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Direct maternal mortality

Authoring team

Unlike in previous Reports, the leading cause of Direct deaths for 2006-08 was genital tract infection, described here as sepsis, followed by pre-eclampsia/ eclampsia, which keeps its second place ranking

  • deaths from thromboembolism, the leading cause of death in the UK since 1985, have now dropped into third place, followed by those from amniotic fluid embolism

  • deaths from haemorrhage have also dropped, to sixth place, following those in early pregnancy

  • mortality from anaesthesia remains very low and is still the seventh Direct cause

  • Overall, the total numbers of Direct deaths have declined from 132 in the last Report to 107 in this
    • the decline in the mortality rate from thromboembolism between the 2003- 05 and 2006-08 triennia is statistically significant (P < 0.001), but the changes in other rates are small enough to be chance findings

Numbers and rates per 100 000 maternities of maternal deaths reported to the Enquiry by cause; UK: 2006-08

Cause of Death

Number

95% confidence interval

Sepsis

1.13

0.77-1.67

Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia

0.83

0.53-1.30

Thrombosis and thromboembolism

0.79

0.49-1.2

Amniotic fluid embolism

0.57

0.33-0.98

Early pregnancy deaths

0.48

0.27-0.87

  • Ectopic 0.26

0.26

0.12-0.58

  • Spontaneous miscarriage

0.22

0.09-0.52

Haemorrhage

0.39

0.20-0.75

Anaesthesia

0.31

0.15-0.64

Other Direct

0.17

0.07-0.47

  • Fatty liver

0.13

0.04-0.41

  • Genital Tract trauma

0

  • Other causes

0.04

0.01-0.31

All Direct

4.67

3.86-5.64

*Including early pregnancy deaths as the result of sepsis.

Reference:

  • Centre for Maternal and Child Enquiries (CMACE). Saving Mothers'Lives: reviewing maternal deaths to make motherhood safer: 2006-08. The Eighth Report on Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths in the Uni- ted Kingdom. BJOG 2011;118(Suppl. 1):1-203.

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