Title: Obstetric admissions to the intensive care unit (ICU) at a tertiary general hospital

 

Background:

 

Obstetric admissions to ICU have been proposed as a quality indicator for obstetric care. However, there are limited data on the incidence and causes of these admissions in the Irish setting.

 

Methods:

 

Ethical approval was obtained from the hospital ethics committee to retrospectively collate and analyse data from the obstetric admissions to the ICU. After generating a list of obstetric admissions from the electronic clinical information system, individual charts were then reviewed via the electronic medical records and the relevant data was collected.

 

Results:

 

Over a five year period, there were 43 obstetric admissions to the ICU. This represented 0.2% of all obstetric cases [20,147 total] and 1.9% of all ICU admissions [2,263 total]). The main indications for admission included haemorrhage (44.2%) and respiratory disease (16.3%). The median length of stay for obstetric ICU admissions was 2 days, the median gestational age was 34/40 weeks, and the median patient age was 32.2 years.  The most common organs supports provided for obstetric ICU patients included respiratory support (60.5%), cardiovascular support (53.5%) and transfusion of blood products (51.2%).

Conclusion:

These data highlight that a small proportion of obstetric cases will require ICU care. The most common cause of ICU admission is haemorrhage. This indicates that critical care remains a vital component in delivering obstetric services in a tertiary hospital.