Table 2.
Most common medical and obstetric risk factors known prior to the onset of labour in ‘higher risk’ women by planned place of birth
| Nulliparous | Parous | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OU | Home | OU | Home | |||||
| n = 2524 | n = 288 | n = 4167 | n = 1201 | |||||
| n | %* | n | %* | n | %* | n | %* | |
| Medical condition** | ||||||||
| Confirmed cardiac disease | 49 | 2.00 | 5 | 1.54 | 44 | 1.05 | 10 | 0.75 |
| Hypertensive disorders | 225 | 8.59 | 7 | 2.17 | 150 | 3.50 | 16 | 1.26 |
| Asthma*** | 64 | 2.40 | 9 | 3.55 | 50 | 1.19 | 26 | 2.40 |
| Group B strep*** | 337 | 13.07 | 22 | 7.43 | 495 | 11.95 | 81 | 6.17 |
| Hyperthyroidism | 45 | 1.72 | 12 | 4.14 | 69 | 1.63 | 35 | 2.87 |
| Diabetes | 89 | 3.62 | 1 | 0.27 | 95 | 2.19 | 4 | 0.32 |
| Epilepsy | 60 | 2.27 | 3 | 0.67 | 81 | 1.80 | 24 | 1.96 |
| ‘Other’ medical**** | 78 | 3.10 | 20 | 7.84 | 76 | 1.73 | 55 | 4.30 |
| Any medical | 1102 | 43.29 | 108 | 37.93 | 1273 | 30.21 | 310 | 24.81 |
| Obstetric or fetal factors** | ||||||||
| Complications in previous pregnancies | ||||||||
| PPH with treatment/ transfusion | 0 | – | 0 | – | 179 | 4.43 | 61 | 4.86 |
| Retained placenta*** | 0 | – | 0 | – | 123 | 3.14 | 66 | 5.87 |
| Caesarean section | 0 | – | 0 | – | 1227 | 30.35 | 209 | 18.21 |
| Current pregnancy | ||||||||
| Pre-eclampsia or pregnancy-induced hypertension | 369 | 14.60 | 6 | 2.37 | 176 | 4.13 | 16 | 1.20 |
| Gestational diabetes | 119 | 4.68 | 8 | 2.63 | 175 | 4.33 | 33 | 3.14 |
| BMI at booking >35 kg/m2 | 557 | 22.24 | 70 | 24.60 | 828 | 19.48 | 314 | 26.23 |
| Post-term (42+1–44 weeks) | 198 | 8.20 | 78 | 26.80 | 132 | 3.11 | 114 | 8.92 |
| Small for gestational age*** | 107 | 4.11 | 5 | 1.67 | 136 | 2.96 | 18 | 1.58 |
| ‘Other’ obstetric/fetal**** | 120 | 4.84 | 15 | 4.62 | 143 | 3.55 | 78 | 6.56 |
| Any obstetric/fetal | 1570 | 62.64 | 187 | 64.36 | 3213 | 77.44 | 936 | 78.93 |
| Medical and obstetric/fetal risk factors per women | ||||||||
| 1 | 2222 | 88.20 | 272 | 95.05 | 3415 | 82.00 | 1079 | 90.23 |
| 2+ | 302 | 11.80 | 16 | 4.95 | 752 | 18.00 | 122 | 9.77 |
Percentages are weighted to account for differences in the probability of a woman being selected for inclusion in the study arising from differences in each unit/trust's period of participation and the stratum-specific probabilities of selection of OUs.
Prevalence >2% for medical condition and prevalence >3% for obstetric/fetal factors.
Asthma = Asthma requiring an increase in treatment or hospital treatment. Group B strep = Risk factors associated with group B streptococcus whereby antibiotics in labour would be recommended. Retained placenta = Retained placenta requiring manual removal in theatre. Small for gestational age = Small for gestational age in this pregnancy (<5th centile or reduced growth velocity on ultrasound).
‘Risk factors’ recorded in free text by the midwife. See Table S3 for further details.