Feto-Maternal Outcome in Patients with Placenta Previa at Aljala Maternity Hospital, Tripoli, Libya

Abstract

To assess maternal and fetal morbidity associated with placenta previa. All patients with placenta previa who delivered in services hospital, Aljala Maternity hospital during the years 2020 to 2022 were involved. This study designed as descriptive retrospective cross-sectional study. Total number of 55 patients having placenta previa during the study period, 52.07% of patients were in age group 31-40 years while 15.5% of patients with placenta previa were less than 30 years (p<0.05). Regarding the gestational age, the current study showed that the mean gestational age for the patients who had PP was 37.19 weeks. The result was statistically insignificant with p value of 0.618. Most of the patients had H/O previous cesarean section (15 previous I C/S, 26 previous II C/S, 3 previous III C/S, 2 previous IV C/S, and 1 previous V C/S) which accounts 86.1% of the participated patients. Increased number of caesarean sections significantly associated with PP (p=0.0001). Around two third of women underwent urgent C/S (66%), and the rest of them (34%) had elective type. One third of the patients came with H/O vaginal bleeding. 21% of the patients had a complain of pain (most of them lower abdominal pain). 12.7% of the patients came shocked. Four percent of the participated women underwent hysterectomy, one of them had elective cesarean section. 15% of the patients had intrapartum bleeding, and 24% of the participated women had blood transfusion which reach 6 units in one case. With regard the birth weight, most of the neonates had average birth weight (80.4%). The percentage of low birth weight (LBW) was 9.4%. On the other hand, the percentage of macrosomia (birth weight is above 4.5kg) was 10.2% for the P value 0.737. 41.5% of the neonates had H/O admission to the neonatal intensive care unit. The most of the neonates were with mother (58.5%). There was one neonatal death during the admission in NICU. Placenta previa is danger to both the mother and the baby with high maternal morbidity and adverse perinatal outcome. Regular antenatal care with adequate arrangement of blood transfusion and multidisciplinary approach can reduce maternal morbidity and mortality.