The effect of placenta location on the safety of pregnant driver and her fetus

Abstract

Citation: ACAR, B. and MERIC, M., 2016. The effect of placenta location on the safety of pregnant driver and her fetus. International Journal of Crashworthiness, 22 (2), pp.163-168. ABSTRACTPlacental abruption accounts for more than half of fetal mortality in automobile collisions. In most of the pregnancies, placenta is located at the fundus position of the uterus. However, in real life, placenta can also be found at different locations in the uterus.The goal of this study is to investigate whether the location of the placenta in the uterus of pregnant driver has a role on the risk of placental abruption in motor vehicle accidents. In addition to the most common fundus position, four other placental locations namely, anterior, posterior, lateral left and lateral right, are considered within the computational pregnant driver model 'Expecting', and used in collision simulations with impact severities from 15 kph to 30 kph with 5kph increments. Scenarios also include four cases where the pregnant driver is fully restrained with three-point seatbelt and airbag, three-point seatbelt only, airbag only and no-restraint at all.The maximum strains developed in the utero-placental interface (UPI) of the model in this set of 64 simulations together with the fundus-location simulations are determined and compared in order to investigate the effect of placental location on the placental abruption prediction.Placenta located at anterior position is found to be at higher risk than other placental positions considered in this investigation. The results demonstrate that being fully restrained is the safest option and the three-point seatbelt is the most effective restraint system whilst the airbag makes a small contribution to the protection of pregnant driver and her fetus.

Association between placental location and cord insertion site with pre-eclampsia: a retrospective cohort study

“…Another plausible explanation is that an anterior placenta is more exposed to external forces during pregnancy compared to a posterior placenta. Acar et al reported a higher risk of placental abruption among pregnant drivers with an anterior placenta than among those with other placental positions [27]. This suggests that an anterior placenta, which is exposed to relatively continuous external in uences during pregnancy, may experience weaker implantation in the uterine wall, resulting in placenta-mediated disorders.…”

Maternal trauma due to motor vehicle crashes and pregnancy outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“… 26 Furthermore, airbags seem to be contributing to the protection of both pregnant drivers and their fetuses. 44 …”

“…26 Furthermore, airbags seem to be contributing to the protection of both pregnant drivers and their fetuses. 44 The results of this systematic review provide evidence informing primary prevention measures, recommendations and educational interventions for pregnant women in the context of MVC that should be incorporated into the primary care guidelines.…”