The Swedish Pregnancy Register – for quality of care improvement and research

Abstract

IntroductionThe objective of this study was to present the Swedish Pregnancy Register and to explore regional differences in maternal characteristics, antenatal care, first trimester combined screening and delivery outcomes in Sweden.Material and methodsThe Pregnancy Register (www.graviditetsregistret.se) collects data on pregnancy and childbirth, starting at the first visit to antenatal care and ending at the follow‐up visit to the antenatal care, which usually occurs at around 8–16 weeks postpartum. The majority of data is collected directly from the electronic medical records. The Register includes demographic, reproductive and maternal health data, as well information on prenatal diagnostics, and pregnancy outcome for the mother and the newborn.ResultsToday the Register covers more than 90% of all deliveries in Sweden, with the aim to include all deliveries within 2018. The care providers can visualize quality measures over time and compare results with other clinics, regionally and nationally by creating reports on an aggregated level or using case‐mix adjusted Dash Boards in real time. Detailed data can be extracted after ethical approval for research. In this report, we showed regional differences in patient characteristics, antenatal care, fetal diagnosis and delivery outcomes in Sweden.ConclusionsOur report indicates that quality in antenatal and delivery care in Sweden varies between regions, which warrants further actions. The Swedish Pregnancy Register is a new and valuable resource for benchmarking, quality improvement and research in pregnancy, fetal diagnosis and delivery.

Slow‐release vaginal insert of misoprostol versus orally administrated solution of misoprostol for the induction of labour in primiparous term pregnant women: a randomised controlled trial

“…During the last 5 years, 17% of all singleton pregnancies in Sweden were induced. 1 International figures for IOL are higher, between 20 and 30%. [2][3][4][5][6] Both maternal as well as fetal complications are related to IOL, such as prolonged labour, postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), and instrumental interventions like vacuum, forceps, or caesarean section (CS) 2,[7][8][9][10] Methods of IOL include amniotomy, mechanical dilatation with a balloon catheter, and pharmacological induction with prostaglandin E1 (misoprostol), prostaglandin E2 (dinoproston), or oxytocin.…”

“…Induction of labour (IOL), the intentional start of labour before spontaneous onset, is a common obstetric intervention. During the last 5 years, 17% of all singleton pregnancies in Sweden were induced . International figures for IOL are higher, between 20 and 30% .…”

Neighborhood deprivation and adverse perinatal outcomes in Sweden: A population‐based register study

“…This was a Swedish population register‐based cohort study using data retrieved from the Swedish Pregnancy Register (SPR) including demographic, reproductive‐ and pregnancy‐related characteristics for all deliveries during January 2013 until July 2017. The SPR was launched in 2013, merging data from the Swedish Maternal Health Care Register, the Swedish National Quality Register for Prenatal Diagnosis and obstetric data based on electronic birth records . Compared with the Swedish National Birth Register (MBR), the SPR provides additional data on maternal health and socioeconomic factors not recorded in the MBR .…”

“…22 Compared with the Swedish National Birth Register (MBR), the SPR provides additional data on maternal health and socioeconomic factors not recorded in the MBR. 22,23 For the purposes of the present study, only singleton pregnancies and only one pregnancy per woman were included (ie, the last recorded pregnancy in SPR) in the dataset. Pregnancies of women already included in the cohort (n = 50 550) or residing in areas not included, eg, municipalities with no deprived areas (n = 47 645), zip code not recorded (n = 64 388) or women attending their first visit in areas not participating in the Maternal Health Care Register (n = 373) were not included.…”

Maternal obesity, duration of labor and the role of leptin

“…The database closed in 2015 (97). The population-based cohort (study II) was based on data from the Swedish Pregnancy Register (www.graviditetsregistret.se) (98). The register was established in 2013 by merging the Maternal Health Care register and the National Quality Register for Prenatal Diagnosis and collecting information from deliveries in electronic medical records (EMRs).…”