PRIMARY POSTPARTUM HEMORRHAGE; PROFILE AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Objectives: To describe the causes and risk factors for primary postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) and its associated
morbidity and mortality at a tertiary care hospital.
Material and Methods: This descriptive study was done at the obstetrics and gynecology unit of Hayatabad Medical
Complex, Peshawar, from January 2007 to October 2008. All cases with primary PPH were included. Patient age,
parity, mode of delivery, cause of PPH, risk factors, management and outcome were recorded.
Results: Primary PPH was identified in 164 patients, 44 of these occurred at our hospital and 120 cases were
referred. PPH occurred in 106(64.63%) cases after vaginal delivery, 38 (23.17%) after instrumental delivery and
20(12.20%) after caesarean section. Causes of PPH included atony in 42 patients, tears and lacerations in 39,
retained placenta in 24, ruptured uterus in 18, placental pieces in 14, and 13 after Antepartum Haemorrhage (APH),
previous caesarean scar rupture in 6, combined atony and tears in 4 cases, coagulation disorder in 3 and inversion in
1. PPH following APH was the only cause more common in hospital delivered cases (P<0.008). Unbooked status,
grandmultiparity, prolonged labour and lack of active management of 3rd stage of labour were the common risk
factors. The majority were treated conservatively with uterine massage and uterotonic drugs. Surgical intervention in
the form of hysterectomy was done in 32 (19.51%) cases, mainly for ruptured uterus, repair of uterus in 6, and tear
repair in 39 cases. Retained placenta and placental pieces were removed manually. Major morbidity included shock
in 33 (20.12%), coagulopathy in 20 (12.2%), ICU admission in 10 (6.09%), renal failure in 4(2.4%) and anemia in 42
(25.6%) cases. Mortality was 6.9% (10 cases), 8 in referred patients and 2 in hospital delivered.
Conclusions: Early recognition of primary postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), appropriate treatment and timely surgical
intervention minimize the potentially serious outcomes.
Article Details
All articles published in the Journal of Medical Sciences (JMS) are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0). Under the CC BY 4.0 license, author(s) retain the ownership of the copyright publishing rights without restrictions for their content, and allow others to copy, use, print, share, modify, and distribute the content of the article even for commercial purposes as long as the original authors and the journal are properly cited. No permission is required from the author/s or the publishers for this purpose. Appropriate attribution can be provided by simply citing the original article. The corresponding author has the right to grant on behalf of all authors, a worldwide license to JMS and its licensees in all forms, formats, and media (whether known now or created in the future), The corresponding author must certify and warrant the authorship and proprietorship and should declare that he/she has not granted or assigned any of the article’s rights to any other person or body.
The corresponding author must compensate the journal for any costs, expenses, or damages that the JMS may incur as a result of any breach of these warranties including any intentional or unintentional errors, omissions, copyright issues, or plagiarism. The editorial office must be notified upon submission if an article contains materials like text, pictures, tables, or graphs from other copyrighted sources. The JMS reserves the right to remove any images, figures, tables, or other content, from any article, whether before or after publication, if concerns are raised about copyright, license, or permissions and the authors are unable to provide documentation confirming that appropriate permissions were obtained for publication of the content in question.