More action needed to prevent maternal deaths across the UK

There has been an increase in the number of women dying during pregnancy or in the six weeks after the end of pregnancy in the UK, according to a new report produced by researchers from the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford. The report, Saving Lives, Improving Mothers' Care, shows that 225 women died from direct and indirect causes during 2014-20161 (9.8 women for every 100,000 women giving birth). This compares to 202 in 2013-15 (8.8 per 100,000). The analysis, produced for the latest MBRRACE-UK (Mothers and Babies - Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK) Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths and Morbidity2, also shows major differences amongst ethnic groups - black women are five times more likely and Asian women two times more likely to die than white women. Older women are also at higher risk - women who are aged 40 or over have three times the risk of dying during or after pregnancy compared to women in their early 20s. The report examined the care of women who died by suicide or other mental health conditions, blood clots or cancer, or who were murdered. The care of women who survived severe bleeding was also reviewed.