Clinical Characteristics and Mortality of Obstetric Patients Admitted to a Tertiary Intensive Care Unit in the Brazilian Northeast

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the determinants of hospitalization and death in an intensive care unit (ICU) between pregnant and postpartum women. Materials and Methods: This is a quantitative and retrospective documentary research performed at Dr. César Cals Hospital. Data was collected through the analysis of charts obtained from puerperal or pregnant women admitted to the ICU. Results: Regarding the type of delivery, 41 (73.2%) women had a cesarean section (CS) and, considering the outcome, the majority of the patients (51%) were discharged from the hospi-tal. Comparing the admission diagnosis and the outcome, it was revealed that many patients presented more than one diagnosis at the admission, the highest rate of which was the hyper-tensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) and complications comprising of 23 (38.3%) patients out of which 4 of them died. Sepsis was the second cause of hospitalization including 17 (28.3%) patients. In addition, 11 (18.3%) patients had hemorrhaged. Moreover, there were 2 death reports related to fulminant hepatitis. Conclusions: It is expected that the results of the present study contribute to the extension of the professionals’ knowledge on the subject, collaborating to prevent hospitalization and death of these patients.