Stroke during pregnancy: No increased risk of preterm delivery and low birth weight, a nationwide case-controlled study

Objective: Population-based data regarding pregnancy outcomes for patients who experienced stroke during pregnancy is sparse and mainly from Western populations. The authors investigate the association between strokes and pregnancy outcomes in Chinese women through a nationwide case-controlled study. Methods: A total of 161 women having live singleton births between 2001 and 2003 who had strokes during pregnancy were included in the study group. The authors randomly selected 1288 mothers matched in age and year of delivery for the comparison group. Conditional logistic regressions were performed to examine the odds of low birth weight (LBW), preterm and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) babies between these two groups, after adjusting for the characteristics of mother and infant and comorbid medical disorders. Results: The authors found that the mothers with stroke during pregnancy were more likely to have lower monthly family incomes (p=0.031) and to have gestational hypertension (p=0.004), anaemia (p