Child's respiratory and sleep health following mid-trimester amniocentesis Danielius Serapinas and Daiva Bartkeviciene Special articles

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to investigate the rates of respiratory and sleep disturbances in infants whose mothers experienced amniocentesis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Infants whose mothers have undergone midterm amniocentesis (between 16 and 20 weeks) and no invasive procedure (controls) were enrolled. RESULTS: The study analyzed 50 infants whose mothers have undergone amniocentesis (amniocentesis group) and 47 controls. Amniocentesis group had higher incidence of sleep disturbances: 30 cases (60 %), compared with 11 controls (23.4 %) (P = 0.001). In the amniocentesis group there were 7 children (14 %) with asthma, while in the control group, asthma was confirmed in 1 child (2.1 %) (P = 0.032). CONCLUSION: Our data triggers the hypothesis that associations between midterm amniocentesis, child's asthma and sleep disturbances may exist. These preliminary results reveal the importance of further studies and the need for the analysis of long term effects of invasive testing.