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HWN Suggests

California decided it was tired of women bleeding to death in childbirth

Only about 2 percent of a woman’s total blood volume flows through her uterus. During pregnancy, though, that number rises to 10 percent to nourish the placenta and the baby. The most common cause of postpartum hemorrhage is a uterine atony — when the uterus does not contract and stop bleeding after the placenta breaks off.

About 30 percent of women who experience an obstetric hemorrhage don’t have an identifiable risk factor, so it’s hard to know who might be at risk.

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Featured

 Cheap, widely available drug could stop thousands of mothers bleeding to death

Tranexamic acid could save the lives of a third of women who die in childbirth from excessive bleeding, which kills 100,000 a year.

 Covid-19 Raises Risk Of Pregnancy Complications—Including Death Around Birth, Preterm Delivery And Postpartum Hemorrhage—Study Finds

Though the study was conducted before the widespread rollout of vaccines in the U.S., the findings underscore “why we need to make sure pregnant individuals are vaccinated,” Metz said, especially as “we know from other studies that vaccination prevents the most severe symptoms of the disease.”

Articles of Interest

A garment originally made for astronauts is saving the lives of new mothers in developing countries

In 1969, medical researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center were referred an unusual patient: a local California woman who had given birth to a healthy baby, but who kept hemorrhaging dangerous amounts of blood. While doctors at Stanford University Hospital gave the hemorrhage patient a blood transfusion, engineers at the space agency brainstormed solutions to stop the bleeding. They decided to try an anti-gravity suit—typically used to keep astronauts from blacking out during extreme acceleration by squeezing the arms and legs to push blood back towards the head—to apply external pressure to the woman’s lower body and drive blood upward. It was a success, and the woman’s life was saved.

An expert’s answer to 6 common postpartum hemorrhage questions

After giving birth, some postpartum bleeding will typically continue for two to three weeks. It should be like a period or less, and gradually resolve over time.

Endless Blood

How smart use of an old technology is saving women’s lives.

Inexpensive Drug Prevents Deaths in New Mothers, Study Finds

In a major six-year trial involving over 20,000 women in 21 countries, researchers showed that tranexamic acid, a little-known blood-clotter invented in the 1950s, reduced maternal bleeding deaths by a third if it was given within three hours. It costs less than $2 a dose and does not require refrigeration.

Poor knowledge and practice around oxytocin could put women in Nigeria at risk during childbirth

Severe bleeding after childbirth – postpartum haemorrhage – is a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in middle-income countries. Oxytocin is an affordable and effective drug that’s recommended to prevent postpartum haemorrhage. But there are concerns about the quality of oxytocin available for use by healthcare workers in most low- and middle-income countries, including Nigeria.

Space-age technology could help cut maternal deaths

A half-body suit that is strapped on to a woman's legs and abdomen to slow post-natal bleeding is being used to save lives

Resources

StatPearls

Primary postpartum hemorrhage is bleeding that occurs in the first 24 hours after delivery, while secondary postpartum hemorrhage is characterized as bleeding that occurs 24 hours to 12 weeks postpartum.