Objective: To test whether a policy of admission to hospital for rest is of value in the management of women with non-proteinuric hypertension during pregnancy.
Design: A randomized controlled trial.
Setting: Harare Maternity Hospital, Zimbabwe.
Subjects: 218 (28 first pregnancies) women with non-proteinuric hypertension and a singleton pregnancy at between 28 and 38 weeks gestation allocated to rest in hospital or routine outpatient care.
Intervention: Admission to hospital for rest. Encouraged to rest in bed although voluntary ambulation around the ward was allowed. The women in the control group were encouraged to continue normal activity at home, to check urine each day for proteinuria. All the women were reviewed weekly.
Main outcome measures: Disease progression was assessed by the development of severe hypertension (greater than or equal to 160/110 mmHg), development of proteinuria, need for induction of labour and number of infants born preterm (less than 37 weeks). Fetal outcome was assessed by birthweight, number of infants small-for-gestational age (SGA), and the number of infants requiring admission to the neonatal unit and their length of stay.
Results: The hospital rest group had a decreased risk of developing severe hypertension (blood pressure greater than or equal to 160/110 mmHg [odds ratio 0.47, 95% CI 0.26-0.83]). No differences were found in fetal growth or neonatal morbidity. The mean antenatal stay in hospital was 22.2 (SD 16.5), and 6.5 (SD 7.9) days in the rest and control groups, respectively.
Conclusions: Hospital admission for bed rest decreased the risk of developing severe hypertension but no improvement in fetal growth or neonatal morbidity was observed. Fetal monitoring at home and continued outpatient antenatal care provided a safe, alternative policy to hospital admission.