Perfil de mulheres admitidas em uma UTI obstétrica por causas n？o obstétricas

objective: to characterize patients admitted during the pregnancy-puerperal cycle for non-obstetric causes in the obstetric intensive care unit (icu) of a tertiary hospital in northeastern brazil. methods: a descriptive study, analyzing the participants from a bidirectional cohort study was conducted between january 2005 and october 2010. a total of 500 patients admitted during the pregnancy-puerperal cycle due to non-obstetric causes in an obstetric icu in northeastern brazil were included; cases of gestational trophoblastic disease (gtd), ectopic pregnancy, death or icu stay lasting < 24 hours, and lack of signed informed consent form (icf) were excluded. the biological, sociodemographic, obstetric, and clinical variables were analyzed. statistical analysis was performed using epi-info 3.5.3. results: of 5,078 obstetric admissions in the service, 500 patients (9.8%) were due to non-obstetric causes. the mean age was 25.9 years, the predominant ethnicity was mixed-race (68.9%), and mean bmi was 27.5. in 79.9% of cases, women had a partner, and schooling over eight years was observed in 49.2%. the main clinical diagnoses seen at icu admission were heart disease, deep vein thrombosis (dvt), urinary tract infection (uti), asthma, acute pulmonary edema (ape), and community-acquired pneumonia (cap). central access was used in 10.2% of patients, 11% were on mechanical ventilation, 20.4% received blood transfusions, and 4.0% of the patients died. conclusion: women admitted at the obstetric icu due to non-obstetric causes represent a significant number of patients in this sector. they are mostly young women, and the main admission diagnoses were cardiovascular, respiratory, and infectious diseases, with a fatality rate of 4%.