Pregnancy and ICU Admissions - What Do You Know?

Dr. Lefond: I like to think about the differential in sort of two different categories. Diseases that are absolutely unique to the pregnant state and then diseases that are common in our ICUs that can also affect pregnant patients. These tend to be the more common reason for an ICU admission in this population rather than medical reasons, but it can be difficult to differentiate between the two. So we'll start with preeclampsia. Pre-eclampsia refers to the new onset of hypertension and proteinuria at or after 20 weeks of gestation. And it can also occur postpartum.