The Ability of ICU admission to detect maternal near misses as defined by the who near-miss criteria

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: to assess the ability of intensive care unit (ICU) admission in pregnancy, or the postpartum period, to detect cases of obstetric near-miss. METHODS: All obstetric admissions to the ICU were included retrospectively and data collected as specified by 2011 World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on evaluating obstetrics near-misses between 2010 and 2013 in a Sri Lankan Hospital. Proportion of ICU admissions which fulfilled the WHO criteria for Severe Acute Maternal Morbidity (SAMM), maternal mortality ratio (MMR), maternal near-miss mortality ratio (MNM: MM)), and maternal near-miss ratio (MNMR) were analysed. RESULTS: A total of 9,608 live births were reported. 118 ICU admissions and four maternal deaths were analysed. MMR was 42 per 100,000. MNMR was 9.7 per 1000, and MNM: MM was 23:1. From all ICU admissions 99 cases (79.8%) met additional WHO near-miss criteria and were classified as true SAMM. Pregnancy-induced hypertensive disorders accounted for majority of ICU admissions (37.7%). Out of eight published studies from our region none of them had a MNM: MM higher than ours. CONCLUSIONS: Obstetric near-misses may be over-diagnosed if ICU admission is considered an independent inclusion criterion for SAMM. Reporting the proportion of patients admitted to ICU which are true near-miss may illustrate differing admission thresholds for a given institution.