Impact of mode of delivery on maternal and fetal outcomes in pregnant patients with heart failure or pulmonary hypertension.

BACKGROUND

Data on outcomes associated with various modes of delivery in pregnant patients with heart failure (HF) or pulmonary hypertension (pHTN) are limited.

OBJECTIVE

We aim to investigate the association between mode of delivery on maternal and fetal outcomes in pregnant patients with HF or pHTN by conducting a multicenter, large scale and nationwide retrospective cohort study.

METHODS

This retrospective population-based cohort study used the Nationwide Readmission Database to identify all hospitalized pregnant patients who were primarily admitted for vaginal or cesarean delivery from 2011 to 2019. Pregnant patients with HF or pHTN were identified. The primary outcomes were in-hospital maternal and fetal mortality.

RESULTS

23,359 hospitalized pregnant patients with HF or pHTN were identified: 7885 (33.8 %) underwent vaginal delivery, and 15,474 (66.2 %) underwent cesarean delivery. Patients undergoing cesarean delivery had lower odds of fetal mortality than vaginal delivery (OR: 0.18, 95 % CI: 0.07-0.45; < 0.001). However, the odds of in-hospital maternal mortality (OR: 2.0, 95 % CI: 1.07-3.77; = 0.03) were higher in the cesarean group than vaginal delivery group. When considering vaginal delivery as a control group, 167 pregnant women would have to undergo cesarean delivery to have one in-hospital maternal mortality and 164 pregnant women would have to undergo cesarean delivery to reduce one fetal mortality.

CONCLUSIONS

In this multicentric cohort study, cesarean delivery was associated with lower fetal mortality but higher in-hospital maternal mortality. Thus, the unique features of each patient case should be considered via a multidisciplinary team before determining the optimal delivery method for patients with HF or pHTN.