Pessary for preterm birth prevention in twin pregnancy with short cervix: 3-year follow-up study

Janneke van 't Hooft, Johanna H. van der Lee, Brent C. Opmeer, Aleid G. van Wassenaer-Leemhuis, Anneloes L. van Baar, Dick J. Bekedam, Leonie J. P. Steenis, Sophie Liem, Ewoud Schuit, Cuny Cuijpers, Elise Bleeker, Margot E. Vinke, Noor Simons, Irene M. de Graaf, Ben Willem J. Mol, Cornelieke van de Beek

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21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We recently found in a randomized clinical trial (ProTWIN) that cervical pessary prevented preterm birth and improved neonatal outcome in women with a multiple pregnancy and a cervical length (CL) <38mm. In this follow-up study we evaluated long-term developmental outcomes in the offspring of these women at three years corrected age. We conducted a follow-up study of the ProTWIN trial, a trial in which between 2009 and 2012 asymptomatic women with a multiple pregnancy had been randomized to pessary or no pessary. Our current follow-up and analysis was limited to mothers with a midtrimester CL <38mm (78 and 55 mothers, 157 and 111 children in the pessary and control group, respectively). At 3 years of corrected age, surviving children were invited for a Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-third edition (Bayley-III) assessment. We compared death after randomization or neurodevelopmental disability (Bayley score of ≤ 85, 1SD below mean) rates between pessary and controls according to intention-to-treat principle and using multiple imputation for missing data. We compared mean Bayley-III scores in surviving children. A linear mixed effects model was used to adjust for correlation between children of one mother. In total 27 children had died (6 pessary vs 21 control group, 5% versus 26%, adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.14; [95% CI 0.04 to 0.50]). Bayley-III outcomes were collected for 173 out of 241 (72%) surviving children (114 (75%) pessary vs 59 (66%) control group). The cumulative incidence of death or survival with a neurodevelopmental disability was 12 (10%) vs 23 (29%) in pessary and control group respectively; aOR 0.26 [95% CI 0.09 to 0.75]. We found neither statistical nor clinically relevant differences in cognitive, language and motor development among surviving children between both groups. Comparable results were found after multiple imputation. In women with a twin pregnancy and a CL < 38 mm, the use of cervical pessary strongly improved survival of the children without affecting neurodevelopmental disability at three years corrected age
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)621-628
JournalUltrasound in obstetrics & gynecology
Volume51
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

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