Maternal weight gain and readmission rates amongst women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

Mobilization of extracellular fluid postpartum has been implicated in hypertensive crisis leading to postpartum hypertensive readmission amongst women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP). We sought to determine how weight gain during pregnancy which reflects increased extracellular fluid differed between women who were readmitted versus those who were not amongst women with HDP. This was a retrospective case-control study of all women admitted with HDP (identified by ICD10 codes) between Jan. 1st, 2016 - Dec. 31st, 2019. Subjects were divided into those who were readmitted due to hypertension complications versus those who were not. The primary exposure was maternal weight gain during pregnancy. Bivariate analyses of baseline characteristics by exposure were conducted. Logistic regression modeling was used to adjust for confounders. Of the 2,131 subjects, 62 (2.90%) were readmitted due to hypertension complications. Women who were readmitted verses those who were not differed in terms of age, race, and incidence of A2GDM, preterm delivery, and specific types of hypertensive disorders of pregnancies (Table 1). Average weight gain during pregnancy differed between those who were readmitted versus those who were not (24.7 lbs. ±29.1 v. 32.8 lbs. ±24.7, p<0.05) (Table 1). However, when adjusting for age, race, and frequency of preterm delivery, the difference in weight gain was no longer significant (OR 0.99, 95% CI: 0.99-1.00, p=0.10) (Table 2). In this cohort of women with HDP, maternal weight gain during pregnancy was not related to risk of readmission due to hypertension complications once other maternal characteristics and diseases severity was controlled for.View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT)