Overview and Aims:

The incidence of women in their antenatal and postpartum period who require hospitalization in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), has been repeatedly used as a marker of quality for health services. In Portugal there are currently few studies that report on obstetric complications and the need for a more multidisciplinary approach after admission to an ICU. The main objective of this study is to determine the probability for intensive care admission need of this Centre’s obstetric population. The secondary objectives are to characterize the obstetric population, it’s risk factors and outcomes.

Study design:

Descriptive and retrospective study

Population:

All women hospitalized at an ICU in our Centre, during pregnancy or in the 42 days postpartum, in 2013 and 2020.

Methods:

We assessed the electronic and physical records of our eligible population and analyzed relevant variables such as maternal age, body mass index, gestational age at admission, and delivery route. Neonatal variables, such as weight at delivery, apgar scores and adverse neonatal outcomes were also evaluated.

Results:

During the study period, 41 women required hospitalization in ICU, out of a total of 14 688 births. The most frequent diagnosis at admission were hypertensive disorders and postpartum hemorrhage. Mean age was 30.4 years. Most admissions were in the postpartum period (97,6%). We observed two maternal deaths and one fetal death.

Conclusions:

The admission rate to the ICU was 2.8 per 1000 births. Most admissions occurred in the postpartum period (97.6%), with the most common reasons being hypertensive disorders (56.1%) and postpartum hemorrhage (31.7%). The maternal mortality rate was 0.14 per 1000 births. These results were similar to those found in other international and national studies.

        · texto en Portugués     · Portugués ( pdf )