OBG terms and definitions

• Menarche

  Onset of menstruation
• Amenorrhoea (primary and secondary)

  Primary = absence of menstruation by 15-16 years with normal secondary sexual characteristics, or 13-14 in girls with no secondary sexual characteristics

  Secondary = cessation of menstruation in women with previous menses
• Menorrhagia

  Excessive menstrual blood loss which interferes with a women's physical, emotional, social and material quality of life
• Dysfunctional uterine bleeding

  No cause identified for heavy menstrual bleeding
• Mittelschmerz

  Pelvic pain caused by ovulation
• Dysmenorrhoea (primary and secondary)

  Pain associated with menstruation

  Primary = no specific underlying pathology

  Secondary = associated with organic pathology
• Oligomenorrhoea

  Infrequent periods
• Intermenstrual bleeding

  Bleeding between periods
• Climacteric

  Perimenopause

  Time interval before the menopause

  Endocrine, biological, clinical features of approaching menopause
• Menopause

  Permanent cessation of periods

  Clinically diagnosed after 12 months of amenorrhoea

  Mean age of 51 years
• Premature menopause

  Menopause before 40 years
• Dyspareunia

  Pain during intercourse - superficial and deep
• Menstrual cycle can be written as K = 7/28

  • K = menstrual cycle
  • 7 = duration of bleeding
  • 28 = length of menstrual cycle
• Term

  37-42 week gestation
• Gravidity

  Number of times women has been pregnant, regardless whether they have carried to term

  Include current pregnancy in the count
• Parity

  Number of times delivered after the age of viability (24w)
• How to calculate estimated date of delivery:

  • Date of LMP
  • Minus 3 months
  • Add 1 year
  • Add 7 days
  • Called Naegle's rule
• Primagravida 'primip'

  First pregnancy
• Nulliparous 'nullip'

  Not given birth previously (to a live baby)
• Multigravida

  Pregnant more than once
• Multiparous 'multip'

  Given birth more than once
• Grand multiparity

  5 or more previous pregnancies
• APGAR score (1 and 5 mins after birth):

  • Activity score (muscle tone)
  • Pulse (heart rate)
  • Grimace (reflex irritability)
  • Appearance (colour)
  • Respiratory effort
  • Score 7+ = normal
  • Score <7 = low
  • Low scores linked with poor outcomes, increased neonatal mortality and cerebral palsy
• First trimester

  weeks 4-12
• Second trimester

  weeks 13-27
• Third trimester

  Weeks 28-41
• First antenatal appointment with midwife by 10+0 weeks

  • Nulliparous women - 10 appointments
  • Parous women (previous child) - 7 appointments
• Common problems in pregnancy:

  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Constipation
  • Dyspepsia
  • Varicose veins
  • Vaginal discharge
  • Backache/pelvic girdle pain
  • Haemorrhoids