Pregnancy related disease, hospital admission and sick leave: A Danish national representative sample

SummaryIn a comprehensive questionnaire survey, 3152 women representative of all the deliveries in Denmark during a recent month were asked, among other things, about disease during pregnancy and the length of any sick leave or hospital admission.Of the 3152 women, 38 per cent had had a health problem due to the pregnancy and 19 per cent had been admitted to hospital for a mean time of 2 weeks.Sick leave during pregnancy was reported by 39 per cent of 2340 employed women. The mean duration of the sick leave was 3 frac1/2 weeks. In addition to this, the women may have made use of the 4 week antenatal leave provided by law in Denmark.Women 35 years or older had a greater incidence of hypertension, whereas pre-eclampsia was more frequent in primigravidae, irrespective of age. Previous infertility was not associated with any increased incidence of complications of pregnancy.