Benchmarking the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

Introduction: The Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy (HDP) affect 7-10% of pregnancies worldwide and are one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in the perinatal period. An accurate assessment of mortality and morbidity is essential to provide effective care and treatment and benchmarking of these issues is required to enhance outcomes and define standards. Aim: To benchmark outcomes for women and babies following a diagnosis of hypertension between obstetric units in similar settings. Methods: Utilising a set of pre-defined clinical indicators, Individual Patient Data analysis techniques applied to the medical records of all women diagnosed with a HDP over a 12. month period at six obstetric units within Australia and Canada. Statistical analysis included contingency table sand means testing oas appropriate utilising IBM SPSS V.18. Results: Overall HDP rate of 7.6% of all deliveries, with a 3.0% preeclampsia rate. Outcomes differed significantly between units and did not cluster within any individual unit.