Post-Gazette [August 1, 2003] - Researchers: Pregnant women = often do=20 not wear seat belts

By Surendra Phuyal, Post-Gazette Staff = Writer

Pregnant women who hesitate to wear seat belts should think = again.=20

After a car crash, unbelted pregnant women are nearly three = times more=20 likely to lose their fetus and twice as likely to have excessive = maternal=20 bleeding than expectant mothers wearing seat belts, researchers = report=20 today in the Journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.=20

Pregnant mothers not wearing seat belts in a car crash are also = more=20 likely to deliver low-birth-weight infants than pregnant drivers = not=20 involved in a car crash.=20

Yet many pregnant women still don't wear seat belts, according = to the=20 study by researchers at the University of Utah and the Center for = Injury=20 Research and Control at the University of Pittsburgh. Some forget, = others=20 complain of discomfort and a few have no belt available. Still = others,=20 however, worry that seat belts may injure the fetus or themselves. =

Worse, many of them are simply unaware of the correct usage and = positioning of seat belts, the study says.=20

Out of 322,704 live births in Utah from 1992 to 1999, 8,938 = cases were=20 involved in a crash during pregnancy, the researchers found.=20

Of the 2,645 fetal deaths that occurred in Utah during that = period,=20 only 45 -- less than 2 percent -- were linked to a motor vehicle = crash.=20 But unbelted pregnant women were 2.8 times more likely to = experience a=20 fetal death compared to belted pregnant women in crashes, the = researchers=20 led by Utah's Lisa Hyde concluded.=20

Nationwide, "the exact proportion of vehicle crashes may not be = the=20 same, but the risk is same," said Hank Weiss, director of the Pitt = injury=20 research center and the study's co-author.=20

The researchers also found that 51 percent of fetal deaths were = linked=20 to crashes that occurred during the first trimester, even though = all the=20 fetal deaths occurred during the second and third trimesters.=20

"This may be due to the fact that first-trimester crashes have = up to 36=20 weeks to result in a fetal death, while the other trimesters have=20 correspondingly less time to do so," the study says. But the = authors also=20 said more research is needed to better understand this = relationship=20 between the time of the crash and the likelihood of fetal death.=20

"There are lots of different ways to enhance safety, [such as] = reducing=20 travel plans and postponing trips," Weiss said. "But if you have = to, then=20 have your seat belt on."=20

The study says lap belts should be placed snugly under the = abdomen and=20 shoulder belts positioned diagonally across the chest, reaffirming = the=20 recommendations of the American College of Obstetricians and = Gynecologists=20 and the American Medical Association.=20

The researchers recommended that health-care providers who work = with=20 pregnant women should counsel expectant mothers to wear seat belts = throughout pregnancy so as to reduce crash risk.=20

(Surendra Phuyal can be reached at sphuyal@post-gazette.com or = 412-263-1893.)=20