oa Editorial [Hot Topic: Critically Ill Obstetric Patients (Guest Editor: Daniela Vasquez)]

Pregnant or postpartum patients requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission account for less than 2% of the whole ICU population in developed countries, but they can reach up to 10-15% in developing regions. However, the great impact of these patients' admission to the ICU is more important than the actual number of patients admitted. Critically ill Obstetric patients represent a unique group of patients with particular characteristics. Their normal physiology is different from that of non-pregnant women. In addition, they are exposed to common diseases such as community acquired pneumonia or urinary tract infection; but they also suffered from pregnancy-related disorders not completely known by many critical care physicians. On the other hand, these patients are young, usually healthy and they carry a baby or have just delivered, which makes the process of being critically ill completely unexpected. Moreover, they frequently have other children to look after. When a mother is critically ill or eventually dies the whole house welfare is compromised. Maternal death increases the risk of child death and malnourishment and decreases the probability of school enrolment. Maternal mortality is a rare event in developed countries, but is still frequent in developing regions, where women die of completely preventable diseases such as septic abortion. The primary objective of the current supplement was to review the most frequent causes of admission of obstetric patients to the Intensive Care Unit, in order to help physicians with their management. The secondary objective was to cast some light on the most important causes of maternal mortality worldwide. In this way, we hope to contribute to build up knowledge about this important health problem, with the aim of promoting in some way its prevention.