Approximately 94 percent of women hospitalized for pregnancy and delivery in the United States had some form of complication in 2008, according to a recent report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.  Conditions defined as complications included:

·         Premature labor

·         Urinary infection

·         Anemia

·         Diabetes

·         Vomiting

·         Bleeding

·         Laceration of the area between the vagina and anus during delivery

·         Abnormal fetal heart rate

·         Advanced maternal age (over 35 years)

·         Hypertension and eclampsia

 AHRQ also found that among these women:

·         Hospital stays for pregnancies with complications averaged 2.9 days, while the average hospital stay for an uncomplicated delivery was 1.9 days.

·         A hospital stay for a complicated pregnancy averaged $4,100, nearly 50 percent more costly than a delivery without any health issues ($2,600).

·         Pregnancy and delivery related complications accounted for $17.4 billion, or nearly 5 percent of total U.S. hospital costs.

These findings are based on data described in Complicating Conditions of Pregnancy and Childbirth, 2008.  The report uses data from the 2008 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a database of hospital inpatient stays in short-term, non-federal hospitals. The data are drawn from hospitals that comprise 95 percent of all discharges in the United States and include patients, regardless of insurance type, as well as the uninsured.