Paternal Statistics May Provide Insight to Risk for Uteroplacental Bleeding Disorders

Uteroplacental bleeding complications during pregnancy are quite common. In as many as one-fifth of all pregnancies, there is a risk for uteroplacental bleeding disorder. With these significantly high risks, many obstetricians are looking to risk factors that may provide insight into when a pregnancy is at risk for this adverse outcome.

Complications involving uteroplacental bleeding disorders are quite varied. The most common reported in women include placenta previa and placental abruption. In looking at risk factors, obstetricians are, today, looking to the maternal and paternal data as important factors.

As maternal information is quite easy to obtain, with regard to age, race, number of pregnancies and health risk factors, the data on the paternity can be slightly more challenging. In fact, many obstetricians are reporting that pregnancies at greater risk for uteroplacental bleeding disorders are often those in which there is little information given about the paternal background. While unfortunate, many of these pregnancies also include those among blacks, those who are unmarried females, pregnant women with less than 12 years of education and those who are under age 25.

With this information, many obstetricians can relate, to some degree, the maternal and paternal age, lifestyle and race as possible risk factors for a woman to develop uteroplacental bleeding disorders. While these are not definite risk factors, there are factors to be considered.

If you are expecting a baby, it is important to share not only your personal health history and lifestyle information with your obstetrician, but also share as much information as possible about the paternal background. With information on the paternal background, your obstetrician may be able to more effectively manage the statistical risks for your pregnancy and, possibly, offset the risks for developing uteroplacental bleeding disorders such as placenta previa and placental abruption.