Perinatology.  2020 Sep;31(3):123-128. 10.14734/PN.2020.31.3.123.

Significance of Clinical Findings of Patients with Placental Abruption

• Jeong YY
• Yun TH
• Hong SY
• Bae JY

• KMID: 2507496
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.14734/PN.2020.31.3.123

Abstract

Objective
Placental abruption is an extremely critical complication in pregnant women because it can result in poor maternal and neonatal outcomes. The exact criteria or obvious prognostic factors to diagnose and predict the outcome have not been determined. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical significance of initial findings of patients with placental abruption.
Methods
Fifty-six women with placental abruption who delivered at our hospital between January, 2007 and December, 2017 were enrolled in this retrospective study. We reviewed medical records and analyzed the relationship between variable clinical factors and pregnancy outcomes.
Results
Patients with unfavorable outcomes (intrauterine fetal death or use of neonatal ventilator) showed a high tendency of having both abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding, or abdominal pain. Neonates delivered in the abdominal pain group showed a significantly lower Apgar score, larger dimensions of placental abruption and higher frequencies of ventilator use than the other group. The results of multivariate logistic regression showed poor prognostic factors of placenta abruption: abdominal pain (odds ratio [OR]=43.3; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.9-968.9) and vaginal bleeding (OR=23.1; 95% CI=1.7-305.9).
Conclusion
Patients with placental abruption showed statistically significant tendencies of having abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding as initial symptoms. Especially, abdominal pain was associated with the poorest outcome. Therefore, obstetricians should make more rapid decisions and carefully monitor patients for improving the outcome of placental abruption when patients have obvious abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding.

Keyword

Abruptio placentae; Diagnostic clue; Prognosis; Signs and symptoms