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.