English

Abstract

BACKGROUND The third stage of labour starts when the fetus has completely delivered and ends with the complete expulsion of the placenta. The third stage of labour is usually uneventful, although significant complications can occur in this period, the most common is postpartum haemorrhage (PPH). The purpose of this study was to identify the various third stage complications, their incidence, and associated risk factors in patients admitted to the centre. METHODS This is a prospective observational study performed in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Gandhi Medical College and Sultania Zanana Hospital (SZH), Bhopal conducted from 1 st October 2010 to 30th September 2011. All patients who delivered in our centre or outside and developed a third stage complication were included in the study. RESULTS There were a total of 10,277 deliveries during the study period and 171 cases of third stage complications. The incidence of third stage complication was 1.66 %. The most common third stage complication was traumatic PPH (52.1 %) and the least common was inversion of uterus (2 %) but the case fatality rate (20 %) was higher in the latter. The incidence of traumatic PPH was highest among the primipara patients (72.9 %) and in the grand multipara, atonic PPH topped the list occurring in 57.8 % of the patients. CONCLUSIONS As third stage complications occur in approximately 1 in 60 deliveries and cause 19.3 % of the total maternal deaths, it is of utmost importance to outline an effective treatment for the management of postpartum haemorrhage. This could further help in reducing maternal mortality significantly. KEYWORDS Third Stage of Labour, Atonic Postpartum Haemorrhage, Traumatic Postpartum Haemorrhage, Retained Placenta, Uterine Inversion, Peripartum Hysterectomy