International Journal of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Aim: To analyse maternal and perinatal outcomes of pregnancy which has crossed the expected date of delivery.

Background: Pregnancy which last beyond 40 weeks is a known complication of normal delivery. Postdated pregnancy causes specific hazards to both mother and fetus. Mother faces problem like increased incidence of induced labour, instrumental delivery, prolonged labour, shoulder dystocia, LSCS, instrumental delivery which itself associated with many other morbidities, fetal complications ranging from IUGR to macrosomia. The aim of the study was to find out the maternal and perinatal complications associated with postdated pregnancy.

Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis of nine month (February 2021 to October 2021) was done in tertiary care hospital to know the outcome of pregnancies which has crossed the expected date of delivery.

Results: In our study, Maximum number of patients belonged to the age group of 25-30 years both in study (60%) and control group (58.4%). The maximum number of patients in the study group (81.6%) belonged to the gestational age of 40-41 weeks while all the controls belonged to 37-40 weeks gestational age. 68% of the patients in study group were primigravida and in the control group 62.4% were primigravida. The percentage of LSCS in study group was 36% which was higher than in the control group where it was 16%. Incidence of instrumental delivery was also higher in the study group as compared to control group (11.2% as compared to 3.2%). Among the indications for LSCS, the most common indication in the study group was acute fetal distress which includes meconium stained liquor (28.9%) followed by cephalopelvic disproportion (22.2%) while in the control group, most common indication was nonprogress of labour (35%) followed by acute fetal distress (25%). All maternal and perinatal complications were higher in the study group as compared to the control group.

Conclusion: In women with postdated pregnancy an individualized approach to be done. Early intervention should be done in postdated pregnancy to decrease maternal and perinatal complications.