Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Dec 2024
Critical care admissions and outcomes in pregnant and postpartum women: a systematic review.
To synthesise evidence for the incidence of intensive care unit (ICU) admission, characteristics and mortality of pregnant and postpartum women with a focus on differences between high-income countries (HICs) and low-middle-income countries (LMICs) and report changes in reported findings since the last review by Pollock et al. (2010). ⋯ Mortality for critically ill peripartum women is substantial and the gap in reported ICU admissions and mortality for critically ill peripartum women between HIC and LMICs remains unacceptably high. The reports are often small and heterogeneous using many case definitions. Reporting standards focusing on critical care processes and outcomes and large multinational prospective studies are necessary to better understand and mitigate maternal and child health challenges as sustainable development goals in LMICs and HICs.