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Table 4 Total blood loss and total units of transfused packed red blood cells in women with persistent postpartum haemorrhage, compared with women with different cut-off values for estimations of blood loss and transfused packed red blood cells (RBC) within 24 h following birth

From: Clinical characteristics of women captured by extending the definition of severe postpartum haemorrhage with ‘refractoriness to treatment’: a cohort study

Definition based on

Total blood loss (L)

Time from birth till end of bleeding (hours)

Total units of transfused RBCs

Time from birth till transfusion of first RBC-unit (hours)

Median (interquartile range)

 Persistent postpartum haemorrhage (N = 1260)

3.0 (2.5–4.0)

3.4 (2.1–5.9)

4 (3–6)

2.5 (1.6–4.2)

 Estimated blood loss

  ≥ 1000 mL (N = 1391)

3.0 (2.5–4.0)

3.3 (2.0–5.8)

4 (3–6)

2.5 (1.5–4.2)

  ≥ 1500 mL (N = 1344)

3.0 (2.5–4.0)

3.3 (2.0–5.8)

4 (3–6)

2.5 (1.5–4.2)

  ≥ 2000 mL (N = 1252)

3.0 (2.5–4.0)

3.4 (2.1–5.9)

4 (3–6)

2.4 (1.5–4.1)

  ≥ 2500 mL (N = 1050)

3.5 (3.0–4.2)

3.6 (2.1–6.1)

4 (3–6)

2.3 (1.5–3.8)

 Transfusion of packed red blood cells

  ≥ 4 units (N = 845)

3.5 (2.7–4.5)

3.8 (2.2–6.4)

5 (4–7)

2.3 (1.4–3.7)

  ≥ 6 units (N = 325)

4.8 (3.6–6.5)

6.5 (3.1–8.6)

8 (6–12)

2.0 (1.0–3.3)

  ≥ 8 units (N = 176)

6.0 (4.5–8.0)

6.1 (4.1–12.0)

11 (9–15)

1.9 (0.8–3.3)

  ≥ 10 units (N = 115)

7.0 (5.1–9.8)

6.9 (4.4–12.8)

13 (11–18)

1.8 (0.7–3.0)