What puts a woman at increased risk for placenta previa?
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Aug 29, 2017
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Dr. Katherine Bachman talks more about increased risk of placenta previa.
What puts a woman at increased risk for placenta previa?
There are multiple risk factors for placenta previa. There's a whole list of them, probably at least 10, but the most common ones are the more pregnancies you have, each subsequent pregnancy, you're at greater risk for placenta previa. If you've had prior uterine surgery, so women who've had a prior C-section, anybody who's had prior surgery to remove a fibroid, anything that interrupts or disrupts the endometrial lining. Women who've had recurrent miscarriages, even spontaneous losses, they're at increased risk for placenta previa. In today's day and age, with technology and advanced reproductive, or assisted reproductive technologies such as IVF, we are seeing increased risk of placenta previa in those pregnancies as well. Smoking is a huge risk factor for placenta previa, as well as cocaine use. I think those are probably the major risk factors or the major conditions we see associated with a risk for placenta previa.