Abstract 16364: Effect of Social Determinants on Outcomes in a High-risk Cardio-obstetrics Population

Abstract

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of maternal mortality. The hemodynamic changes that occur during pregnancy make this a particularly vulnerable time for women with heart disease. Additionally, it is known that social determinants have an effect on certain outcomes in pregnancy, although research to quantify this effect is limited. We compared demographics and outcomes for women in upper- and lower-income brackets based on zip codes. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of high-risk pregnant patients with cardiac diagnoses between November 2010 and June 2019. Patients were stratified into upper- and lower-income based on median household income in their zip code (2018 U.S. census). Results: We studied 191 pregnancies. Patients were stratified by zip code into lower (<$118,201/yr, N = 95) and upper median household income (N = 96) groups (Table 1). Women in the lower income bracket had more antepartum hospitalizations (38.3% vs 17.9%), were younger (30.6 vs 33.9 years), Hispanic (42.1% vs 10.4%), and more likely to have public insurance (46.8% vs 21.3%). There was a difference in cardiac diagnoses between the two groups; those with lower income had more structural heart disease (41.1% vs 17.7%) and fewer arrhythmias (25.3% vs 39.6%). In the lower income group, there were 2 maternal deaths and 1 neonatal death before discharge, while in the upper income there was 1 neonatal death. Conclusions: Our study examined the relationship between median income per zip code and pregnancy outcomes, and demographics in women with heart disease. Our observations demonstrate a significant difference in maternal age, race, distribution of cardiac diagnoses, and antepartum hospitalizations. Despite all women being treated at the same facility, antepartum hospitalizations differed based on income bracket. Social determinants of health are important factors that impact outcomes in the cardiac-obstetric population and require further investigation.