Treated maternal gonorrhea without adverse effect on outcome of pregnancy

Infants born to mothers with gonorrhea are at risk for neonatal gonococcal infection, primarily ophthalmitis. To determine whether gonorrhea during pregnancy may have other adverse effects, we compared the outcome of pregnancy to gonorrheal status for all women who were delivered of infants at Grady Memorial Hospital in 1976 and 1977. The incidence of positive cultures was 41.1 per thousand pregnant women. For 85% of women with positive cultures, treatment was recorded in the chart. Women with positive cultures were younger (P less than .0001) and of lower parity (P less than .001) than women was negative cultures. There were no differences, however, in selected complications of labor and delivery, in the incidence of premature or low birthweight babies, or in the neonatal death rate of babies born to mothers with positive or negative gonorrhea cultures. These results indicate that gonorrhea during pregnancy, if treated, does not adversely affect the fetus or newborn.