by Elana Gotkine

For mothers delivering live-born infants in 2020 to 2022, the admission rate to an intensive care unit (ICU) was 1.8 per 1,000 live births, according to a December data brief published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics.

Isabelle Horon, Dr.P.H., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, used data from the National Vital Statistics System to examine the rate of ICU admissions overall and by demographic characteristics for mothers delivering live-born infants in the United States in 2020 to 2022.

Horon found that in 2020 to 2022, the admission rate of mothers to an ICU during hospitalization for delivery was 1.8 per 1,000 live births. White non-Hispanic mothers had a lower ICU admission rate than those of other race and Hispanic-origin groups. Mothers younger than 25 years had the lowest ICU admission rates (1.4), and rates increased with age to 6.5 for those age 45 years and older. For mothers delivering their sixth live birth or more, the ICU admission rate was 3.5, which was nearly double the rate for those with three or fewer live births. Mothers delivering twins and triple or higher-order births had higher ICU admission rates than those delivering singletons.

"Awareness of the demographic characteristics and medical factors that place mothers at higher risk of ICU admission may help inform efforts to ensure that pregnant women have access to the appropriate level of specialized perinatal care," Horon writes.

More information: Abstract/Full Text

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