Pregnancy in the emergency department: risk factors and prevalence among all women

Initiating medical abortion in an emergency department in the United States

OBJECTIVES

The primary objective of this study was to assess the feasibility of initiating medical abortions in a large, academic emergency department (ED) in the United States.

METHODS

A retrospective case series analysis was conducted to evaluate a protocol for initiating medical abortion in the ED implemented from January 2020 to October 2023 at an academic, tertiary care hospital in California, USA. Participants included ED patients diagnosed with pregnancies in the first trimester that were undesired and who opted for medical abortion. The medical abortion protocol was collaboratively designed by a multidisciplinary team and follow-up was conducted by our institution's gynaecology department. Data were sourced from a data repository of electronic health records and subjected to descriptive statistical analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 27 eligible patients initiated medical abortions in the ED during the study period. The cohort was diverse in terms of racial and ethnic backgrounds and almost evenly split between private and public insurance. No patients had significant complications identified in the medical record. Two patients required uterine aspiration by the gynaecology team; one patient in clinic and one during a return visit to the ED.

CONCLUSIONS

Data from this case series suggest that initiating medical abortion in the ED is feasible. The ED may be considered as an additional access point for abortion care services, especially in areas where other care options are not readily available. Educational, legal and regulatory frameworks that allow emergency physicians to take a greater role in providing this care should be considered.

The evolving role of emergency medicine in family planning services

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The emergency department serves as an essential access point for a variety of healthcare services. This review will examine the recent expansion of family planning and reproductive health services in the emergency department.

RECENT FINDINGS

An increasing number of patients present to emergency departments for early pregnancy loss (EPL), abortion care, and contraceptive management. Availability of comprehensive EPL management varies dramatically, possibly due to lack of provider knowledge or training. Particularly in remote settings, educational interventions - such as providing information about medication management and training in uterine aspiration - may standardize this management. Restrictive abortion laws raise concerns for changing and increased patient presentations to the emergency department for complications related to unsafe or self-managed abortion. Emergency medicine providers should anticipate that more patients will present without a prior ultrasound confirming intrauterine pregnancy prior to initiating no-touch or self-managed abortions. Particularly among pediatric patients, there may be a role for contraceptive counseling during an emergency department visit. Novel strategies, including web-based interventions and emergency department-based curricula for contraceptive counseling, may help reach those who otherwise may not seek reproductive healthcare in a clinic setting.

SUMMARY

The intersection of emergency medicine and reproductive healthcare is a promising frontier for providing immediate, patient-centered, family planning care. Continued research and provider education are necessary to refine these approaches, address disparities, and respond to the changing reproductive healthcare landscape.

Pregnancy Status is Associated With Screening for Alcohol and Other Substance Use in the Emergency Department

OBJECTIVES

Determine the rates of screening for substance use in pregnant women versus non-pregnant women attending the emergency department (ED).

METHODS

We captured all ED visits by women of childbearing age (12-50 years in our study) over a 5-year period (2012-2017) (n = 72,752) from a local community hospital. The 2742 pregnant women were then matched by ethnicity, marital status, and arrival method to 9888 non-pregnant women. We then compared rates of screening for substance use by pregnancy status stratifying by age and diagnosis.

RESULTS

The proportion of non-pregnant women who were screened for substance use was 3.66% compared to 1.90% of pregnant women, yielding an odds ratio (OR) of 1.96 (95% CI = 1.44 to 2.67). We then stratified the results by presenting complaint and age. Non-pregnant women 14 to 19 and 30 to 34 had the highest likelihood for screening (OR > 3.0). The presenting complaint showed little effect on screening.

CONCLUSION

Pregnant women were screened only 51% as often as non-pregnant women for substance use in the ED. These results are of particular concern as we continue to see a rise in substance use during pregnancy which results in an increased burden on the healthcare system and society. This study replicates a previous study showing that the rates of screening are lower for pregnant women than non-pregnant women presenting to the ED. Earlier recognition of substance use offers increased opportunities for intervention and prevention of adverse outcomes from substance use during both the current pregnancy and future pregnancies.

A qualitative exploration of women's experiences discovering pregnancies in the emergency department

Objectives

The few studies examining pregnancy testing in emergency departments (EDs) address pregnancy-related physical risks. Here, we examine experiences of people who discover pregnancies in EDs.

Methods

Between 2015 and 2017, as part of a larger study, we conducted interviews with 29 women in Southern Louisiana (n = 13) and Baltimore, MD (n = 16), who reported discussing their pregnancy during an ED visit. We analyzed these interviews for content and themes.

Results

Respondents reported diagnosis of pregnancy as a routine and straightforward component of care received in EDs. They reported receiving diagnostic studies and therapeutic interventions to rule out and treat complications of pregnancy and care for what brought them to the ED to begin with, such as treatments for nausea and vomiting; education about physical symptoms and nutrition-related needs during pregnancy; and referrals to prenatal care. However, we find evidence of unmet needs related to patient-centered communication, such as providing emotional care to women discovering pregnancies in EDs and lack of support for transitions to abortion care.

Conclusions

While diagnosis of pregnancy in the ED may be routine for ED clinicians, it is not necessarily routine or straightforward for people receiving the diagnosis. ED clinicians should not assume that all people who discover their pregnancies in the ED want to continue their pregnancy. People who discover pregnancies in EDs may benefit from patient-centered communication and support for the range of transitions to care people might need in addition to the routinely provided diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.

Implications

ED clinicians may need additional training and support to ensure that they can meet the range of needs of people who discover their pregnancies in the ED.

Ruling out early trimester pregnancy when implementing community-based deworming programs

BACKGROUND

Large-scale deworming programs have, to date, mostly targeted preschool- and school-age children. As community-based deworming programs become more common, deworming will be offered to women of reproductive age. The World Health Organization recommends preventive chemotherapy be administered to pregnant women only after the first trimester. It is therefore important for deworming programs to be able to identify women in early pregnancy. Our objective was to validate a short questionnaire which could be used by deworming program managers to identify and screen out women in early pregnancy.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

In May and June 2018, interviewers administered a questionnaire, followed by a pregnancy test, to 1,203 adult women living in the Peruvian Amazon. Regression analyses were performed to identify questions with high predictive properties (using the pregnancy test as the gold standard). Test parameters were computed at different decision tree nodes (where nodes represented questions). With 106 women confirmed to be pregnant, the positive predictive value of asking the single question 'Are you pregnant?' was 100%, at a 'cost' of a false negative rate of 1.9% (i.e. 21 women were incorrectly identified as not pregnant when they were truly pregnant). Additional questions reduced the false negative rate, but increased the false positive rate. Rates were dependent on both the combination and the order of questions.

CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE

To identify women in early pregnancy when deworming programs are community-based, both the number and order of questions are important. The local context and cultural acceptability of different questions should inform this decision. When numbers are manageable and resources are available, pregnancy tests can be considered at different decision tree nodes to confirm pregnancy status. Trade-offs in terms of efficiency and misclassification rates will need to be considered to optimize deworming coverage in women of reproductive age.

Preoperative pregnancy testing in surgical patients: How useful is policy of routine testing

Surgery in a patient with unrecognised pregnancy has serious ethical and medicolegal implications. There are no guidelines in India for preoperative pregnancy testing (POPT) in surgical patients. This review was undertaken to ascertain utility of routine POPT and whether any specific indication for POPT could be suggested. We performed a literature search to identify publications pertaining to POPT in surgical patients. Searches included PubMed, Google Scholar and internet search for national guidelines. Studies pertaining to incidence of unrecognised pregnancy, cost-effectiveness of POPT, effect of surgery and anaesthesia on pregnancy are included. We excluded articles which were available in languages other than English and those whose full texts were unavailable. Most of the literature about reproductive outcomes after anaesthesia exposure is based on old data. The evidence for teratogenic effect of anaesthetic drugs on human foetus is still inconclusive. Apart from anaesthesia and surgery, the outcome after surgery in unrecognised pregnant patient depends on other factors such as indication for surgery, high incidence of foetal loss in early pregnancy, stress and lifestyle of patient. As it is difficult to unsnarl the effect of these factors, POPT should be offered to all patients who based on history could be possibly pregnant. The cost-effectiveness of POPT appears doubtful, but considering costs associated with miscarriages and medicolegal litigations due to unclear association with anaesthesia, it may indeed be cost-effective.

Trauma in pregnancy: anatomical and physiological considerations

Management of a pregnant trauma victim is a relatively rare but stressful event, not least due to the need to consider two patients. Initial management by a trauma team should follow a structured approach applicable to all trauma patients, combined with knowledge of the specific problems encountered in pregnancy. This review outlines important anatomical and physiological changes that occur during pregnancy and their relevance to initial assessment and treatment. It discusses the epidemiology of trauma in pregnancy, the presentation and manage ment of specific problems and the methods of fetal assessment.

Is routine pregnancy test necessary in women of reproductive age admitted to the emergency department?

BACKGROUND:

This study aimed to determine the necessity of pregnancy test in women of reproductive age admitted to emergency department (ED) in routine practice.

METHODS:

We retrospectively reviewed the records of patients who presented to the ED between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2010 and received a pregnancy test.

RESULTS:

The median age of 1 586 patients enrolled into the study was 27 years. Of these patients, 19.55% had a positive result of pregnancy test. The most common complaint at admission was abdominal pain in 60.15% of the patients, and pregnancy test was prescribed. 15.83% of the patients with abdominal pain had a positive result of pregnancy test. Of the patients, 30.64% had nausea-vomiting at admission, and 11.52% had a positive result of pregnancy test. When other complaints were considered, the most commonly observed complaints were non-specific symptoms such as dizziness, malaise and respiratory problems. Of the patients, 70.93% were not remembering the date of last menstruation, and 9.51% showed a positive result of pregnancy test. Urinary tract infection (UTI) was commonly diagnosed with an incidence of 17.65%, which was followed by non-specific abdominal pain (NSAP) (16.77%) and gastrointestinal disorders such as gastritis and peptic ulcer (6.87%). Of the patients, 88.40% were discharged from ED, and 11.60% were hospitalized.

CONCLUSION:

Pregnancy test should be given to women of reproductive age as a routine practice in ED in developing countries like Turkey.

Substituting whole blood for urine in a bedside pregnancy test

BACKGROUND

Point-of-care testing for rapid detection of pregnancy in women of reproductive age is common practice in the emergency department. Commercially available rapid human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) immunoassays are validated for use with urine and serum, but not whole blood.

STUDY OBJECTIVES

We assessed the validity of using whole blood to detect pregnancy using a point-of-care hCG assay by comparing it to a laboratory quantitative serum hCG assay as the criterion standard.

METHODS

A convenience sample of female patients of reproductive age (18-51 years) submitted 5mL of whole blood, from which two drops were immediately applied to a point-of-care hCG kit, with results recorded at 10min. The remainder of each whole blood specimen was sent to the hospital laboratory for the criterion-standard quantitative serum hCG assay. The criterion standard for a positive pregnancy test was defined as quantitative serum hCG≥5 mIU/mL. Investigators performing the whole blood test and laboratory technicians performing the quantitative serum assay were blinded to one another's results.

RESULTS

There were 633 patients enrolled, with a mean age of 30 years (± 7.7 years); 34% of the patients were pregnant. Overall, the whole blood pregnancy test was 95.8% sensitive (negative predictive value 97.9%), whereas the urine test was 95.3% sensitive (negative predictive value 97.6%); the specificity and positive predictive value of both tests was 100%.

CONCLUSION

Using a standard point-of-care qualitative hCG immunoassay kit, whole blood may be used for rapid detection of pregnancy with similar, or greater, accuracy than urine.

Patient self assessment of pregnancy status in the emergency department

OBJECTIVES

Pregnancy tests are often performed routinely for female emergency department (ED) patients of reproductive age. One major reason is a perception that patients are unreliable in predicting their own pregnancy status. We hypothesised that patients could reliably predict that they were not pregnant.

METHODS

The study used a prospective cohort design, in an urban academic ED, from January 19 to May 19, 2004. All patients for whom a pregnancy test was ordered were asked about their sexual history as well as two additional questions: "Do you think you might be pregnant?" and "Is there any chance you could be pregnant?" Patients with already documented pregnancies were excluded.

RESULTS

A total of 474 patients had pregnancy tests performed that met inclusion criteria. Eleven (2.3%) tests were positive. Among patients who answered no to both questions (337), one test (0.3%) was positive (negative predictive value (NPV) 99.7%, likelihood ratio (LR) 0.13 (95% CI, 0.02 to 0.82)). The other historical factor with a high NPV (100%) was not being sexually active (LR not calculable). All pregnancies occurred in patients with gastrointestinal or genitourinary as the chief complaint: this comprised only 56% of the presentations for which tests were ordered.

CONCLUSION

Sexual history and self assessment can be used as a highly effective predictor of a patient not being pregnant. Given the risks of missed pregnancy in the ED, and low monetary and time cost of pregnancy tests, frequent testing is still recommended in most instances.

Trauma in pregnancy

Over the past 60 years, trauma has become the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the pregnant patient. The emotional and physiological challenges of treating two patients simultaneously adds to an already stressful situation. Resuscitation of the pregnant trauma patient is discussed from the prehospital setting to disposition. Also discussed are non-invasive monitoring tools, such as tocodynanomometry and ultrasonography.

Unrecognized pregnancy in the overdosed or poisoned patient

A 22-year-old woman was found in bed unresponsive and hypotensive after an apparent overdose. Subsequent workup in the emergency department identified a ruptured ectopic pregnancy and extensive hemoperitoneum. A significant delay occurred when emergency physicians excluded the possibility of pregnancy because of the patient's normal menstrual history. A qualitative serum or urine pregnancy test is recommended in all women of child-bearing age who present with poisoning or drug overdose.

Toxic ingestions in pregnancy: abortifacient use in a case series of pregnant overdose patients

OBJECTIVES

To profile young, pregnant patients with an overdose reported to an urban poison center; and to characterize the ingestions and short-term outcomes of these overdose patients.

METHODS

A prospective, observational study of female overdose patients was performed from November 1, 1994, through March 31, 1995. Consecutive cases were identified from all calls to the regional poison center (annual call volume = 70,000) regarding intentional overdose in women between the ages of 12 and 30 years. Pregnancy tests were recommended by the poison center during the study period in female patients aged 12-30 years who presented to a health care facility (usually an urban ED) with an intentional overdose. Pregnant patients were then followed during their hospitalizations, and the results of toxicology studies and maternal and short-term fetal outcomes were recorded.

RESULTS

Pregnancy tests were obtained for 371 (32%) of 1,142 eligible patients. Of patients with pregnancy tests, 43 (11.6%) were pregnant. Although most cases were comparable to general adult intentional ingestions, 5 of the 43 pregnant patients ingested known abortifacients. Most pregnant patients (35/43, 81%) had toxicity at or below American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) criteria for minimal toxicity, and all patients recovered completely.

CONCLUSION

Pregnancy was a common finding in this sample of young, female, intentional overdose patients reported to our regional poison control center. Frequent use of abortifacients for toxic ingestions has not been previously reported. A pregnancy test should be obtained for all female patients of childbearing age with an intentional ingestion to address the potential association of the ingestion with an unanticipated or undesired pregnancy.