WHO guidelines for the management of postpartum haemorrhage ...

WHO guidelines for the management of postpartum haemorrhage and retained placenta
summarized in the GRADE tables. However, they were mentioned in the evidence
summary and taken into account in the recommendation. GRADE tables were not
prepared for case series or reports.
The draft GRADE tables were reviewed by the WHO Secretariat together with CREP
staff. Recommendations relating to the questions and outcomes proposed were then
drafted ahead of the Technical Consultation. A draft of the methodology, results, and
recommendations was sent for review to a subgroup of the experts participating in
the Technical Consultation before the meeting.
Decision-making during the technical consultation
For each question, the participants in the Technical Consultation discussed the draft
text prepared by the Secretariat, with the aim of reaching a consensus. Consensus
was defined as agreement by the majority of participants, provided that those who
disagreed did not feel strongly about their position. Any strong disagreements were
recorded as such.
During the meeting, in addition to the documentation prepared by the Secretariat,
preliminary results from four unpublished trials were made available. While the
presentation of the most recent data from large trials was welcomed and used to
inform the recommendations, some participants expressed a need for more time
to review these results before making recommendations. The GRADE tables in this
document include evidence from the search as well as the data presented and
discussed during the Technical Consultation.
The system used to establish the strength and ranking of the recommendations
involved assessing each intervention on the basis of: (i) desirable and undesirable
effects; (ii) quality of available evidence; (iii) values and preferences related to
interventions in different settings; and (iv) cost of options available to health care
workers in different settings.
Scope of the guidelines
The draft questions and list of outcomes related to the treatment of PPH and
management of retained placenta were sent to 144 experts from all parts of the
world. Responses were received from 60 of these experts: 46 physicians,
7 midwives, and 7 non-clinicians (policy-makers, researchers and consumers),
representing all 6 WHO regions.
There were 39 questions in 6 domains:
▪ assessment of blood loss (1 question);
▪ drugs for atonic PPH (13 questions);
▪ non-drug interventions for atonic PPH:
– mechanical (6 questions);
– radiological (1 question);
– surgical (8 questions);
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