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Prevalence of asthma is moderate in Turkey. Agreement between the two questionnaires was high. Accompaniment of children to their parents in textile industry is a newly-described risk factor for asthma.

Introduction & Objective ADAMTS-9, one of the ADAMTS enzymes, is expressed in all fetal tissues, unlike other ADAMTS enzymes, and is thus thought to play a role in fetal development. In this context, the objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between ADAMTS-9 activity and the development of Congenital Heart Diseases (CHD) with a view to using ADAMTS-9 level as a biomarker for CHDs. Material & Method Newborns diagnosed with CHD and healthy newborns were included in the study as the CHD and control groups, respectively. Gestational age, maternal age, and mode of delivery information pertaining to the mothers and APGAR score and birth weight information pertaining to the newborns were recorded. Blood samples were taken from all newborns to determine their ADAMTS-9 levels in the first 24 hours of life. Results Fifty-eight newborns with CHD and 46 healthy newborns were included in the study. Median ADAMTS-9 levels were 46.57 [interquartile range(IQR):33.31 (min.26.92, max.124.25)] ng/ml and 23.36 [(IQR:5.48)(min.11.7, max.37.71)] ng/ml in the CHD and control groups, respectively. ADAMTS-9 levels in the CHD group were statistically significantly higher than in the control group (p=0.000). ADAMTS-9 levels of the CHD and control groups were analyzed by the receiver operating characteristics(ROC) curve. The area under the curve (AUC) value for ADAMTS-9levels of >27.86 ng/ml as the cut-off value for predicting the development of CHD in newborns was 0.836 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.753-0.900, p=0.0001]. ADAMTS-9 levels of >27.86 ng/ml were determined to predict the development of CHD in newborns with a sensitivity of 77.78% [95% CI: 65.5-87.38] and a specificity of 84.78% [95% CI: 71.1-93.60]. Conclusion In conclusion, it was found that the serum ADAMTS-9 levels were significantly higher in newborns with CHD than in healthy newborns. In parallel, ADAMTS-9 levels above a certain cut-off value were associated with CHD.

Objective Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during pregnancy may have an impact on preterm morbidities due to the inflammatory nature of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Exposure to intrauterine inflammation could result in adverse consequences in preterm infants. We aimed to determine the effect of maternal coronavirus disease on preterm morbidities at a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit. Study Design This observational cohort study compared the clinical outcomes of preterm infants < 37 gestational weeks with and without maternal COVID-19. The study was conducted in a tertiary-level neonatal intensive care unit between March 2020 and December 2021. Demographics and clinical data of the study groups were collected from the medical files. Results A total of 254 infants (127 in the maternal COVID-19 group and 127 in the control group) were included in the study. Respiratory distress syndrome, early and late neonatal sepsis, intraventricular hemorrhage, patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), necrotizing enterocolitis, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and retinopathy of prematurity rates were similar between groups. In the subgroup analysis, the rate of PDA was significantly higher in preterm infants ≤1,500 g with maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection (38 vs. 15% p = 0.023). Presence of maternal COVID-19 was found to be an independent predictor for PDA in very low birthweight infants, as revealed by multivariate analyses (odds ratio: 3.4; 95% confidence interval: 1.12–10.4; p = 0.031). Mortality rates and duration of hospitalization were similar in both groups. Conclusion Our results suggest that COVID-19 infection during pregnancy seems to have no adverse effect on preterm morbidities and mortality. However, maternal COVID-19 was found to be a risk factor for PDA in preterm infants ≤1,500 g. Key Points