Background: There are limited data regarding the best management and outcomes of acute stroke during pregnancy and the puerperium.
Methods: Pregnancy-related hospitalizations with age > 18 years were identified from the Nationwide Readmissions Database 2016-2018. The study cohort consisted of all patients with acute stroke and a 5% random sample of the remaining non-stroke hospitalizations. Logistic regression and survival analyses were used to compare the in-hospital outcomes and readmissions in patients with and without acute stroke.
Results: There were 11,829,044 pregnancy-related hospitalizations, of which 4057 had acute stroke. The mean ± SD age of the study cohort was 29.0 ± 5.7 years. Among patients with acute ischemic stroke, 60 (3.7%) patients received intravenous thrombolysis and 112 (6.8%) patients underwent endovascular thrombectomy. Among patients with intracranial hemorrhage, 205 (10.5%) patients underwent ventriculostomy and 18 (0.9%) patients underwent decompressive craniotomy. Patients with stroke had longer length of stay (mean: 10.7 vs 2.7 days), higher in-hospital mortality (4.6% vs 0.0001%) and were less likely to discharge home (73.0% vs 98.6%). Non-elective readmission within 90 days of discharge occurred in 14.8% of patients with stroke versus in 3.9% of patients without stroke. Readmissions due to cerebrovascular events occurred in 2.3% of patients with stroke versus in 0.007% of patients without stroke within 1 year of discharge, with mean ± SD time to readmission 66.2 ± 78.0 days.
Conclusion: Stroke is a serious complication of pregnancy, associated with high morbidity and mortality. Recurrence of stroke occurs in a small proportion of patients, and the risk is highest during the initial 3 months.
Keywords: Maternal stroke; intracranial hemorrhage; ischemic infarct; readmissions; recurrence; subarachnoid hemorrhage.