Data support shorter postpartum stay for patients with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

SAN DIEGO — For patients with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, there were no significant differences in readmission rates before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to retrospective data presented here.

“Labor and delivery units across the nation made policy changes to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission during the height of the pandemic,” which included shortening the length of hospital stay after delivery, Myah Griffin, MD, a second-year maternal-fetal medicine fellow at NYU Langone Health in New York City, told Healio. “This natural experiment provided the opportunity to study novel and safe approaches for us to continue providing quality standard of care.”

Using NYU Langone Health data, Griffin and colleagues compared postpartum readmission rates from before the pandemic (from March 1, 2019, to February 29, 2020) and during the pandemic (from April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021) among patients with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP).

Records showed that readmission rates were similar in both time periods, with 1.03% and 1.25% of patients with HDP being readmitted before and during the pandemic.

Myah Griffin

“Our HDP postpartum readmission rate was similar to postpartum readmission rates observed in previous studies,” Griffin said. “Although all our postpartum patients were discharged 2 days postpartum if medically safe, there was continuation of close outpatient monitoring and follow-up that was in place prior to the pandemic.”

The researchers’ analysis also revealed no significant differences in mean time to readmission (6.4 ± 5.4 days in both groups) and mean length of stay during readmission (before the pandemic, 3 ± 1.04 days vs. during the pandemic, 3.3 ± 1.2 days).

Among all readmissions, there were no maternal deaths and only one ICU readmission during the pandemic period.

Griffin suggested future studies conduct longer follow-up with more postpartum patients to evaluate interventions that “decrease their risk of preeclampsia in future pregnancies and improve long-term cardiovascular health.”