However, it said on Tuesday that a slate of measures has helped reduce the amount of blood loss as well as complications.
Speaking at a media briefing at the authority’s annual convention in Wan Chai, a group of doctors from Kwong Wah Hospital noted the rate of such cases, also known as postpartum haemorrhaging (PPH), rose to 17.1 percent in 2024 from 10.2 percent in 2012.
Meanwhile, the rate of those suffering from excessive bleeding, or massive PPH, rose to 1.27 percent in 2024 from 0.7 percent in 2012.
Jack Wong, associate consultant for obstetrics and gynaecology, said the increase was due to a number of factors, including the mothers’ age as more women gave birth at an “advanced maternal age” of 35 years old or over.
“It will increase the chance of bleeding [after giving birth]. And also maybe because of more twin pregnancies, which also increase the chance of postpartum hemorrhage,” he said, adding that around 20 to 30 percent mothers-to-be in Hong Kong are 35 years old or over.
Echoing Wong, Samson Lau, another associate consultant, said the rise also came as more women have multiple pregnancies following the usage of in-vitro fertilisation.
“All these assisted reproductions are increasing the rate of multiple pregnancies, which are also important risk factors for postpartum hemorrhage,” Lau said.
But the doctors also noted despite the rise in the number of cases, remedial procedures have contributed to significant reduction of blood loss, by adopting secondary measures, such as medication, balloon tamponade, and compression sutures, earlier.
Lau also said the authority had rolled out a dedicated e-platform since 2017 to document more data for analysis and mandated all public hospitals prescribe preventive uterine contraction drugs to all mothers-to-be who are about to undergo caesarean sections.
Kwong Wah Hospital also expanded its ultrasound services during and soon after deliveries to reduce potential childbirth-related complications, he added.
“Instead of trying to reduce the rate of postpartum hemorrhage, we are, in fact, trying to use it as a different modality to improve the patients’ safety during the pregnancy, and for early recognition for obstetrics and gynaecological complications and emergencies,” said Lau.
“Our current focus is to further expand our scope on [such] ultrasound services and try to further collect the data… to see if there’s any room for improvement.”
