Outcome of pregnancy among women in anaesthetic practice.

A survey has been made of the outcome of the pregnancies of 5700 women doctors first registered in England and Wales in 1950 or later. Conceptions that occurred when the mother was in an anaesthetic appointment resulted in smaller babies, higher stillbirth-rates, and more congenital malformations of the cardiovascular system than the pregnancies of other women doctors. There was no significant difference in the spontaneous-abortion rate between the two groups. A pronounced effect of age on this rate was evident among all groups examined.