Risk factors for PP include previous cesarean delivery, advanced age, multiparity, history pregnancy with placenta previa, multiple abortion, and smoking ,et al [8]. Antepartum hemorrhage is an important cause of perinatal mortality and maternal morbidity in pregnant women with PP in the world [9]. The doctors are always confused about the proper time for pregnany termination to reduce the bad effect of blood transfusion, hysterectomy, fetal blood loss, etc. So the patients were devided into two groups, non-bleeding and repeated bleeding group, to survey the risk factors of antepartum bleeding in placenta previa cases and study the pregnancy outcomes.
Antepartum repeated bleeding patients have more intrauterine procedures than non-bleeding ones. Binary logistic regression indicated that higher number of gravidity and intrauterine procedures increased the risk of antepartum hemorrhage. This study found that when gravidity ≥ 5 and the patient history of three uterine cavity procedures, the risk of antepartum bleeding was 2.038 and 1.968 times higher, respectively. Such a finding may be associated with damage caused by cesarean section, multiple number of pregnancies, abortion, delivery and other injuries to the endometrium or uterine muscle, causing inflammatory or atrophic lesions, affecting endometrial growth, and eventually leading to increased bleeding risk of PP[10].
Binary logistic regression analysis also indicated that pregnancy termination week, distance placenta extend over os and placenta accreta are closely related with the risk of antepartum bleeding. The results of this study suggest that non-bleeding patients with PP can continue a pregnancy to near term delivery (36.91weeks), however, the repeated bleeding group have a greater chance of preterm birth at an average of about 34.5 weeks. Interesting, the risk of antepartum bleeding was reduced with an increase in gestational age. The results showed that the risk of bleeding was highest at ≤ 33.9 weeks gestation. Specifically, a gestational age of 34ཞ36.9 weeks and ≥ 37 weeks had 0.280, 0.064-fold likelihood of suffering antepartum bleeding compared with a gestational age of ≤ 33.9 weeks. Clinical observation also found that antepartum bleeding are more easily to occur during 28–34 weeks gestation in pregnant women with placenta previa. This change may be caused by faster growth of uterine in 28–34 weeks’ gestational age, leading to placenta and uterine muscle wall capillary rupture. When the placenta edge was noted to be over os, the risk of antepartum bleeding was over 4.385-fold than the low-lying plcaenta cases. So the doctors should be aware of the prenatal bleeding especially when the placenta was over os and ≤ 34 weeks.This study also found that these is no relationship between placental accreta and antepartum bleeding. It has been proposed that placenta often yields very solid adherence with the uterine wall and it is therefore difficult to separate causing bleeding before placenta removal.
Furthermore, previous cesarean delivery did not increase the risk of antepartum bleeding in pregnancies complicated with placenta previa, but the risk of peripartum and postpartum hemorrhage was high due to an increased risk of placental implantation, particularly pernicious placenta previa of the anterior uterine wall. Studies have reported that anterior wall placenta previa increased the risk of perioperative bleeding, blood transfusion, and hysterectomy [11, 12]. However, our study found there was no relationship between the placenta location and antepartum bleeding.
The risk of emergency surgery was significantly increased in the repeated bleeding group, which was 7.213 times higher than that of the non-bleeding group. A large amount of vaginal bleeding often causes great anxiety for patients and doctors, and such vaginal bleeding often occurs at midnight. Obstetricians often worry about hemorrhagic shock caused by large amount of vaginal hemorrhage, so there is a high probability of emergency surgery. Luangruangrong’s study had revealed the higher risks of preterm birth, emergency CS, blood transfusion, and low birth weight in antepartum hemorrhage group than the control group[13]. The study also found that antepartum hemorrhage does not increase the risk of postpartum hemorrhage and hysterectomy. There are several possible explanations for this. In the past two years, the implementation of interventional-guided cesarean section, pre-operative ultrasound, MRI to assess placenta accreta, and elective surgery has reduced the risk of emergency surgery. Additionally, interventional-guided cesarean section has greatly, reduced the risk of hysterectomy and postpartum hemorrhage. In the postpartum follow-up process we did not find significant abnormalities. In this study, there were total of 26 cases of hysterectomy, 20 of which occurred more than 4 years ago. Additionally, our hospital has immediate prevention and treatment methods for postpartum hemorrhage during surgery, including: uterus contractions drugs, B-lynch procedures, uterine gauze and packing, uterine artery ligation and other effective measures.
In 2003, Ananth et al. reported the birth weight of 61,711 neonates born to mothers with placenta previa in the United States and found that neonates of gestational age 28–36 weeks were about 210 g lower than neonates with normal placental position [14].In this study, pregnant women with antepartum bleeding had an increased risk of delivering neonates with low birth weights. Neonatal asphyxia and NICU admission risk were also increased. Fetal birth weight was also lower in the repeated bleeding group. Possible explanations include: pregnant women in the repeated bleeding group suffered anemia that affected fetal growth and development; and pregnancies were terminated in the repeated bleeding group at an early period. Our results also demonstrate that the non-bleeding group could maintain pregnancy until gestational age > 36 weeks while only 40 pregnant women in the repeated bleeding group were maintained to > 36 weeks.
Some limitations of this study should be acknowledged. The main limitation is the present study was a single-center, retrospective study. We need to do a multi-center study in the future. In conclusion, the clinical significance of this study was firstly to strengthen prenatal education and prevent the occurrence of placenta previa and antepartum hemorrhage by reducing the number of abortions and the rate of cesarean section. Next, we demonstrated that active treatment of pregnancy complications could reduce the risk of antepartum hemorrhage, anemia correction. Active preparation for antepartum, peripartum and postpartum hemorrhage prevention and treatment remains an important part of medical care for mothers and neonates.