Early Hospital Discharge and Early Puerperal Complications

Abstract

 The study aimed to evaluate the association between the time of postpartum discharge and symptoms indicative of complications during the first postpartum week. The cross-sectional study included 753 women with vaginal delivery at Al-Jamhorya teaching public hospital without complications were interviewed before the hospital discharge and seven days after. The time of postpartum discharge was classified as early (≤24hours) or late (>24hours). A total of 753 mothers were enrolled in the study. The majority (94.3%) of the mothers stayed in the hospital ≤24hours, 4.1% >24hours, and 1.6 % were discharged against medical advice. The mean duration of hospital stay was 12.1±6.1 hours, with a minimum hospital stay of 2 hours and a maximum stay of 46 hours. The prenatal care was satisfactory in 91.2%. Prenatal care was satisfactory in 91% of early discharge mothers and 93.5% in the late group. This slight difference was not statistically significant. After delivery, 8.4% had urinary tract infections. Urinary tract infection after delivery occurred in 8.2% of mothers with early discharge and 12.9 % in mothers with late discharge. This difference was not statistically significant. Complications of episiotomy were recorded in 79.9% of mothers with early discharge and 61.3% in late discharge. This difference was statistically significant. The study’s conclusions indicated that late discharge mothers had received anesthesia and performed episiotomy more than early discharge mothers. Complications of episiotomy were recorded more in mothers with early discharge than in late discharged mothers. It is recommended that a randomized clinical trial is best to evaluate the association between the time of discharge postpartum and the presence of complications, also to attain safety and possible benefits of shorter hospital stay.