D’Souza Lab presents research at the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine Annual Scientific Meeting in San Francisco
The D’Souza Lab presented three research projects and connected with colleagues from around the world at the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine’s 43rd Annual Pregnancy Meeting in San Francisco. Read more about the projects below.
Issues that Influence Health During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period: An International Concept Mapping Study
Herman, C. Salmon, J. Parsons, C. Juando-Prats, P. O’Campo, and R. D’Souza.
Pregnancy-related research has traditionally focused on the physical health of pregnant persons and their babies. This may be due to the lack of patient perspective in determining what issues affect their health during and after pregnancy and childbirth. The objectives of this study were to identify issues that individuals with pregnancy experiences and pregnancy care providers perceive to influence health during pregnancy and the postpartum period, understand how these issues are prioritized, and identify actionable issues to inform pregnancy care, policy and research.
The study employed concept mapping to identify 85 unique concepts, which health-care users and healthcare providers rated based on three scales: importance, preventability and recognizability. The study found that health service users and healthcare providers recognize that health during and after pregnancy is influenced by factors other than physical morbidity, but they differ in how they prioritize these issues. Addressing actionable items important to patients through multidisciplinary collaboration could improve health outcomes.
This study was conducted as part of the Outcome Reporting in Obstetric Studies (OROS) project.
Strategies to Increase Vaccine Uptake in Pregnant and Breastfeeding Individuals: A Scoping Review
Pinnington, K. Horsley, and R. D’Souza.
Despite the well-documented benefits of maternal vaccination, vaccine uptake remains low in this population. This study focused on identifying and mapping strategies to increase vaccine uptake in pregnant and breastfeeding individuals. The researchers performed a scoping review of published literature that reported on pregnant and breastfeeding individuals, examined an intervention to improve vaccine uptake, and reported outcomes related to change in vaccine attitude, perspective, intention, behaviour, or uptake.
Their review yielded over 5,000 publications, which were then mapped according to the kinds of interventions that were employed. Most studies used a combination of interventions; intrapersonal and institutional strategies were the most widely kinds of interventions employed. The published literature points to several successful strategies for increasing vaccine uptake among pregnant and breastfeeding individuals. Incorporating these strategies into guidelines and protocols could increase the uptake of routinely recommended and new vaccines in this population, including COVID-19 vaccines.
This study was conducted as part of the Confidence Project.
A Core Outcome Set for Studies on Vasa Previa (COVasP): An International Consensus Study
Yeretsian, R. Ashraf, A. Adams, N. Javid, N. Donnolley, J.C. Kingdom, and R. D’Souza.
There is little consistency in how outcomes are measured and reported across screening, diagnostic, and management studies of Vasa Previa (VP) – a rare but severe complication of pregnancy in which some of the fetal umbilical cord blood vessels run across or very close to the internal opening of the cervix. The objective of this study was to develop a core outcome set for diagnostic and management studies of VP.
Health service users (HSUs) and healthcare professionals (HCPs) from around the world were asked to participate in two rounds of online Delphi surveys, virtual small group meetings, and a virtual consensus meeting to finalize the core outcome set. The study identified core outcomes to be measured and reported in published studies on VP, in addition to other important data items to be incorporated into future research and clinical practice. This will enable harmonization of outcome reporting and measurement, facilitating appropriate meta-analyses and the drawing of meaningful conclusions to inform clinical practice and health policy.
This study was conducted as part of the Outcome Reporting in Obstetric Studies (OROS) project.
