Abstract
BACKGROUND: Maternal, fetal, and neonatal complications of brucellosis in pregnant women are probably higher than those in the general population. This comparative study aimed to survey the mentioned complications in pregnant women with positive and negative Brucella serologic tests. STUDY DESIGN: This is a prospective cohort study. METHODS: In this study, 2160 pregnant women residing in the rural area of Hamadan province were screened for Brucella infection by agglutination test. Then, 106 (4.90%) pregnant women with a positive test (exposed group) were compared with 210 subjects (non-exposed group) who were randomly selected from more than 2000 pregnant women with a negative serological test in terms of maternal, fetal, and neonatal outcomes from October 2018 to March 2020. Data were analyzed by SPSS 20 software at a 95% confidence level. RESULTS: The mean age of mothers in both exposed and unexposed groups was 27.84±6.13 and 38.71±6.85 years, respectively. Past medical history of brucellosis, animal contact, and the consumption of unpasteurized dairy products were reported to be 14 (13.2%), 63 (59.4%), and 82 (77.4%), respectively, in the exposed group. The mentioned measures were 3 (1.5%), 109 (51.9%), and 54 (26.9%) in the unexposed group, respectively. Among exposed and unexposed groups, the incidence of abortion was 9 (8.6%) and 5 (2.4%) with P=0.005, intrauterine fetal death was 2 (1.9%) and zero with P=0.211, low birth weight was 10 (10.6%) and 7 (3.4%) with P=0.012, and premature birth was 15 (15.2%) and 18 (8.8%) with P=0.066, respectively. CONCLUSION: Brucella infection in pregnant women appears to be associated with the risk of miscarriage, low birth weight, and premature birth.