The death of a mother that is immediately related to or significantly contributed to by a pregnancy, as during childbirth, miscarriage, or abortion. Maternal mortality, normally expressed as a rate of the number of deaths per specified number of pregnancies, has much declined in recent years, to about eight per 100,000 in 1983. Among the factors involved in this reduction are better prenatal care, better nutrition, antibiotics, ready access to blood transfusions, and availability of contraception, which allows women to space and limit the number of pregnancies. Women who are relatively poor, are not well-educated, and lack proper prenatal care have higher-than-average risk of mortality; so do women under 20 and over 30 and those having their first pregnancy or their fifth or more. Among the conditions that can cause maternal death are hypertension, eclampsia, abortion, miscarriage, cesarean section, ectopic pregnancy, and hemorrhaging before or after birth (antepartum or postpartum). Other conditions that increase a woman’s risk of mortality are heart problems, anemia, thyroid gland problems, diabetes mellitus, and cancer.
A statistic determined by dividing the number of women who die during pregnancy or childbirth by the number of pregnancies during a given time period. Maternal mortality is an important indicator of a nation’s overall level of health care and economic development. Particularly in developing countries, maternal mortality is underreported because of the lack of accurate hospital records and because of misdiagnosis of pregnancy- related deaths, particularly those related to abortion.
The number of deaths of women during childbearing per 100,000 births.
Maternal mortality refers to the passing of a woman while pregnant, or within 42 days after giving birth, experiencing a miscarriage, or undergoing an induced abortion, due to causes related to pregnancy. The maternal mortality rate quantifies the count of these occurrences for every 100,000 live births within a specific year.
Maternal fatalities can stem directly from complications arising during pregnancy or can be indirectly triggered by a medical condition exacerbated by pregnancy. Primary direct factors contributing to mortality encompass conditions like pulmonary embolism (blood clotting in the lungs), antepartum hemorrhage, postpartum hemorrhage, hypertension (elevated blood pressure), eclampsia (seizures in late pregnancy), and puerperal sepsis (infection after childbirth). In addition to these, indirect factors involve ailments such as heart disease, epilepsy, and certain types of cancers.
The maternal mortality rate is at its lowest during second pregnancies. Beyond the age of 20, this rate increases as women grow older, reaching its highest point for those above the age of 40.