BACKGROUND The incidence of severe maternal morbidity is increasing in high-income countries as a consequence, in part, of increased obstetric intervention and increasingly complex medical needs of women who become pregnant. Access to emergency obstetric care means that for the majority of women in these countries, an experience of severe maternal morbidity is unlikely to result in loss of life...

BACKGROUND The study was planned to review the case series of pregnant women requiring intensive care due to severe acute maternal morbidity in the public sector university hospital, in order to identify failures and priorities in maternal health care provision in Pakistan. METHODS A retrospective case series study was performed of critically ill obstetrics patients admitted to general intens...

IMPORTANCE In an effort to improve the quality of care, several obstetric-specific quality measures are now monitored and publicly reported. The extent to which these measures are associated with maternal and neonatal morbidity is not known. OBJECTIVE To examine whether 2 Joint Commission obstetric quality indicators are associated with maternal and neonatal morbidity. DESIGN, SETTING, AND ...

OBJECTIVE To assess the association between cesarean delivery rates and pregnancy outcomes in African health facilities. METHODS Data were obtained from all births over 2-3 months in 131 facilities. Outcomes included maternal deaths, severe maternal morbidity, fresh stillbirths, and neonatal deaths and morbidity. RESULTS Median cesarean delivery rate was 8.8% among 83439 births. Cesarean de...

OBJECTIVE To develop and validate a maternal comorbidity index to predict severe maternal morbidity, defined as the occurrence of acute maternal end-organ injury, or mortality. METHODS Data were derived from the Medicaid Analytic eXtract for the years 2000-2007. The primary outcome was defined as the occurrence of maternal end-organ injury or death during the delivery hospitalization through ...

HELLP occurs in 0.5%-0.9% of all pregnancies. About 30% of the cases happen within 48 hours after delivery. Women with postpartum HELLP syndrome have significantly higher incidences of complications. Because of the absence of classical signs of preeclampsia, it can confuse physicians and lead to delay in diagnosis. Therefore, it is associated with serious maternal morbidity. We present two case...