Connecting Global Expertise to Advance Maternal and Infant Health

To strengthen international academic exchange and advance research in the field of maternal and infant health, Professor Xiaoxia Bai, Chief Physician of the Department of Obstetrics at our hospital, was invited to attend the 18th Asia-Pacific Congress of Maternal-Fetal Medicine (APCMFM) held in Osaka, Japan, from November 1 to November 3, 2025, where she delivered an oral presentation.

On the first day of the conference, Professor Bai presented a multicenter prospective longitudinal study based on 365 pregnant women with suspected preeclampsia, entitled “Urinary Misfolded Protein-Based Multivariate Models for Short-Term Prediction of Preeclampsia in Pregnant Women with Suspected Preeclampsia.”The study successfully developed a predictive model for preeclampsia, achieving an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.937 for predicting the onset of preeclampsia within one week. Notably, the model demonstrated even higher predictive performance in severe preeclampsia, with an AUC of 0.955.

On the second day of the conference, Professor Bai delivered a presentation based on a large-scale singleton pregnancy cohort with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP), focusing on the relationship between total bile acid (TBA) levels, the diagnosis of ICP, and the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.The findings of this study provide robust evidence to support clinical management and risk stratification for patients with ICP.

In addition, Professor Bai presented the ZEBRA cohort to leading experts in the field of maternal–fetal medicine from around the world. She provided a detailed overview of the design and development of the ZEBRA cohort, with particular emphasis on how structured electronic medical record (EMR) data from the Women’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine are leveraged to enable precise tracking of environmental exposures during pregnancy and to facilitate in-depth investigations into early-life health outcomes.The ZEBRA cohort attracted widespread attention and high recognition from international peers, laying a solid foundation for the team’s future multi-level and cross-regional scientific collaborations.

Through this international academic exchange, Professor Bai systematically presented a series of innovative achievements in preeclampsia prediction, personalized clinical management of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, and the development of the ZEBRA cohort. These contributions have further advanced global research in the field of maternal and infant health and have established a high-level platform for cross-national and interdisciplinary collaboration. Looking ahead, the Department of Obstetrics at our hospital will continue to strengthen international academic partnerships, remain focused on key clinical scientific challenges in maternal and infant health, and contribute rigorous academic expertise to improving maternal and infant health outcomes worldwide.

Written by：Zekun Wang

Junfeng Fan

Xiaoxia Bai