March 11 (Reuters) – Despite some women’s worry that seat
belts or air bags could harm a baby in utero in the case of an
accident, expectant mothers who are not wearing a seatbelt
during a car crash are more likely to lose the pregnancy,
according to a U.S. study.
The results, which appeared in the American Journal of
Obstetrics and Gynecology, reinforce the findings of other
studies that link seat belts with better chances of keeping both
mother and baby alive.
“One thing we’re always concerned about is (educating)
patients on seatbelt use,” said senior author Haywood Brown, the
chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Duke University Medical
Center.
“Nonetheless, like all individuals, some choose and so do
not choose to wear their seatbelt.”
To bet a better sense of which women don’t use restraints
and how that affects the outcome of their pregnancies, Brown and
his colleagues searched through a trauma registry at Duke
University Hospital.
They found 126 cases of women in their second and third
trimesters who had been in a car crash and cared for at the
hospital between 1994 and 2010.
Three fetuses, or 3.5 percent, died among the 86 mothers who
were wearing a seatbelt during the accident. Another three – 25
percent in this case – died among the 12 mothers who were not
wearing a seatbelt.
“The worst thing you can do is have the mother get hurt, and
the best way to protect the mother and protect the baby is to
have the mother wear a seatbelt,” said Kathleen DeSantis
Klinich, a researcher at the University of Michigan
Transportation Research Institute, who wasn’t part of the study.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
recommends that seat belts should be worn at all times, and the
lap belt should be fitted low across the hip bones, below the
belly.
Women without a seatbelt were more likely to be first-time
mothers than those who wore a seatbelt. Brown said it’s possible
that the habit of buckling in children might prompt mothers to
put on their own seatbelt.
Airbags came out in 17 of the accidents, and in those cases
the mother was more likely to experience the placenta separating
from the uterus – a condition that can be fatal for the mother
or the fetus.
Catherine Vladutiu, a researcher at the University of North
Carolina who was not involved with this research, said it’s
likely the airbag itself is not to blame for such serious
consequences.
“I think the airbag is a function of how severe the crash
was, so it’s hard to ease out whether that had any direct effect
on fetal demise,” she told Reuters Health. “I would err on the
side of (considering it) an indicator of crash severity.”
Brown said that some women will disarm the airbag for fear
that it will damage the baby in case of a crash, but “it’s not
the smart thing to do because it will save your life if the
airbag comes out.”
Klinich agreed, noting that her research had found that
airbags, if anything, are beneficial because they protect the
mother.
“The bottom line is, you’ve got to wear your restraint
because it decreases the risk not only for your injuries but
injury to your child,” Brown said.
SOURCE: htttp://bit.ly/10eypd8
(Reporting from New York by Kerry Grens at Reuters Health;
editing by Elaine Lies)
