[Epidemiological aspects of children of women with bicornuate uterus].

BACKGROUND

Most published papers on women with a bicornuate uterus analyze their fertility problems, as well as certain pregnancy complications. We have not found any epidemiological study on the infants of mothers with this uterine malformation. Only in some papers a reference is made about the relationship of maternal bicornuate uterus with congenital deformations and disruptions in their infants.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Using data from the Spanish Collaborative Study of Congenital Malformations (ECEMC), which has a case-control methodology, some characteristics in a series of 26,945 malformed infants, such as birth weight, sex, gestational age, umbilical cord length, placental weight and maternal age, were analyzed by separating infants of mothers with normal uterus and those of mothers with a bicornuate uterus.

RESULTS

Results showed that women with a bicornuate uterus have more daughters than sons and an increased risk for intrauterine growth retardation and prematurity with respect to infants of mothers with a normal uterus. On the other hand, the risk of having an infant with congenital defects is higher for women with a bicornuate uterus than for those with a normal uterus.

CONCLUSIONS

Pregnancies of women with a bicornuate uterus have to be considered at risk since they have more risk for complications and for having an infant with congenital defects, premature birth and with intrauterine growth retardation.