[Hospitalization, type of obstetrical clinic and anamnestic risk profile of pregnant women with pregestational diabetes mellitus--results of the perinatal registry of Lower Saxony, Germany].

Introduction: Obstetric and diabetic societies recommend an intensive care of pregnancies in women with pregestational diabetes, an early hospitalization in case of obstetric and internal complications as well as delivery in a perinatal center.

Objective: To evaluate the number and duration of hospitalization of pregnant women with pregestational diabetes in comparison with non-diabetic women and further more the type of clinics in which both groups were delivered. We also investigated if there were any differences in anamnestic risk factors in correlation with the type of hospital.

Material and methods: The data of the Perinatal Registry of Lower Saxony, Germany, between 1990 and 1999 were analyzed retrospectively. The pregnancies of 2 543 women with pregestational diabetes were compared with the pregnancies of 707 695 non-diabetic women.

Results: There was at least one admission to hospital in 40 % of diabetic and 18.6 % of non diabetic women and more than one admission in 11.9 and 3.6 %, respectively (p < 0.001). The number and duration of hospitalization in both groups decreased significantly within the observation period. 57.7 % of all hospitals performed 1 to 4 and 11 % of the hospitals 5 to 9 deliveries of diabetic women per year. In the group of pregnant women with pregestational diabetes 45 % were delivered in clinics with 1 to 4 and 26.4 % in clinics with 5 to 9 deliveries of diabetic women per year.

Conclusions: A higher number and duration of hospitalization was observed in the diabetic group, but both decreased significantly in each group during the observation period. No significant trend for delivering diabetic women in specialized high-risk units could be detected.