More women are suffering severe problems arising from blood loss after delivery of a child, Australian researchers have found.
Study leader Christine Roberts of the University of Sydney and Royal North Shore Hospital and colleagues studied the birth hospital discharge records of the 500,603 women who had children in New South Wales during the study period.
We identified 6,242 women who suffered severe adverse outcomes, including 22 who died in hospital. Of the 6242, 67 percent had an obstetric hemorrhage,
Roberts said in a statement.
Active management of the third stage of labor, delivery of the placenta, is effective in reducing postpartum hemorrhage. Unfortunately, adherence to active third-stage management recommendations is poorly reported and/or suboptimal in Australia, and significant variations in policies and practice have been reported in Europe. Suboptimal adherence to active management guidelines could explain the rising postpartum hemorrhage rates.
The study, published in the journal BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, found that between 1999 and 2004 the annual rate of adverse maternal outcomes increased by 20.9 percent.
Comments