ACTA FAC. MED. NAISS. 2006; 23(2):65-68

  Original article

Dragan Krstic, Jelena Krstic, Slavko Krstic, Dragana Mitic - Kocic

Gynecology and Prenatal Department of the Health Center, Leskovac

SUMMARY

The aim of the study was to prove that during the three-month-long bombing of FR of Yugoslavia the pregnancy period was shorter and the incidence of prematurity was not increased. Retrospective studies were based on the data obtained from medical histories of the newly born in the Neonatal Department of the Hospital of the Health Centre in Leskovac. The hospital includes a maternity department with 2300 deliveries annually per 250.000 residents of the Jablanica District which was bombed for 78 days. The study involves 1448 newly born babies born in the period from March 24 till June 9, a year before, during, and a year after the bombing in 1999. On the whole, the results show that the perinatal outcome was better during the bombing with significantly fewer post-dated deliveries. Such, at first glance, paradoxical results remind us of the times when life was harder and deliveries easier. Stress shortens the length of pregnancy but synchronizes development of the embryo with an earlier delivery, so that it does not increase the incidence of prematurity.
 

Key words: war, stress, pregnancy, post-dated, prematurity