PLACENTA PREVIA - DOES UTERINE ACTIVITY CAUSE BLEEDING

Twenty-two women > 24 weeks' gestation with a central placenta praevia were monitored to determine if an increase in uterine activity preced es bleeding in patients with central praevias. Monitoring of all subje cts began at 26.3 +/- 4.4 weeks and continued until 37 weeks (or deliv ery if preterm). All subjects had at least one haemorrhage, 7 women ha d 2, and 4 subjects had 3 episodes of bleeding. Only 3 patients delive red at term while the remainder (86%) delivered preterm. The gestation al age at first episode of bleeding was 29.1 +/- 3.6 weeks and at deli very was 34.3 +/- 3.3 weeks. Nine women (41%) had an increase in uteri ne activity above baseline the day of or the day preceding the first h aemorrhage. The increase in uterine activity was not statistically sig nificant when compared to the 6 days prior to bleeding when all 22 pat ients were considered.