TOPLINE

Women who experienced ischemic placental disease during pregnancy had a higher risk of being hospitalized for neurologic and psychiatric disorders during the year after delivery.

METHODOLOGY

• Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study to examine whether ischemic placental disease was associated with an increased risk for hospital readmission for brain-related disorders after delivery.
• They analyzed records of nearly 17.4 million hospital deliveries from patients aged 15-54 years in the US between 2010 and 2020.
• Ischemic placental disease was defined as preeclampsia, placental abruption, or restriction of fetal growth (small-for-gestational-age birth).
• Brain disorders included neurologic disorders (such as epilepsy, migraine, and stroke) and psychiatric conditions (such as major depression, postpartum depression, and anxiety disorder).
• Women were followed from discharge after delivery through the end of the same calendar year to identify hospital readmissions for brain disorders.

TAKEAWAY

• Overall, 10.7% of women had ischemic placental disease.
• Women with ischemic placental disease had a 50% higher risk for hospitalization for any brain disorder than those without the condition (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.48-1.51). The risk was relatively higher for hospitalizations related to neurologic than psychiatric disorders.
• The risk for brain disorder hospitalization was 47% higher with one ischemic placental disease condition, 66% higher with two conditions, and 85% higher with three conditions.
• Rates of brain-related hospitalizations increased with maternal age up to about 39 years, and the increase was larger for women who had ischemic placental disease than for those who did not.

IN PRACTICE

“These findings suggest a role for monitoring neurological and psychiatric symptoms in women with a history of ischemic placental disease in the postpartum period,” the researchers of the study wrote.

SOURCE

The study was led by Cande V. Ananth, PhD, MPH, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was published online on July 10 in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

LIMITATIONS

Researchers could not identify women whose brain disorders were managed entirely as outpatients. They could not separate the effects of age from the number of previous births. The database lacked information on parity, BMI, race or ethnicity, and smoking or alcohol use.

DISCLOSURES

The study did not receive any funding. Two authors reported receiving support from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and one of them also reported receiving support from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The authors reported having no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.