A new economic analysis involving 78 hospitals worldwide has demonstrated that a lifesaving intervention for women experiencing heavy bleeding during childbirth incurs minimal additional costs. Published in Nature Medicine, the study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of the E-MOTIVE trial, which employs early detection and bundled treatments for postpartum hemorrhage (PPH).
The study analyzed data from over 200,000 women in hospitals across four African countries. Hospitals were randomly assigned to either the intervention group or the usual care group. The intervention resulted in over 1,000 fewer PPH cases compared to the usual care group, with an additional cost of approximately $0.30 per patient after adjusting for various clinical factors and considerations related to cluster and time periods.
A critical component of the E-MOTIVE package is a calibrated blood collection drape used to measure blood loss. The analysis indicated that if the cost of the drape is around $1, the overall cost per patient could be comparable to usual care.
Tracy Roberts, Professor of Health Economics at the University of Birmingham, stated that the E-MOTIVE intervention is highly cost-effective for preventing severe bleeding during childbirth. She emphasized that the intervention’s minimal costs offer excellent value for money and that widespread adoption of the E-MOTIVE package could further enhance its economic benefits.
The trial’s findings showed a 60% reduction in severe bleeding among women with PPH. Postpartum hemorrhage, defined as losing more than 500 mL of blood within 24 hours after birth, is the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide, affecting 14 million women annually and causing approximately 70,000 deaths.
The study highlighted that using a simple, low-cost collection drape and bundling WHO-recommended treatments resulted in significant improvements in outcomes, reducing severe bleeding by 60% and decreasing the need for blood transfusions. This is particularly beneficial in low-income countries where blood resources are scarce and expensive.
As reported by EurekaAlert!, professor Arri Coomarasamy, who led the E-MOTIVE trial, emphasized that this new approach could dramatically improve survival rates for women during childbirth globally. He stressed the importance of timely interventions in responding to postpartum bleeding and expressed hope that the cost-effective E-MOTIVE intervention would become the standard of care worldwide.