direct maternal mortality

Last reviewed 01/2018

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.