Women in Scotland who are admitted to intensive care while pregnant are 12 times more likely to suffer a stillbirth, according the first major study to explore maternal critical care outcomes. The research, led by Edinburgh University and based on Scottish hospital records covering 2005 to 2018, also found that women admitted to ICU during pregnancy or up to 42 days after birth were 40 times more likely to die over the subsequent 12 months compared to mothers who never required critical care. The most common cause of deaths over this time were cardiovascular diseases, such as blood clots.
READ MORE: CASE STUDY: 'It all went wrong in a short space of time' Maternal mortality rates in the UK are the highest for 20 years A 'devastating' baby loss and Galloway's maternity service crisis While stillbirths and maternal mortality remain rare events, the researchers said the findings indicate that "a proactive approach to longer-term post-partum care may be needed for women who survive critical illness". The study also found that there was a seven-fold increase in neonatal critical care admissions for babies born to mothers with an intensive care admission. Dr Nazir Lone, a professor of critical care and epidemiology at Edinburgh University who led the study, said the statistics were not necessarily surprising since the most common causes of maternal admission to ICU - such as post-partum haemorrhage, pre-eclampsia, sepsis, and placental abruption - can also precipitate stillbirths o.
