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Updated: Aug 30, 2026

A Murine Model of Fetal Exposure to Maternal Inflammation to Study the Effects of Acute Chorioamnionitis on Newborn Intestinal Development
Published on: June 24, 2020
Meconium-stained amniotic fluid is associated with puerperal infections
Susan H Tran1, Aaron B Caughey, Thomas J Musci
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kaiser Permanente, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to determine whether meconium-stained amniotic fluid is associated with puerperal infection and whether the quality of the meconium is further associated with this risk.
Study Design:
We designed a retrospective cohort study of all deliveries beyond 37 weeks gestational age from 1992 to 2002 at a single community hospital. Data were collected on rates of chorioamnionitis, endomyometritis, quality of amniotic fluid, and length of labor and analyzed with bivariate and multivariate analyses.
Results:
We found that, among the 43,200 women who were delivered at term, 18.9% of the women had meconium staining (8.8% thin, 5.5% moderate, 4.6% thick). Compared with deliveries with clear amniotic fluid, those with meconium-stained amniotic fluid had higher rates of chorioamnionitis (2.3% vs 4.1%, P<.001) and endomyometritis (1.0% vs 1.7%, P<.001). Further, the severity of meconium staining was associated with increased rates of infection.
Conclusion:
We found that the presence and severity of meconium-stained amniotic fluid is associated with puerperal infection even when being controlled for confounders.
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