title: Obstetric admissions to the intensive care unit--a retrospective review.
abstract: A five-year retrospective study of obstetric admissions to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) in the National University Hospital, Singapore was carried out with the aim of determining the incidence, causes and outcome of these admissions. Most of the patients were admitted following emergency caesarean sections. Obstetric complications was the reason for admission in 56.8% with hypertensive disease of pregnancy being the major cause and haemorrhage accounting for the rest. Anaesthetic complications accounted for 21.6% of admissions and these included difficult intubation, aspiration pneumonitis, cardiac arrhythmias and respiratory depression. Medical complications due to cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disease and malignancy also accounted for 21.6% of admissions. Only 37 out of 16264 deliveries (0.22%) required intensive care support. The median of duration of stay was one day.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, National University Hospital, Singapore.
authors.forename: T I
authors.initials: TI
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Tweed
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arulkumaran
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002585:Cesarean Section; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007744:Obstetric Labor Complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology; D015996:Survival Rate