Fractures during pregnancy tied to poor outcomes

NEW YORK, Sep 28 (Reuters) If a pregnant woman sustains a fracture, perhaps from an auto accident or fall, the risk of subsequent complications goes up markedly, researchers report.

''Women who sustain a fracture during pregnancy are not only at increased risk from the injury itself, but have a high risk of complications later during that pregnancy,'' lead investigator Dr.

Dina El Kady told Reuters Health.

El Kady and colleagues at the University of California, Davis, Sacramento, note that in the United States more pregnant women will die of traumatic injury than any other pregnancy complication.

However, they say, little is known for sure about the effect of trauma on pregnancy outcomes.

To investigate further, the team identified almost 3300 women who had sustained one or more fractures and were hospitalized at 20 weeks or more into pregnancy.

Those women who delivered while hospitalized were almost 170 times more likely to die than were mothers who had not sustained a fracture, the team reports in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Fetal death rates were almost 20 times higher, and there was a 20-fold increase in blood transfusions. The highest rates were seen in women with pelvic fractures.

Even those who were discharged before delivery continued to have complications, which included a greater chance of having a low birth weight infant and a greater risk of suffering from a blood clot.

Because of the risk of blood clots, such women should be considered for blood-thinning therapy, El Kady said.

REUTERS SAM SSC1108