Prediction of perinatal outcomes based on primary symptoms in women with placental abruption

Placental abruption is an important cause of perinatal mortality and morbidity. Although there are many reports on the risk factors for placental abruption, there are few on its classification. Our aim is to evaluate the associations between primary symptoms and the outcomes of placental abruption.

We carried out a retrospective cohort study of 12,474 births at the Perinatal Center for Maternity and Neonates of the Yokohama City University Medical Center between January 2000 and December 2012. There were 151 women with placental abruption, 136 of whom were included in this study. The subjects were classified into two groups according to their primary symptoms: those with bleeding (external bleeding group) and those with abdominal pain (abdominal pain group). Maternal and neonatal outcomes were compared between the two groups.

Both fetal and maternal outcomes were significantly poorer in the abdominal pain group than in the external bleeding group in terms of intrauterine fetal death (6.5% vs 33.3%, P < 0.001), perinatal mortality (8.1% vs 33.3%, P = 0.001), umbilical arterial pH < 7.1 (15.7% vs 57.1%, P < 0.001), bleeding volume, rate of blood transfusion, and disseminated intravascular coagulation incidence.

This classification based on primary symptoms was found to be useful for predicting both maternal and neonatal outcomes of placental abruption.