Time of Postpartum Hemoglobin Assessment and Blood Loss During Delivery

Postpartum hemorrhage is a leading cause of maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide. Early intervention is dependent on care providers ability to accurately estimate ongoing blood loss. Studies in the past have shown that obstetricians and midwives tend to overestimate blood loss when the lost volumes are small while tend to underestimate by as much as 40 to 50 percent when a large volume of blood is lost. Multiple studies have shown that routine hemoglobin assessment in postpartum patients after uneventful delivery either vaginal or via cesarean section, is not necessary. This leads to increased cost of care without any added benefit and causes inconvenience to the patients. However knowing how imprecise blood loss estimation can be it is reasonable to screen women for anemia prior to discharge.