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Maternal death or maternal mortality is defined in slightly different ways by several different health organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines maternal death as the death of a pregnant mother due to complications related to pregnancy, underlying conditions worsened by the pregnancy or management of these conditions.
A national study examined the death rates from pregnancy in white and black women. The study found that for five particular pregnancy problems, the death risk was 2.4 to 3.3 times higher among black women. Preeclampsia, placenta abruptio, placenta previa, and postpartum hemorrhage were among them (Howell, 2018).
It is estimated that less than 1ml of fetal blood is lost to the maternal circulation during normal labour in around 96% of normal deliveries. [1] [2] The loss of this small amount of blood may however be a sensitising event and stimulate antibody production to the foetal red blood cells, an example of which is Rhesus disease of the newborn.
Perinatal mortality (PNM) is the death of a fetus or neonate and is the basis to calculate the perinatal mortality rate. [1] Perinatal means "relating to the period starting a few weeks before birth and including the birth and a few weeks after birth."
This is particularly true if the pregnancy is beyond 34 weeks of gestation. [2] Medications may be used to decrease blood pressure and blood transfusions may be required. [1] HELLP syndrome occurs in about 0.7% of pregnancies and affects about 15% of women with eclampsia or severe pre-eclampsia. [5] [2] Death of the mother is uncommon (< 1%).
Globally it occurs about 8.7 million times and results in 44,000 to 86,000 deaths per year making it the leading cause of death during pregnancy. [ 4 ] [ 2 ] [ 11 ] About 0.4 women per 100,000 deliveries die from PPH in the United Kingdom while about 150 women per 100,000 deliveries die in sub-Saharan Africa . [ 2 ]
The effect of pregnancy on platelet count is unclear, with some studies demonstrating a mild decline in platelet count and other studies that show no effect. [24] The white blood cell count increases with occasional appearance of myelocytes or metamyelocytes in the blood. [24] During labor, there is a rise in leukocyte count.
Abnormal bleeding after delivery, or postpartum hemorrhage, is the loss of greater than 500 ml of blood following vaginal delivery, or 1000 ml of blood following cesarean section. Other definitions of excessive postpartum bleeding are hemodynamic instability, drop of hemoglobin of more than 10%, [12] or requiring blood transfusion. In the ...