Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Nov 3.
Published in final edited form as: J Hypertens. 2021 May 1;39(5):1009–1017. doi: 10.1097/HJH.0000000000002711

TABLE 3.

Prevalence and adjusted hazard ratios of postpartum hospital encounters by hypertensive disorders of pregnancy status

Prevalence of hospital encountersa, n HDP-associated hazards, HR (95% CI)


Postpartum complication Without HDP
(N=2 311 447)
With HDPb
(N=179 808)
Unadjusted Adjustedc
Overall 177 556 (7.68) 22 934 (12.75) 1.72 (1.69–1.74) 1.38 (1.36–1.40)
Major diagnostic categoriesd
 Hypertension-related 3760 (0.15) 5300 (2.96) 18.46 (17.68–19.29) 11.76 (11.21–12.34)
 Other, clinically related to childbirth hospitalization 91 721 (3.99) 12 274 (6.84) 1.69 (1.65–1.72) 1.38 (1.31–1.37)
 Other, not clinically related to childbirth hospitalization 87 093 (3.76) 12 489 (6.97) 1.74 (1.70–1.78) 1.38 (1.35–1.41)
Condition-specific diagnostic categoriese
 Urinary tract infection 27 870 (1.21) 3555 (1.98) 1.65 (1.59–1.71) 1.42 (1.37–1.48)
 Nonspecific postpartum diagnosis 24 235 (1.05) 3789 (2.11) 2.02 (1.95–2.09) 1.56 (1.50–1.62)
 Uncontrolled pain 24 649 (1.07) 2962 (1.65) 1.55 (1.49–1.61) 1.21 (1.16–1.26)
 Gallbladder disease/Pancreatitis 15 739 (0.68) 1701 (0.95) 1.39 (1.32–1.46) 1.11 (1.05–1.17)
 Bleeding risk/complications 12 890 (0.56) 2059 (1.15) 2.06 (1.97–2.16) 1.73 (1.64–1.81)
 Perineal complication or surgical wound complication, infection, management 11 685 (0.51) 2077 (1.16) 2.29 (2.19–2.40) 1.29 (1.22–1.35)
 Psychiatric disease 10 645 (0.46) 1969 (1.10) 2.39 (2.28–2.51) 1.75 (1.66–1.84)
 Breast infections/Lactation complications 11 351 (0.49) 777 (0.43) 0.88 (0.82–0.95) 0.98 (0.91–1.06)
 Cellulitis 7308 (0.32) 1126 (0.63) 1.98 (1.86, 2.11) 1.25 (1.17–1.34)
 Fever (unspecified) 6760 (0.29) 724 (0.40) 1.38 (1.28–1.49) 1.29 (1.19–1.40)
 Hypertensive disorders 2399 (0.10) 4546 (2.53) 24.65 (23.46–25.89) 15.58 (14.76–16.45)

CI, confidence interval; HDP, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy; HR, hazard ratio.

a

Prevalence defined as at least one maternal hospital encounter (with a qualifying diagnosis) in 12 weeks after delivery.

b

All comparisons between groups without versus with HDP had P < 0.001.

c

Adjusted for maternal age category, race/ethnicity, insurance status, prepregnancy obesity, chronic diabetes, gestational diabetes, mode of delivery, gestational age category, and birth outcome [term not small for gestational age (SGA), versus preterm or SGA, versus stillborn].

d

See Table 1 for the condition-specific diagnostic categories included in each major category. The most common conditions in each major category were hypertensive disorders and acute cardiovascular disease (hypertension-related); urinary tract infection and uncontrolled pain (childbirth-related); and nonspecific postpartum diagnosis and gallbladder disease/pancreatitis (other).

e

Ten most common condition-specific diagnostic categories, and hypertensive disorders. See Supplement 3, http://links.lww.com/HJH/B507 for less common diagnoses.