Increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes among women affected by herpangina.

Abstract

This population-based study aimed to assess the relation between herpangina and adverse pregnancy outcomes: low birthweight (LBW), small for gestational age (SGA), and preterm delivery. A total of 242 pregnant women who had singleton births and who visited ambulatory care centers for the treatment of herpangina were assessed, together with 1936 matched women as a comparison group. Conditional logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the risk of LBW, preterm birth, and SGA for mothers with herpangina and unaffected mothers. Compared with pregnant women without herpangina, herpangina was associated with a 2.29- (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.42-3.69), 1.67- (95% CI, 1.04-2.68), and 1.63-fold (95% CI, 1.14-2.33) increased risk of having LBW, preterm, and SGA infants, respectively, after adjusting for family income and maternal and infant characteristics. Our findings highlight a significant potential risk posed by herpangina, a usually mild disease, among pregnant women.