Pregnancy is not without health risks. Now, researchers from Canada have identified a new risk: serious car crashes. In fact, driving while pregnant can be a risk for women.
Women run a 42 percent increased relative risk of being in a motor vehicle accident when they’re pregnant than when they’re not. This risk is especially acute during the first month of the second trimester of pregnancy according to Canadian researchers. These researchers studied records of more than 500,000 women for six years from 2006 to 2011. They combed through data from Ontario hospitals to see how often women got into serious car crashes during the three years before they became pregnant; during each trimester of their pregnancy; and for the first year after their babies were born.
In the three years before they were pregnant, the women were involved in 177 car crashes a month. During pregnancy, the number jumped to 252 per month — a significant increase.
The research team, from the University of Toronto and affiliated institutions, suggested that issues such as fatigue, distraction, nausea and other annoyances that accompany pregnancy result in women being more vulnerable behind the wheel. Researchers were particularly curious about the second trimester, a time when pregnant women often feel like their normal selves. During the second trimester, women tend not to change their behaviour to account for the significant physiological changes happening in their bodies.
“I look after pregnant women who ask me extremely unusual questions about scuba diving or hot tubs or airline flights or roller coasters,” Redelmeier told NBC News. “And I’ve never been asked about traffic safety, despite it being a substantially larger threat to mother and child.”
"In the third trimester, maybe they're stopping work, maybe they're so tired and so uncomfortable they're not doing so much activity finally. It's the second trimester where you still have all these pregnancy symptoms … people are expecting them to function as normal because you know in our society we don't give pregnant women much leeway."
Redelmeier and his colleagues noted in the latest issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal that in fact, car crashes are the leading cause of fetal death linked to trauma in mothers. Every year in the U.S., there are about 15 million motor vehicle accidents that send 2.5 million people to hospitals.
“In that second trimester, women are feeling really good. It contributes to that false sense of security,” he said. “They’re rushing around to get things done before the baby comes.”
The researchers don't advise women to give up driving during pregnancy or to ask their husbands to chauffeur. They simply want women to drive more carefully and be aware of risks involved.
Standard advice applies:
- Buckle up
- Obey traffic signs
- Follow the speed limit
- Minimize distractions like cellphones
