THURSDAY, Feb. 6, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Many women who are readmitted for postpartum hypertension have not been diagnosed with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy before discharge, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, held from Feb. 3 to 8 in Dallas.
Conisha Holloman, M.D., from the McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and colleagues examined risk factors for hospital readmission based on the timing of presentation for readmission in a prospective cohort study involving women readmitted with postpartum hypertension from September 2016 to July 2019.
Data were included for 164 women who met the inclusion criteria: 32.3, 32.3, and 35.4 percent were readmitted within three days, within four to seven days, and at eight or more days, respectively. The researchers found that 62 (about 38 percent) of the patients readmitted for postpartum hypertension had not been diagnosed with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy before discharge. On readmission, 19 and 31 (30.7 and 50.0 percent) of these patients presented with severe symptoms and had elevated blood pressure on readmission, respectively.
“While clearly more research needs to be done on what causes high blood pressure after childbirth, what our study reveals is a strong need to educate all women — not just those who may be at a higher risk — about the signs and symptoms of high blood pressure before they are discharged,” Holloman said in a statement.
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