PLoS ONE (Jan 2022)

Asthma in a prospective cohort of rural pregnant women from Sri Lanka: Need for better care during the pre-conceptional and antenatal period.

  • Shashanka Rajapakse,
  • Nuwan Wickramasinghe,
  • Janith Warnasekara,
  • Parami Abeyrathna,
  • Gayani Amarasinghe,
  • Ayesh Umeshana Hettiarachchi,
  • Imasha Upulini Jayasinghe,
  • Iresha Koralegedara,
  • Thilini Chanchala Agampodi,
  • Suneth B Agampodi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269888
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 7
p. e0269888

Abstract

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ObjectivesTo describe the epidemiology and the effect of asthma on pregnancy outcomes in pregnant women from a rural geography.MethodsWe conducted a prospective cohort study in Anuradhapura district, Sri Lanka enrolling all eligible pregnant women registered in the maternal care program. An interviewer-administered questionnaire-based symptom analysis and clinical assessment was conducted in the first and second trimesters.ResultsWe recruited 3374 pregnant women aged 15-48 years at conception. Self-reported physician-diagnosed asthma prevalence was 6.6% (n = 223) with only 41.7% (n = 93) on regular medical follow-up for asthma. The prevalence of wheeze reduced from pre-pregnancy (67.0%) to the first (46.4%) and second trimesters (47.7%; pConclusionThis study reports the high prevalence of asthma and asthma-associated pregnancy outcomes in women from a rural geography signifying the importance of targeted management.