Head Injury and Pregnancy-Does the Outcome Differ? A Descriptive Analysis of 15 Years from a Single Tertiary Care Center

-BACKGROUND: There are conflicting data about the outcome of head injury in pregnant patients. Since they comprise a small proportion of the traumatic brain -injured (TBI) patients, the literature is sparse on true evidence on this issue.-METHODS: A 15-year observational study to analyze the outcome of TBI in pregnant women admitted to a level 1 trauma center from 2005-2020 was carried out with the approval of institutional review board. Female patients aged 18-50 years admitted with TBI were included. Pa-tients with polytrauma or dead-on arrival to the emergency department were excluded from the study. The vital pa-rameters, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score at admission, Rotterdam computed tomography (CT) scan, severity score, and Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) at 3 months were collected from the trauma database, discharge summaries, and patient records. -RESULTS: During the study period, 5071 patients with head injury were admitted. Among the 228 patients who met inclusion criteria, 31 (13.6%) were pregnant with a mean age of 24.2 +/- 3.8 years. The Rotterdam CT severity score, which moderately correlated with outcome in the control group, was found to be a poor predictor in the pregnant group. The outcome measures were compared using GCS score at discharge for immediate and GOS at 3 months for long-term periods. A better functional outcome was observed at 3 months among pregnant patients (P [ 0.02). -CONCLUSIONS: Pregnant TBI patients have better long-term outcomes than their similar-aged counterparts.However, radiologic severity of injury does not seem to predict outcome in this cohort.

Automated summary

A 15-year observational study on pregnant women with TBI admitted to a level 1 trauma center showed that pregnant TBI patients have better long-term outcomes than their similar-aged counterparts. However, radiologic severity of injury does not seem to predict outcome in this cohort.