Substance abuse in pregnancy is associated with significant maternal and fetal morbidity. Risk factors suggesting substance abuse in pregnancy include lack of prenatal care, history of premature labor, and cigarette smoking. In the United States the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has made multiple recommendations regarding management of parturients with drug abuse during pregnancy. Women who acknowledge use of illicit substance during pregnancy should be counseled and offered necessary treatment. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists also acknowledged that some states consider intrauterine fetal drug exposure to be a form of child neglect or abuse under the law.

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The need for anesthesia and surgery during pregnancy occurs in 1.5% to 2.0% of all pregnancies. Each year, over 75,000 pregnant women in the United States undergo nonobstetric surgery. The operations include those directly related to pregnancy (e.g., cerclage), those indirectly related to pregnancy (e.g., ovarian cystectomy), and those unrelated to gestation (e.g., appendectomy, cholecystectomy). The diagnosis of any medical condition requiring surgical intervention in pregnancy often raises questions about the safety of both surgery and anesthesia in these patients. This controversy was primarily attributed to the lay press speculations that surgery and anesthesia in pregnancy could pose hazards to the mother and fetus. Despite these concerns, the safety of nonobstetric surgery and anesthesia in pregnancy has been well established, and many pregnant women are safely anesthetized everyday without ill effects for the mother or fetus.

Pregnancy results in dramatic changes in the cardiovascular system. Maternal heart disease complicates 0.2%-3% of pregnancies. Valvular heart disease in women of reproductive age is most commonly due to rheumatic heart disease, endocarditis, or congenital abnormalities. In general, regurgitant lesions are well tolerated during pregnancy because the increased plasma volume and lowered systemic vascular resistance result in increased cardiac output. In contrast, stenotic valvular disease is poorly tolerated with advancing pregnancy, owing to the inability to increase cardiac output in relation to the increased plasma volume preload. The choice of anesthesia depends on the lesion and its severity. Usually, regional anesthesia provides the least amount of alteration in hemodynamics, although general anesthesia for cesarean section can be equally safe when the abrupt changes associated with laryngoscopy, intubation, and extubation are blunted by the appropriate choice of pharmacological agents and anesthetic techniques.