Ursodeoxycholic acid in the treatment of pregnancy cholestasis: a data-set available for Meta-analyses

J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2022 Dec;35(25):7968-7971. doi: 10.1080/14767058.2021.1940128. Epub 2021 Jun 16.

Abstract

Background: The recent literature on intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy raises questions on the best management of such a disease. Improved evidence might be achieved by meta-analyses.

Aim: Providing data for allowing individual patients meta-analyses and aggregate data meta-analyses.

Methods: Data were collected retrospectively at the Fabia Mater Hospital of Rome (Italy), between 2013 and 2018. Several variables were collected and analyzed according to low-level bile acid (less than 40 μmol/L) and high-level bile acid (at least 40 μmol/L). Eighty-three cases of pregnancy cholestasis, diagnosed according to itching symptoms and excluding bile diseases, were collected and analyzed, both descriptively and inferentially.

Conclusion: The analyzed data do not provide significant evidence supporting the use of ursodeoxycholic acid to prevent composite adverse fetal outcomes but they can be included in further meta-analyses.

Keywords: Intrahepatic cholestasis; data set; meta-analysis; outcome; pregnancy; therapy.

MeSH terms

  • Bile Acids and Salts
  • Cholagogues and Choleretics / therapeutic use
  • Cholestasis, Intrahepatic* / drug therapy
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy Complications* / chemically induced
  • Pregnancy Complications* / drug therapy
  • Pregnancy Outcome
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Ursodeoxycholic Acid / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Ursodeoxycholic Acid
  • Cholagogues and Choleretics
  • Bile Acids and Salts

Supplementary concepts

  • Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy