Asthma Attacks During Pregnancy in the ICU: Just Be Alert

Leonidas Grigorakos*, Ioannis Nikolopoulos, Katerina Tzortzopoulou, Anastasia Alexopoulou, Mariza Gioka and Dimitrios Veldekis

Background:Asthma represents one of the most common medical conditions encountered during pregnancy, which may seriously affect its outcome.

Objective: To evaluate the outcome of asthma attacks during pregnancy and the role medications play for appropriate asthma management.

Methods: In this prospective study, we present our 15 years’ experience from hospitalization in ICU of 11 pregnant women (13-29 weeks of gestation) with severe asthma.

Results:All  patients  had  a  favorable  outcome  after  being  applied  proper  medical  procedures and medications. The mean duration of patients’ stay in ICU stay was 4.6 days, they were all closely observed until birth, and none of them had further asthma attacks during pregnancy after discharge.

Conclusions:In  our  study  severe  asthma  in  pregnant  women  had  an  unexpectedly  favorable outcome.  Therefore,  proper  medication  seems  to  be  of  crucial  importance  for  positive  outcomes  in the case of asthma attacks during pregnancy. Moreover, careful follow-up by clinicians experienced in managing asthma seems to be essential for pregnant asthmatic patients.

Keywords: Asthma attacks; Pregnancy; Medication; ICU

Published on: Jun 9, 2015 Pages: 9-10

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/aprc.000002
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