal substance use on birth outcome on an excel spreadsheet. During critical appraisal and data extraction, disagreements between the two authors were resolved by the involvement of a third author. The extracted data were then exported to stata version 14. Effect sizes were pooled using the fixed-effects model due to homogenous primary studies (I² = 0.0%). Presence of publication bias was detected from asymmetry of funnel plot and statistically significant Egger's test (p = 0.000).

Results

In this systematic review and meta-analysis, a total of 5,343 mother-neonate pairs were included from 15 studies. Alcohol, khat, cigarette and narghile were used during pregnancy, and significant adverse birth outcomes attributable to these substances were reported. From the pooled effect of alcohol use, drinking mothers were twice (95%CI: AOR = 2.16; 1.16, 3.17) likely to have newborns with birth defect; 9 times (95% CI: AOR = 9.39; 2.84, 15.94) more prone to own low birth weight neonates; and 1.9 times more prone to deliver preterm neonates (95% CI: AOR = 1.93; 0.52, 3.33) than the nondrinkers. Khat users were 2.4 times (95%CI: AOR = 2.4; 1.11, 5.19) more likely to have congenitally defected neonates; and 3.1 times (95%CI: AOR = 3.19; 1.01, 5.37) more risked to possess low birth weight neonates. Furthermore, antenatal cigarette smokers (95% CI: AOR = 4.36 (1.75, 6.98)) and narghile users (95% CI: AOR = 20.1; 3.94, 103) were at 4 and 20 times more likelihood of having low birth weight neonates as compared to their counterparts.

Conclusion

Prematurity, low birth weight and congenital malformation were the investigated adverse effects of antenatal substance use in Ethiopia. Therefore, the existing public health efforts should be encouraged to help women stop using these substances completely before pregnancy. Moreover, increasing public awareness about the potential negative impacts of substance use during pregnancy on birth outcome would be of greatest importance for comprehensive prevention of the problem.

SUBMITTER: Bayih WA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8093475 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Although exempt, many pregnant Muslim women partake in the daily fast during daylight hours during the month of Ramadan. In other contexts an impoverished diet during pregnancy impacts on birth weight. The aim of this systematic review was to determine whether Ramadan fasting by pregnant women affects perinatal outcomes. Primary outcomes investigated were perinatal mortality, preterm birth and small for gestational age (SGA) infants. Secondary outcomes investigated were stillbirth, neonatal death, maternal death, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes, congenital abnormalities, serious neonatal morbidity, birth weight, preterm birth and placental weight. METHODS:Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies and randomised controlled trials was conducted in EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Google Scholar, the Health Management Information Consortium and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts. Studies from any year were eligible. Studies reporting predefined perinatal outcomes in pregnancies exposed to Ramadan fasting were included. Cohort studies with no comparator group or that considered fasting outside pregnancy were excluded, as were studies assuming fasting practice based solely upon family name. Quality of included studies was assessed using the ROBINS-I tool for assessing risk of bias in non-randomised studies. Analyses were performed in STATA. RESULTS:From 375 records, 22 studies of 31,374 pregnancies were included, of which 18,920 pregnancies were exposed to Ramadan fasting. Birth weight was reported in 21 studies and was not affected by maternal fasting (standardised mean difference [SMD] 0.03, 95% CI 0.00 to 0.05). Placental weight was significantly lower in fasting mothers (SMD -0.94, 95% CI -0.97 to ?-0.90), although this observation was dominated by a single large study. No data were presented for perinatal mortality. Ramadan fasting had no effect on preterm delivery (odds ratio 0.99, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.37) based on 5600 pregnancies (1193 exposed to Ramadan fasting). CONCLUSIONS:Ramadan fasting does not adversely affect birth weight although there is insufficient evidence regarding potential effects on other perinatal outcomes. Further studies are needed to accurately determine whether Ramadan fasting is associated with adverse maternal or neonatal outcome.

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Project description:Vitamin D has well-defined classical functions related to calcium metabolism and bone health but also has non-classical effects that may influence other aspects of health. There has been considerable recent interest in the role of vitamin D on outcomes related to pregnancy and young child health but few efforts have been made to systematically consolidate this evidence to inform the research and policy agenda for low-income countries. A systematic review was undertaken to identify intervention and observational studies of vitamin D supplementation, intake or status (25-hydroxy-vitamin D) during pregnancy on perinatal and infant health outcomes. Data from trials and observational studies isolating the effect of vitamin D supplementation and intake were extracted and study quality was evaluated. Meta-analysis was used to pool effect estimates. We identified five randomised trials with outcomes of relevance to our review. All had small sample size and dosage amount, duration and frequency varied as did the ability to correct deficiency. Pooled analysis of trials using fixed-effects models suggested protective effects of supplementation on low birthweight (three trials, risk ratio (RR) = 0.40 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.23, 0.71]) and non-significant but suggestive effects of daily supplementation on small-for-gestational age (two trials, RR = 0.67 [0.40, 1.11]). No effect on preterm delivery (<37 weeks) was evident (two trials, RR = 0.77 [0.35, 1.66]). Little evidence from trials exists to evaluate the effect of vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy on maternal, perinatal or infant health outcomes. Based on both trials and observational studies, we recommend that future research explore small-for-gestational age, preterm delivery, pre-eclampsia, and maternal and childhood infections, as outcomes of interest. Trials should focus on populations with a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, explore the relevance of timing of supplementation, and the dosage used in such trials should be sufficient to correct deficiency.

Project description:IntroductionConflicting reports of increases and decreases in rates of preterm birth (PTB) and stillbirth in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic have surfaced. The objective of our study was to conduct a living systematic review and meta-analyses of studies reporting pregnancy and neonatal outcomes by comparing the pandemic and pre-pandemic periods.Material and methodsWe searched PubMed and Embase databases, reference lists of articles published up until 14 May 2021 and included English language studies that compared outcomes between the COVID-19 pandemic time period and pre-pandemic time periods. Risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. We conducted random-effects meta-analysis using the inverse variance method.ResultsThirty-seven studies with low-to-moderate risk of bias, reporting on 1 677 858 pregnancies during the pandemic period and 21 028 650 pregnancies during the pre-pandemic period, were included. There was a significant reduction in unadjusted estimates of PTB (28 studies, unadjusted odds ratio [uaOR] 0.94, 95% confidence [CI] 0.91-0.98) but not in adjusted estimates (six studies, adjusted OR [aOR] 0.95, 95% CI 0.80-1.13). The reduction was noted in studies from single centers/health areas (uaOR 0.90, 95% CI 0.86-0.94) but not in regional/national studies (uaOR 0.99, 95% CI 0.95-1.03). There was reduction in spontaneous PTB (five studies, uaOR 0.89, 95% CI 0.82-0.98) and induced PTB (four studies, uaOR 0.90, 95% CI 0.81-1.00). There was no reduction in PTB when stratified by gestational age <34, <32 or <28 weeks. There was no difference in stillbirths between the pandemic and pre-pandemic time periods (21 studies, uaOR 1.08, 95% CI 0.94-1.23; four studies, aOR 1.06, 95% CI 0.81-1.38). There was an increase in birthweight (six studies, mean difference 17 g, 95% CI 7-28 g) during the pandemic period. There was an increase in maternal mortality (four studies, uaOR 1.15, 95% CI 1.05-1.26), which was mostly influenced by one study from Mexico. There was significant publication bias for the outcome of PTB.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic time period may be associated with a reduction in PTB; however, referral bias cannot be excluded. There was no difference in stillbirth between the pandemic and pre-pandemic period.