Thanks to the work of each participating institution we have learned a great deal about pregnant women in North Carolina with hypertension in pregnancy. For the first time we know how many women have which diagnosis and which diagnoses most often lead to preterm deliveries. We know that the vast majority of women with hypertension in pregnancy receive steroids if they deliver before 34 weeks. We have also validated the diagnostic criteria for hypertension in pregnancy by showing that a newborn has a greater chance of NICU admission with superimposed preeclampsia compared to gestational hypertension.
We are beginning the development of the next phase of the Conservative Management of Preeclampsia (CMOP) initiative. We learned a great deal in the first six months of the initiative and look forward to receiving your input as we design the action plans and metrics for the next phase. You do not need to be an expert physician or nurse to serve on the CMOP Expert Team. What we require is a commitment to attend Expert Team meetings, interest in the initiative and willingness to review and comment on the material for the project. Meetings will be conducted via webinar and perhaps in one face-to-face meeting over the next three months. We look forward to patients, families, providers of all types, public health officials, hospital administrators, health system executives and others participating in this important work.