Aboutanos et al identified factors associated with fetal death following a motor vehicle crash with maternal injury. The authors are from the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond.
Key risk factors identified on logistic regression analysis:
(1) maternal loss of consciousness (LOC)
(2) maternal pelvic fractures
Additional risk factors:
(1) older maternal age
(2) higher injury severity score (ISS)
where:
• A maternal age >= 26 years will be used in the implementation.
• The mean ISS associated with fetal death was 16; >= 10 will be used in the implementation.
A poor fetal outcome was not associated with use of restraints, position in the vehicle, or speed.
Because of the importance of pelvic fractures the authors felt that imaging studies to detect the fractures should be a priority.
To read more or access our algorithms and calculators, please log in or register.
