Substantial increases in obstetric acute renal failure resulted from changes in diagnosis or ascertainment, while increases in chronic kidney disease and chronic hypertension among pregnant women resulted in modest but significant increases in acute renal failure with dialysis. This according to a cohort study among 10,969,263 hospital deliveries in the US from 1999 to 2011. Researchers found:

• Obstetric renal failure rose from 2.4 to 6.3 per 10,000 deliveries between 1999 to 2001 and 2010 to 2011, a 10% yearly increase.

• The overall severity of acute renal failure decreased, although acute renal failure with dialysis rose from 0.27 to 0.36 per 10,000 deliveries.

• Acute renal failure associated with maternal death increased from 0.13 to 0.23 per 10,000 deliveries.

• The temporal increase in acute renal failure with dialysis was abolished by adjustment for chronic kidney disease and chronic hypertension.

Citation: Mehrabadi A, Dahhou M, Joseph KS, Kramer MS. Investigation of a rise in obstetric acute renal failure in the United States, 1999-2011. [Published online ahead of print April 4, 2016]. Obstet Gynecol. doi:10.1097/AOG.0000000000001374.