Journal article
Postpartum-specific vital sign reference ranges
- Abstract:
-
Objective: To estimate normal ranges for postpartum maternal vital signs.
Methods: We conducted a multicenter prospective longitudinal cohort study in the United Kingdom. We recruited women before 20 weeks of gestation without significant comorbidities and with accurately dated singleton pregnancies. Women recorded their own blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation and temperature daily for 2 weeks postpartum. Trained midwives measured participants' vital signs including respiratory rate around postpartum days 1, 7, and 14.
Results: From August 2012 to September 2016, we screened 4,279 pregnant women; 1,054 met eligibility criteria and chose to take part. Postpartum vital sign data were available for 909 women (86.2%). Median, or 50th centile (3rd–97th centile), systolic and diastolic blood pressures increased from the day of birth: 116 mm Hg (88–147) and 74 mm Hg (59–93) to a maximum median of 121 mm Hg (102–143) and 79 mm Hg (63–94) on days 5 and 6 postpartum, respectively, an increase of 5 mm Hg (95% CI 3–7) and 5 mm Hg (95% CI 4–6), respectively. Median (3rd–97th centile) systolic and diastolic blood pressure returned to 116 mm Hg (98–137) and 75 mm Hg (61–91) by day 14 postpartum. The median (3rd–97th centile) heart rate was highest on the day of birth, 84 beats per minute (bpm) (59–110) decreasing to a minimum of 75 bpm (55–101) 14 days postpartum. Oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, and temperature did not change in the 2 weeks postbirth. Median (3rd–97th centile) day-of-birth oxygen saturation was 96% (93–98). Median (3rd–97th centile) day-of-birth respiratory rate was 15 breaths per minute (10–22). Median (3rd–97th centile) day-of-birth temperature was 36.7°C (35.6–37.6).
Conclusion: We present widely relevant, postpartum, day-specific reference ranges which may facilitate early detection of abnormal blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and temperature during the puerperium. Our findings could inform construction of an evidence-based modified obstetric early warning system to better identify unwell postpartum women.
Clinical trial registration: ISRCTN, 10838017.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
Actions
Access Document
- Files:
-
-
(Preview, Supplementary materials, pdf, 5.8MB, Terms of use)
-
(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 713.6KB, Terms of use)
-
- Publisher copy:
- 10.1097/AOG.0000000000004239
Authors
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/001aqnf71
- Funding agency for:
- Loerup, L
- Grant:
- EP/G036861/1
- Programme:
- Digital Economy Programme
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/0187kwz08
- Funding agency for:
- Gerry, S
- Grant:
- DRF-2016-09-073
- Programme:
- Doctoral Fellowship
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/01kmhx639
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/00aps1a34
- Publisher:
- Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
- Journal:
- Obstetrics and Gynecology More from this journal
- Volume:
- 137
- Issue:
- 2
- Pages:
- 295-304
- Publication date:
- 2021-01-05
- Acceptance date:
- 2020-10-22
- DOI:
- ISSN:
-
0029-7844
- Language:
-
English
- Pubs id:
-
1146340
- Local pid:
-
pubs:1146340
- Deposit date:
-
2020-11-22
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Green et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2021
- Rights statement:
- © 2021 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CCBY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
If you are the owner of this record, you can report an update to it here: Report update to this record