Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffVarious factors may increase the risk of placental abruption, including:
- Previous pregnancies. The more times you've been pregnant, the higher your risk of placental abruption.
- Previous placental abruption. If you've experienced placental abruption before, the risk of experiencing it again may be 15 percent or even higher. The risk of preterm birth and preeclampsia — a serious pregnancy complication that causes high blood pressure and protein in the urine — also is higher.
- High blood pressure. High blood pressure increases the risk of placental abruption, whether you have chronic high blood pressure or the high blood pressure first developed during pregnancy.
- Blood-clotting disorders. Any condition that impairs your blood's ability to clot increases the risk of placental abruption.
- Multiple pregnancy. Carrying twins, triplets or other multiples increases the risk of placental abruption.
- Excess amniotic fluid. The risk of placental abruption is higher if you have an unusually large amount of amniotic fluid.
- Age. Placental abruption is more common in women age 40 and older.
- Abdominal trauma. Trauma to the abdomen — such as from a fall or other type of blow to the abdomen — increases the risk of placental abruption.
- Substance abuse. Placental abruption is more common in women who smoke, drink alcohol, or use cocaine or methamphetamine during pregnancy.
