Maternal death in the 21st century: causes, prevention, and relationship to cesarean delivery.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to examine etiology and preventability of maternal death and the causal relationship of cesarean delivery to maternal death in a series of approximately 1.5 million deliveries between 2000 and 2006. STUDY DESIGN: This was a retrospective medical records extraction of data from all maternal deaths in this time period, augmented when necessary by interviews with involved health care providers. Cause of death, preventability, and causal relationship to mode of delivery were examined. RESULTS: Ninety-five maternal deaths occurred in 1,461,270 pregnancies (6.5 per 100,000 pregnancies.) Leading causes of death were complications of preeclampsia, pulmonary thromboembolism, amniotic fluid embolism, obstetric hemorrhage, and cardiac disease. Only 1 death was seen from placenta accreta. Twenty-seven deaths (28%) were deemed preventable (17 by actions of health care personnel and 10 by actions of non-health care personnel). The rate of maternal death causally related to mode of delivery was 0.2 per 100,000 for vaginal birth and 2.2 per 100,0000 for cesarean delivery, suggesting that the number of annual deaths resulting causally from cesarean delivery in the United States is about 20. CONCLUSION: Most maternal deaths are not preventable. Preventable deaths are equally likely to result from actions by nonmedical persons as from provider error. Given the diversity of causes of maternal death, no systematic reduction in maternal death rate in the United States can be expected unless all women undergoing cesarean delivery receive thromboembolism prophylaxis. Such a policy would be expected to eliminate any statistical difference in death rates caused by cesarean and vaginal delivery.

Treatment of suspected fetal macrosomia: a cost-effectiveness analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Treatment of fetal macrosomia presents challenges to practitioners because a potential outcome of shoulder dystocia with permanent brachial plexus injury is costly both to families and to society. Practitioner options include labor induction, elective cesarean delivery, or expectant treatment. We performed a cost-effective analysis to evaluate the treatment strategies that were preferred to prevent the most permanent brachial plexus injuries with the least amount of dollars spent. STUDY DESIGN: Using decision analysis techniques, we compared 3 strategies for an infant with an estimated fetal weight of 4500 g: labor induction, elective cesarean delivery, and expectant treatment. The following baseline assumptions were made: Probability of shoulder dystocia in vaginal delivery, .145; labor induction, .03; cesarean delivery, .001; probability of plexus injury, .18; probability of permanent injury, .067; probability of cesarean delivery with induction, .35; with expectant treatment, .33; cost of vaginal delivery, dollar 3376; cost of elective cesarean delivery, dollar 5200; cost of cesarean delivery with labor, dollar 6500; lifetime cost of brachial plexus injury, dollar 1,000,000. Sensitivity analyses were performed. RESULTS: Under baseline assumptions for an infant who weighs 4500 g, expectant treatment is the preferred strategy at a cost of dollar 4014.33 per injury-free child, compared with elective cesarean delivery at a cost of dollar 5212.06 and an induction cost of dollar 5165.08. Sensitivity analyses revealed that, if the incidence of shoulder dystocia and permanent injury remained <10%, expectant treatment is the preferred method. CONCLUSION: Fetal macrosomia with possible permanent plexus injuries is a concern. Our analysis would suggest that expectant treatment is the most cost-effective approach to this problem.

Relationship of prenatal care and perinatal morbidity in low-birth-weight infants.

OBJECTIVE: Lack of or no prenatal care (NPC) is associated with preterm birth (PTB) and low birth weight (LBW). Our purpose was to determine whether LBW infants delivered after NPC have worse outcomes than LBW infants with prenatal care (PC). STUDY DESIGN: Eight thousand sixty-five consecutive women delivered at six hospitals in Shelby County, Tenn, were evaluated regarding clinical characteristics and perinatal outcomes depending on the occurrence of PC. Infant and LBW infant outcomes were evaluated on the basis of the occurrence of PC. Multivariate analysis was performed for neonatal outcomes adjusting for race, plurality, antenatal steroids, amnionitis, and ponderal index. A P value less than .05 was considered significant. RESULTS: NPC women were more likely multiparous (80% vs 65%), African American (70% vs 61%), and uninsured (25% vs 4%), P<.0001 for each. PTB (36% vs 15%) and LBW (22% vs 12%) were more common with NPC, P<.0001 for each. Women with NPC had more advanced cervical dilation (ACD) greater than 4 cm (ACD: 63% vs 39%) and more amnionitis on admission (2% vs 1%), P