Injury hospitalizations of pregnant women in the United States, 2002.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the number of injury-related hospitalizations of pregnant women in the United States and to identify injury mechanisms associated with hospitalizations that end in delivery.


METHODS
Using data on injury hospitalizations of pregnant women from the 2002 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Nationwide Inpatient Sample, we compared the mechanism of injuries of nondelivery hospitalizations with those of delivery hospitalizations.


RESULTS
Of an estimated 16,982 injury hospitalizations involving pregnant women in 2002, a delivery occurred in 37.7%. Hospitalizations with injuries caused by overexertion had significantly increased odds of including delivery (odds ratio OR 4.55, confidence interval 95% CI 2.21-9.39) compared with hospitalizations with other causes of injury. Hospitalizations with injuries caused by motor vehicle traffic (OR 0.36, 95% CI 0.23-0.58) had significantly lower odds of including delivery.


CONCLUSIONS
We estimated that there were 4.1 injury hospitalizations of pregnant women per 1000 deliveries in 2002. The majority of injury mechanisms did not significantly increase the odds of the hospitalization ending in delivery. Providers should broaden injury prevention messages to address poisonings and overexertion.
Kuo
Cassie
C
Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA.
Jamieson
Denise J
DJ
McPheeters
Melissa L
ML
Meikle
Susan F
SF
Posner
Samuel F
SF
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*