The Canadian Stroke Best Practice Consensus Statement Acute Stroke Management during Pregnancy is the second of a two-part series devoted to stroke in pregnancy. The first part focused on the unique aspects of secondary stroke prevention in a woman with a prior history of stroke who is, or is planning to become, pregnant. This document focuses on the management of a woman who experiences an acute stroke during pregnancy. This consensus statement was developed in recognition of the need for a specifically tailored approach to the management of this group of patients in the absence of any broad-based, stroke-specific guidelines or consensus statements, which do not exist currently. The foundation for the development of this document was the concept that maternal health is vital for fetal well-being; therefore, management decisions should be based first on the confluence of two clinical considerations: (a) decisions that would be made if the patient wasn't pregnant and (b) decisions that would be made if the patient hadn't had a stroke, then nuanced as needed. While empirical research in this area is limited, this consensus document is based on the best available literature and guided by expert consensus. Issues addressed in this document include initial emergency management, diagnostic imaging, acute stroke treatment, the management of hemorrhagic stroke, anesthetic management, post stroke management for women with a stroke in pregnancy, intrapartum considerations, and postpartum management. These statements are appropriate for healthcare professionals across all disciplines and system planners to ensure pregnant women who experience a stroke have timely access to both expert neurological and obstetric care.

BackgroundOne of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals of 2000 was to reduce maternal mortality by 75% in 15 y; however, this challenge was not met by many industrialized countries. As average maternal age continues to rise in these countries, associated potentially life-threatening severe maternal morbidity has been understudied. Our primary objective was to examine the associations between maternal age and severe maternal morbidities. The secondary objective was to compare these associations with those for adverse fetal/infant outcomes.Methods and findingsThis was a population-based retrospective cohort study, including all singleton births to women residing in Washington State, US, 1 January 2003–31 December 2013 (n = 828,269).We compared age-specific rates of maternal mortality/severe morbidity (e.g., obstetric shock) and adverse fetal/infant outcomes (e.g., perinatal death). Logistic regression was used to adjust for parity, body mass index, assisted conception, and other potential confounders. We compared crude odds ratios (ORs) and adjusted ORs (AORs) and risk differences and their 95% CIs.Severe maternal morbidity was significantly higher among teenage mothers than among those 25–29 y (crude OR = 1.5, 95% CI 1.5–1.6) and increased exponentially with maternal age over 39 y, from OR = 1.2 (95% CI 1.2–1.3) among women aged 35–39 y to OR = 5.4 (95% CI 2.4–12.5) among women aged ≥50 y. The elevated risk of severe morbidity among teen mothers disappeared after adjustment for confounders, except for maternal sepsis (AOR = 1.2, 95% CI 1.1–1.4). Adjusted rates of severe morbidity remained increased among mothers ≥35 y, namely, the rates of amniotic fluid embolism (AOR = 8.0, 95% CI 2.7–23.7) and obstetric shock (AOR = 2.9, 95% CI 1.3–6.6) among mothers ≥40 y, and renal failure (AOR = 15.9, 95% CI 4.8–52.0), complications of obstetric interventions (AOR = 4.7, 95% CI 2.3–9.5), and intensive care unit (ICU) admission (AOR = 4.8, 95% CI 2.0–11.9) among those 45–49 y. The adjusted risk difference in severe maternal morbidity compared to mothers 25–29 y was 0.9% (95% CI 0.7%–1.2%) for mothers 40–44 y, 1.6% (95% CI 0.7%–2.8%) for mothers 45–49 y, and 6.4% for mothers ≥50 y (95% CI 1.7%–18.2%). Similar associations were observed for fetal and infant outcomes; neonatal mortality was elevated in teen mothers (AOR = 1.5, 95% CI 1.2–1.7), while mothers over 29 y had higher risk of stillbirth. The rate of severe maternal morbidity among women over 49 y was higher than the rate of mortality/serious morbidity of their offspring. Despite the large sample size, statistical power was insufficient to examine the association between maternal age and maternal death or very rare severe morbidities.ConclusionsMaternal age-specific incidence of severe morbidity varied by outcome. Older women (≥40 y) had significantly elevated rates of some of the most severe, potentially life-threatening morbidities, including renal failure, shock, acute cardiac morbidity, serious complications of obstetric interventions, and ICU admission. ...

Among pregnant women in Washington State, low and high prepregnancy BMI, compared with normal BMI, were associated with a statistically significant but small absolute increase in severe maternal morbidity or mortality.

(Abstracted from JAMA 2017;318(18):1777–1786) Several studies have shown that overweight and obesity are associated with adverse neonatal outcomes including preterm birth, severe congenital anomalies, and infant death. While some studies show an association between maternal obesity and pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia, thromboembolism, and cesarean delivery, less is known about the association between body mass index (BMI) and life-threatening maternal morbidity.

The Canadian Stroke Best Practice Consensus Statement: Secondary Stroke Prevention during Pregnancy, is the first of a two-part series devoted to stroke in pregnancy. This document focuses on unique aspects of secondary stroke prevention in a woman with a prior history of stroke or transient ischemic attack who is, or is planning to become, pregnant. Although stroke is relatively rare in this cohort, several aspects of pregnancy can increase stroke risk during or immediately after pregnancy. The rationale for the development of this consensus statement is based on the premise that stroke in this group requires a specifically-tailored management approach. No other broad-based, stroke-specific guidelines or consensus statements exist currently. Underpinning the development of this document was the concept that maternal health is vital for fetal wellbeing; therefore, management decisions should be based on the confluence of two clinical considerations: (a) decisions that would be made if the patient was not pregnant and (b) decisions that would be made if the patient had not had a stroke. While empirical research in this area is limited, this consensus document is based on the best available literature and guided by expert consensus. Issues addressed in this document include general management considerations for secondary stroke prevention, the use of antithrombotics, blood pressure management, lipid management, diabetes care, and management for specific ischemic stroke etiologies in pregnancy. The focus is on maternal and fetal health while minimizing risks of a recurrent stroke, through counseling, monitoring, and the safety of select pharmacotherapy. These statements are appropriate for health care professionals across all disciplines.

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Noninvasive positive pressure ventilation 349 INTROduCTION Acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema (ACPE) can be caused by a variety of insults including, among others, dietary indiscretion, medication non-compliance, hypertensive crisis, arrhythmias, acute coronary syndromes and valvular lesions. A variety of modalities exist to treat ACPE such as standard medical care including venodilators, after load reduction, inotropic medications and diuretics; insult specific modes like rate controlling agents in tachyarrhythmia; noninvasive positive pressure ventilation modes (NPPV) including continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and bi-level positive airway pressure (BiPAP); and finally, invasive ventilation/intubation. Several recent meta-analyses (MAs) concluded that NPPV provided a significant mortality benefit in patients with ACPE. 1-5 However, the 3CPO (Three Interventions in Cardiogenic Pulmonary Oedema) trial published in 2008, the largest randomized controlled trial (RCT) of its kind (n = 1069), found no significant mortality benefit from this inter vention. 6 This disagreement presents clinical concern-a physio logically sensible and widely used method of immediate preload, shunt, work of breathing and after load reduction in ACPE is now questioned regarding its effectiveness. This analysis integrates the 3CPO trial mortality data into recent MAs, and presents a modified prediction of the effect on mortality of NPPV

(JAMA 2017;318(18):1777–1786) Overweight and obesity are associated with increased risks of adverse maternal and neonatal events such as preterm birth, stillbirth, and neonatal or infant death; underweight is also associated with adverse outcomes. However, it is unclear if the risk of severe maternal morbidity increases as body mass index (BMI) increases. This study aimed to determine the association between prepregnancy BMI and severe maternal morbidity or mortality.