title: Intensive Care Admissions in Pregnancy: Analysis of a Level of Support Scoring System.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Development of a validated triaging system that can be used by obstetric providers to identify obstetric patients at risk of developing severe morbidity during an admission is urgently required. Maternal Critical Care Working Group (MCCWG) recommended a "level of care" strategy that based patient acuity needs on number of individual organ systems requiring support. The objective of this study was to apply the MCCWG level of support for critical care (MCCWG LOC) scoring to pregnant women admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) to predict maternal outcomes and to compare it to the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II scoring system.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this retrospective study, we applied the MCCWG LOC scoring to pregnant women admitted to an ICU at the Detroit Medical Center, between January 2006 and December 2010. The MCCWG LOC was scored on admission to the ICU, and patients were subsequently divided into two groups (Group 1, patients requiring Level 1 and 2 support and Group 2, patients requiring level 3a and 3b support) and their outcome variables were compared. The MCCWG LOC scores were also compared to APACHE II scoring, an ICU scoring system, to test if an alignment of the two systems existed, and if they were able to predict outcomes such as death, hospital and intensive care stay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-nine pregnant women (0.25% of deliveries) required admission to the ICU and 3 maternal deaths were reported. Sixty-four (92.7%) patients had pre-existing medical problems. Fifty-eight (84%) of admissions were secondary to a medical diagnosis. Mean APACHE II score (p < 0.018) and APACHE II predicted mortality rate were significantly higher in Group 2 (p < 0.018). The hospital length of stay (LOS) (p < 0.017) and ICU LOS (p < 0.0001) were significantly longer in Group 2 as compared to Group 1. Group 2 patients required more interventions while in the ICU (p < 0.0001). All the patients who died were classified as Group 2.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In a cohort of women requiring intensive care admission during pregnancy, MCCWG LOC, a simplified organ system based, triaging scoring system, predicted maternal outcomes and correlated with APACHE II score. Our data support initiatives for further development and testing of global obstetric triaging scoring systems for the purposes of risk stratification, monitoring of quality and resource allocation.
authors: Division of Genetic and Metabolic Disorders, Department of Pediatrics and Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, MI, 48201, USA. mthakur@med.wayne.edu.|Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA. mthakur@med.wayne.edu.
authors: Mili
authors: M
authors: Thakur
authors: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA.
authors: Bernard
authors: B
authors: Gonik
authors: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA.
authors: Navleen
authors: N
authors: Gill
authors: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA.
authors: Awoniyi O
authors: AO
authors: Awonuga
authors: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA.
authors: Frederico G
authors: FG
authors: Rocha
authors: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA.|Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors: Juan M
authors: JM
authors: Gonzalez
mesh_terms: D018806:APACHE; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009017:Morbidity; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014218:Triage / Q000379:methods*
keywords: APACHE II score in pregnancy; Critical care in pregnancy; Maternal morbidity; Maternal mortality; Obstetric early warning score; Obstetric intensive care