Saving mothers' lives

Saving mothers' lives - conference addresses ways to make motherhood safer The main findings and recommendations from a report by the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH) - Saving mothers' lives: reviewing maternal deaths to make motherhood safer (2003-2005) - will be discussed at a conference today.

The event will be attended by around 100 health professionals involved in looking after pregnant and recently delivered women and aims to encourage participants to consider and plan ways to implement the report's recommendations.

The findings of the report show that maternal deaths in the UK are rare.
Overall, 295 women died of pregnancy-related conditions out of the two million mothers who gave birth between 2003 and 2005. However, women who live in the poorest circumstances are up to seven times more likely to die than women from other demographic groups. These women were also in poorer overall health and far less likely to be in regular contact with maternity services.

Dr Gwyneth Lewis, CEMACH Director of the Maternal Death Enquiry, said: "The findings of this report show the impact poor maternal health can have on pregnancy and birth. Whilst it is pleasing that the incidence of poorer care has declined a little, the report clearly shows the impact that a mother's overall health has on the outcome of her pregnancy.

"Healthy mothers have healthier pregnancies and healthier babies. The fact that more than half of the women who died were obese or overweight, and that preventable causes of cardiac disease were the leading cause of death shows that strong public health messages are needed both before and during pregnancy."

Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride, who opened the conference, said: "I would like to commend CEMACH on this excellent report and pay tribute to the sterling work of our local CEMACH office. I also want to acknowledge the work of each local unit co-ordinator and those health professionals who gave their valuable time and expertise as assessors on the panels. I hope that through this workshop today we can learn from the findings, begin to implement the recommendations and most importantly ensure that change is sustained to improve the care of mothers in Northern Ireland."

Dr Ann Harper, Consultant Obstetrician, Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital, Belfast, and Senior Lecturer, Queen's University, Belfast, said: "The report contains a number of recommendations intended to help make pregnancy safer. It is best to start pregnancy in the best possible state of health and women who have medical problems should seek appropriate medical advice before they plan a pregnancy. Booking at the antenatal clinic by 12 weeks and having regular antenatal care helps to detect and prevent problems developing."

Key points from the report include:

• Maternal mortality rate for 2003-2005 calculated from all maternal deaths directly or indirectly due to pregnancy was 14 per 100,000 maternities.
• Many possible factors lie behind the lack of decline in maternal mortality rate, including: rising numbers of older or obese mothers; growing numbers of women with medically complex pregnancies and increasing numbers of migrant women.
• More than half the women who died were either overweight or obese, with 15% of all women who died from either direct or indirect causes, morbidly obese.
• The commonest cause of direct death (deaths by pregnancy or birth) was thromboembolism.
• Cardiac disease was the most common cause of indirect death (deaths from pre-existing or new medical or mental conditions aggravated by pregnancy) as well as of maternal deaths overall. In the main this reflects the growing incidence of acquired heart disease in younger women related to less healthy diets, smoking, alcohol and the growing epidemic of obesity.

END

Notes to the editor:
The seventh report of the Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths in the UK was published in December 2007. The report is available to download from the CEMACH website: www.cemach.org.uk/Publications/CEMACH-Publications/Maternal-and-Perinatal-Health.aspx

The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH) commenced in April 2003 and aims to improve the health of mothers, babies and children by carrying out confidential enquiries on a UK wide basis and by widely disseminating findings and recommendations.

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