Risks of Placental Abruption and Preterm Delivery in Patients Undergoing Assisted Reproduction

Patients using assisted reproductive technology (ART) may need additional counseling about the increased risks of placental abruption and preterm delivery. Further investigation into the potential additive risk of ART and placental abruption is needed.

To ascertain the risk of placental abruption in patients who conceived with ART and to evaluate if placental abruption and ART conception are associated with an increased risk of preterm delivery (<37 weeks' gestation) over and above the risks conferred by each factor alone.

This cross-sectional study used data from the National Inpatient Sample, which includes data from all-payer hospital inpatient discharges from 48 states across the US. Participants included women aged 15 to 54 years who delivered from 2000 through 2019. Data were analyzed from January 17 to April 18, 2024.

Pregnancies conceived with ART.

Risks of placental abruption and preterm delivery in ART conception compared with spontaneous conceptions. Associations were expressed as odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs derived from weighted logistic regression models before and after adjusting for confounders. The relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI) of the risk of preterm delivery based on ART conception and placental abruption was also assessed.

Of 78 901 058 deliveries, the mean (SD) maternal age was 27.9 (6.0) years, and 9 212 117 patients (11.7%) were Black individuals, 14 878 539 (18.9%) were Hispanic individuals, 34 899 594 (44.2%) were White individuals, and 19 910 807 (25.2%) were individuals of other races and ethnicities. Of the total hospital deliveries, 98.2% were singleton pregnancies, 68.8% were vaginal deliveries, and 52.1% were covered by private insurance. The risks of placental abruption among spontaneous and ART conceptions were 11 and 17 per 1000 hospital discharges, respectively. After adjusting for confounders, the adjusted OR (AOR) of placental abruption was 1.42 (95% CI, 1.34-1.51) in ART pregnancies compared with spontaneous conceptions, with increased odds in White women (AOR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.31-1.53) compared with Black women (AOR, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.93-1.44). The odds of preterm delivery were significantly higher in pregnancies conceived by ART compared with spontaneous conceptions (AOR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.42-1.51). The risk of preterm delivery increased when patients had both ART conception and placental abruption (RERI, 2.0; 95% CI, 0.5-3.5).

In this cross-sectional study, patients who conceived using ART and developed placental abruption had a greater risk of preterm delivery compared with spontaneous conception without placental abruption. These findings have implications for counseling patients who seek infertility treatment and obstetrical management of ART pregnancies.