Maternal folate deficiency and pregnancy wastage. I. Placental abruption

There is ample evidence that folate requirements are considerably increased during pregnancy and as the consequence some degree of folate deficiency is more apt to be found in pregnant than in nonpregnant women. When folate deficiency is of such intensity and duration as to cause maternal anemia, plasma folate levels are quite low, marrow cytomorphology is megaloblastic, and neutrophil nuclear hypersegmentation usually is apparent. These changes characteristic of maternal folate deficiency were neither more frequent nor more intense in women with placental abruption than in apparently healthy women during late pregnancy. Consequently these observations do not support the contention of some that placental abruption results from maternal folate deficiency.