Obstetric and Non-Obstetric Indications for Admission in the Antepartum and Postpartum Periods of Pregnancy

Objective: To determine the most common non-obstetric indications for admission during the antepartum and postpartum period of pregnancy. Methods: This is a population-based investigation of the primary diagnoses for admission in the antepartum and postpartum periods of pregnancy. Data was obtained from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project’s State Inpatient Database for the state of California for 2005. The frequency of each primary diagnosis was determined. Diagnoses were classified as obstetric or non-obstetric and compared for differences in maternal race, age and insurance provider. Results: 576,846 total maternal admissions were identified with 35,158 antepartum (6.1%), 536,415 intrapartum (93.0%) and 5273 postpartum (0.9%). Overall, 26.6% of admissions were non-obstetric in nature. The most common non-obstetric indication for antenatal admission was urinary tract infections. The most common postpartum nonobstetric indication for admission was psychiatric/substance abuse disorders. Conclusions: Many admissions during pregnancy are non-obstetric in nature and may be amenable to outpatient screening. *Corresponding author: Thaddeus P. Waters, Metrohealth Medical Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cleveland, OH, 44109, USA, Tel: 216-778-8446; Fax: 216-778-8847; E-mail: [email protected] Received November 21, 2011; Accepted February 15, 2012; Published February 21, 2012 Citation: Waters TP, Bailit JL (2012) Obstetric and Non-Obstetric Indications for Admission in the Antepartum and Postpartum Periods of Pregnancy. J Women’s Health Care 1:104 doi:10.4172/2167-0420.1000104 Copyright: © 2012 Waters TP, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.