[Objective severity markers in women with severe postpartum haemorrhage: a 310-case series]

Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is a major contributor to maternal morbidity and mortality in France. The objective of our study was to reveal predictive factors of severity or cure, allowing an adapted management as less invasive as possible, in case of severe PPH.

This retrospective study included 310 patients, who had been treated for a severe PPH in Lariboisière university hospital from April 2007 to April 2009.

The predictive factors found for an invasive management (surgery or embolization) are: at clinical examination, heart rate (88 versus 100 pulses per minute), importance of bleeding and the tonicity of the uterine globe. At biological examination, they are haemoglobin level (9 versus 8.2g/dL) and clotting factors, especially fibrinogen (3 versus 2g/L) and prothrombin time (PT) (76 versus 63%). The identified cure factors are the same ones as severity factors. With multivariate analysis, initial independent predictive factors about an invasive management were: the tonicity of the uterine globe (OR=0.14), heart frequency (OR=1.3) and PT (OR=0.76).

In case of severe haemorrhage, there may be the question of transfer of the patient. The difficulty is to avoid unnecessary transport, without delay for the future care. Very few studies searched predictive factors of severity or cure. Our study found, as predictive factors of invasive treatment, elements of physical examination (heart rate and the tonicity of the uterine globe) and biological factors (hemoglobin level and clotting factors).