EPIDEMIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF MATERNAL FEVER DURING PREGNANCY IN INDIA: PATTERNS AND IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

Abstract

A fever is a brief increase in body temperature, typically brought on by a disease. A person's normal temperature is around 37°C, or 98.6°F. A body temperature exceeding 101°F (38.3°C) during pregnancy might be concerning, particularly if it persists for a considerable amount of time in the very early stages of pregnancy. An increased body temperature in a pregnant woman is referred to as maternal fever.  Numerous conditions, including infections like respiratory, urinary tract, influenza, and other bacterial or viral diseases, can result in maternal fever. There are non-infectious causes of fever as well, such dehydration. A mother's temperature of more than 38.0 °C during the active period of labour and delivery is known as intrapartum fever, and it can have several causes, including both infectious and non-infectious disorders. This study introduces an integrated analysis pipeline tailored to elucidate the prevalence of maternal fever and its effect on maternal and fetal morbidity in India. Leveraging PubMed data using keywords like maternal fever, maternal hyperthermia, fetal mortality, neonatal sepsis, and preterm birth, we assembled a comprehensive dataset containing PubMed IDs, author information, titles, years, journal details, countries, abstracts, and publication types. Employing natural language processing (NLP), we identified factors linked to maternal fever and its adverse effects on both mother and child. The analysis utilized Python programming with bio python and scikit-learn packages, and visualization methods such as bar charts, pie charts, and word clouds were employed to depict the trends and geographical distribution of maternal fever cases over time. Despite India's economic growth and increased public health investment in nutritional support, the burden of fever among pregnant women even increasing mortality rate has remained steady in recent years. There is a crucial need to prioritize the quality of antenatal care services for pregnant women, focusing on raising awareness and sensitization to improve maternal nutrition.