Placenta accreta is characterized by an abnormal adherence of the placenta to the uterine wall. It can be diagnosed clinically when there is a failure of the placenta to normally separate during the third stage of labor, or it can be diagnosed histologically. 1 The risk for placenta accreta is highest for those women with a placenta previa and prior cesarean delivery, particularly multiple prior cesarean deliveries. 2-4 Moreover, the incidence of placenta accreta has increased over the last four decades concurrent with an increased incidence of cesarean delivery. 2-5 One recent estimate for the incidence of placenta accreta is 1 in 533 pregnancies, 6 which is increased from approximately 1 in 19,000 in the 1950s and 1 in 7,000 in the 1970s. 7 Lack of antenatal suspicion and/or attempted removal of the placenta at the time of delivery can lead to major obstetrical hemorrhage in women with placenta accreta. In turn, this often requires emergency hysterectomy and may result in massive blood transfusion, cystotomy, ureteral Keywords ► placenta accreta ► cesarean delivery ► placenta previa ► risk factors
AbstractObjective Placenta previa and prior cesarean delivery are known risk factors for placenta accreta. However, other risk factors have not been identified. Our objective was to examine risk factors for accreta using data collected prospectively in a large multicenter cohort. Study Design Secondary analysis of women with accreta compared to those without accreta in a large multicenter cesarean delivery cohort. Potential accreta risk factors were examined by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results In this study, 196 of 73,257 (0.27%) cesarean deliveries were complicated by accreta. As expected, women with increasing numbers of prior cesareans were more likely to have an accreta (p < 0.001), as were women with previa (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 34.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 22.4-54.3). We also considered only patients with previa and examined the following variables: maternal demographics, prior cesareans, interval between deliveries, parity, body mass index, tobacco use, and coexisting hypertension or diabetes. In this model, patients with previa and two or three prior cesarean deliveries had an adjusted OR for accreta of 4.9 (95% CI, 1.7-14.3) or 7.7 (95% CI, 2.4-24.9), respectively. However, no other variables were significantly associated with accreta. Conclusion Patients with previa have increased risk for accreta that increases with the number of prior cesarean deliveries. However, no other maternal characteristics were associated with accreta.