Knowledge of blood loss at delivery among postpartum patients

Farber, Michaela
Miller, Claire
Ramachandran, Bharathi
Hegde, Priya
Akbar, Kulsum
Goodnough, Lawrence
Butwick, Alexander

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Publication date

September 2016

DOI

10.7717/peerj.2361.

Publisher

PeerJ

ISSN

2167-8359

Journal

PeerJ

Abstract

Background: Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is a leading cause of obstetric morbidity. There is limited understanding of patients’ knowledge about blood loss at delivery, PPH, and PPH-related morbidities, including transfusion and anemia. Methods: We surveyed 100 healthy postpartum patients who underwent vaginal or cesarean delivery about blood loss, and whether they received information about transfusion and peripartum hemoglobin (Hb) testing. Responses were compared between women undergoing vaginal delivery vs. cesarean delivery; P<0.05 considered as statistically significant. Results: In our cohort, 49 women underwent vaginal delivery and 51 women underwent cesarean delivery. Only 29 (29%) of women provided blood loss estimates for their del...