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Urinary tract infections during pregnancy and mental retardation and developmental delay
S McDermott1, W Callaghan, L Szwejbka
1Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia 29203, USA. smcdermott@rmh.edu
Objective:
To investigate the association between urinary tract infections during pregnancy and mental retardation or developmental delay in infants.
Methods:
An inception cohort design was used to analyze Medicaid maternal and infant-linked records and vital records for 41,090 pregnancies from 1995-1998.
Results:
The relative risk (RR) for mental retardation or developmental delay among infants of mothers with diagnosed urinary tract infections but no antibiotic claims was 1.31 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1. 12, 1.54 compared with the group without urinary tract infections. The RR for infants of mothers with urinary tract infections without antibiotic claims was 1.22 (95% CI 1.02, 1.46) compared with infants of mothers with urinary tract infections and antibiotic claims. The RR was significant in the first trimester (1.46, 95% CI 1.07, 1.99) and third trimester (1.41, 95% CI 1.11, 1.79) after controlling for race and gestational age at birth.
Conclusion:
There was a statistically significant association between maternal urinary tract infections without evidence of antibiotics and mental retardation or developmental delay in infants. The relationship persisted when we assumed that over 30% of women who had antibiotic claims filled but did not take the medicine, and 40% of the women who did not have antibiotic claims did take the medication.