ANTENATAL HOSPITALIZATION AMONG ENLISTED SERVICEWOMEN, 1987-1990

Objective: To describe the prevalence of, and indications for, antenat al hospitalization among women who delivered live and stillborn infant s. Methods: We reviewed the records of a cohort of 1825 black and whit e enlisted women who delivered from 1987-1990 at the four largest Army medical centers in the United States. Women with multiple gestations and those whose pregnancies ended before 20 weeks' gestation were excl uded. Records of all women with preterm deliveries and a one-third sam ple of women with term deliveries were abstracted. Results: Overall, 2 6.8 +/- 1.6% (mean +/- standard error) of the women were hospitalized antenatally. Of the estimated 702 antenatal hospitalizations, 44.0 +/- 3.4% were related to preterm labor, 10.3 +/- 1.9% to preeclampsia, 5. 5 +/- 1.5% to hyperemesis, and 4.7 +/- 1.5% to urinary tract or kidney infection. The prevalence of hospitalization was lowest before 20 wee ks (5.0 +/- 0.8%) and highest at 33-36 weeks (12.2 +/- 1.2%). Small an d probably clinically insignificant differences between black and whit e women were noted in the overall prevalence of antenatal hospitalizat ion and in the indications for hospitalization. Conclusion: As measure d by hospitalization, severe antenatal morbidity is common in this pop ulation of healthy enlisted women.