Study design/Site
This was a comparative cohort study with a consecutive sampling technique, carried out from April to October 2012. Three hundred and fifty (350) women who had been admitted to the labour ward of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Kumasi, Ghana, were recruited for the study. This was done under the supervision of qualified midwives and Obstetrician/Gynaecologists.
Eligibility
To qualify for recruitment, the pregnant women had to be on admission at the labour ward, with singleton pregnancy and should have consented to participate in the study. Women of all parity were included.
Women who underwent planned or emergency caesarean section, episiotomy and instrumental deliveries were excluded. Patients who bled after initial blood volumes had been estimated were also excluded. Women with pregnancy induced hypertension or pre-eclampsia, chronic metabolic diseases of which they were being treated or managed (e.g. diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease), hepatitis, HIV and tuberculosis were excluded. Inclusion was ascertained through review of patient folders in consultation with attending physicians.
Participants
Three hundred and fifty (350) pregnant women who had been admitted to the labour ward of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology for delivery were recruited as a start cohort. All recruited participants were followed up until delivery and an attending Obstetrician/Gynaecologist did an appropriate assessment of clinical status/diagnosis.
Five of the eligible recruits declined to participate in the study whereas 74 other patients underwent caesarean section, episiotomy or instrumental delivery or were lost to follow up. Of the 271 women who had normal vaginal delivery, 55 developed primary PPH (Group 1) and 216 did not develop primary PPH – normal vaginal delivery (Group 2).
Sample and data collection
Prior to delivery, about 9 ml venous blood sample was collected from each participant into sodium citrate tubes for coagulation studies (Prothrombin Time - PT and activated Partial Thromboplastin Time - aPTT), serum separator tubes for biochemical assays (Total protein- TP, Albumin - ALB, Globulins-GLOB, Alanine Aminotransferase - ALT, Aspartate Aminotransferase - AST, urea -URE and creatinine - CRE) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid tubes (EDTA) tubes for haematological assays (Full Blood Count - FBC, Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate - ESR, Glucose-6-phosphate Dehydrogenase - G6PD, sickling, blood group and peripheral blood smear).
Haematological assays were performed on fresh anticoagulated blood using an automated analyser (Mindray BC 3000 Plus, Shenzhen, China). Serum separator and sodium citrated samples were centrifuged and aliquots of plasma or serum were stored at −80°C until assayed. Biochemical assays were performed using an automated analyser (Selectra Pro S, Vital Scientific NV, Netherlands). Coagulation parameters were assayed using a semi-automated analyser (Coatron M4 TECO Medical Instruments, Germany). All other parameters were gathered from the patient records.
Measurement of blood loss
Deliveries were done on a dry disposable “linen saver” as suggested in a similar study [21]. The amniotic fluid was allowed to drain away and blood was allowed to collect into a graduated receptacle placed below the delivery bed, after which a qualified Midwife measured the amount of blood loss. Diagnosis of primary PPH (by an attending physician-Obstetrician/Gynaecologist) was based on vaginal delivery with a measured blood loss of 500 ml or more, up to one hour post-delivery. Vaginal delivery with a measured blood loss of less than 500 ml but enough to cause signs of haemodynamic compromise (e.g. weakness, syncope, decreased level of consciousness, dizziness, chest discomfort, dyspnoea, hypotension diaphoresis and pulmonary congestion) also constituted primary PPH [4, 5, 8, 22].
Outcome criteria
All laboratory results were classified into various categories based on reference ranges with respect to pregnancy to accommodate the physiological changes [23].
In the peripheral blood smear, any feature consistent with the presence of abnormal number, shape, size and age of cells constituted an abnormal peripheral blood smear.
Classification of anaemia was as per the recommendations of the World Health Organization [24]. Azotaemia was classified as pre-renal when urea: creatinine ratio was > 100, post-renal when ratio was from 40–100 and intra-renal when ratio was < 40.
Statistics
Data was entered into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and statistical analysis was done using the R-console (The R foundation for statistical computing, http://www.R-project.org). We reported categorical variables as frequencies and proportions and compared them with Chi-square and Fisher’s exact test as appropriate. We reported continuous variables as mean (SD) or median (IQR) based on data distribution (normal or skewed respectively) and compared them using Wilcoxon-Mann–Whitney (Rank sum) test and Independent samples t-test for skewed and normally distributed data respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was done to identify independent risk factors associated with primary PPH. Independent risk factors were identified using an automatic selection process (MODELSTEP), which removes non-significant variables and confounders in a stepwise backward selection process, based on a likelihood ratio static. An Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC) is constantly generated and the last MODELSTEP with the smallest AIC was selected as the best-fit model. Due to the low numbers of some blood types observed, this variable was categorised into “Blood type O” and “non-O blood types”.
Ethical Consent
The study was approved by the Committee on Human Research Publication and Ethics (CHRPE) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)/School of Medical Sciences (SMS) as well as the Research and Development unit of the KATH. The objective of the study was explained to all participants and written informed consent was obtained before recruitment.