Birth Weight and Genital Mycoplasmas in Pregnancy

Abstract

To ascertain the relation between mycoplasmas in the cervix and urine of pregnant women and the outcome of pregnancy, 485 patients were studied prospectively in the prenatal clinic of the Boston City Hospital. T-strains were recovered from 384 women who gave birth to babies whose mean birth weight was 202 g (7.1 oz) less than that of the babies of women from whom T-strains were not isolated (p less than 0.003). Mycoplasma hominis, which was often associated with T-strains in cultures of the urine and cervix, was less well linked with low birth weight (p equal to 0.054). The association of T-strains with low birth weight was not related to shortened gestational length. The presence of T-strains in the urine and cervix was independent of other risk factors for low birth weight. T-strains or M. hominis were not related to history of previous premature births, stillbirths or abortions or to the development of toxemia or third-trimester hemorrhage.