For Immediate Release:
STUDY
SHOWS CAR SEAT BELT GOOD FOR BOTH PREGNANT MOTHER AND FETUS
Pregnant women who don’t wear a car
seat belt for fear of injuring the fetus during a crash or because it’s
inconvenient: Think again.
A study conducted by University of
Utah and University of Pittsburgh researchers shows that pregnant women
without a seat belt during a car crash were about three times more likely
to experience fetal death and twice as likely to have excessive maternal
bleeding than were belted pregnant women. Those without a seat belt during
a car crash were also more likely to deliver low birth-weight babies than
their belted counterparts. Research findings are published in the August
issue of the Obstetrics & Gynecology.
“There’s an erroneous perception among
some women that wearing a seat belt is harmful to the fetus during a
crash,” said Lisa K. Hyde, principal investigator and researcher at the
University of Utah School of Medicine’s Intermountain Injury Control
Research Center. “There are also many women who are simply not sure
whether they should wear car seat belts or not during pregnancy.”
The study’s findings reaffirm the
recommendation of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
(ACOG) and the American Medical Association (AMA) that pregnant women
should wear seat belts throughout pregnancy.
Previous studies have shown that some
pregnant women don’t wear seat belts because of the following reasons:
forgetting, discomfort and inconvenience, no seat belt available, and fear
that seat belt might cause injury to the baby or the mother.
Hyde said her team’s study is the
first to link statewide data to compare belted and unbelted pregnant women
and to study the effects of a seat belt to the fetus after a crash.
The study used data from Utah, such as
police reports of motor vehicle crashes involving pregnant women and birth
and fetal death certificates, for the years 1992-1999. A pool of 8,938
women involved in car crashes during the period was studied.
“Wearing a seat belt during pregnancy
is a useful and effective intervention for reducing the risk of adverse
pregnancy outcomes,” according to the study. It recommended promoting
public awareness and education about seat belt use among pregnant women
and more aggressive seat belt enforcement strategies.
The study was funded by the Health
Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau,
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention Center.
Aside from Hyde, the other
investigators in the study are: Lawrence J. Cook, M. Stat; Lenora M.
Olson, M.A.; J. Michael Dean, M.D., MBA, from the U School of Medicine’s
Intermountain Injury Control Research Center; and Harold B. Weiss, MPH,
Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh Department of Neurosurgery’s Center for
Injury Research and Control.
###
July 29, 2003
For more information, contact:
Lisa Hyde, University of Utah School of Medicine, Intermountain Injury
Control Research Center, (801) 581-5755
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