Developing MCH objectives for the Year 2010 provided an opportunity to focus on the need for improved monitoring of maternal morbidity. The Reproductive Health Division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention convened a conference on "Monitoring Pregnancy-Related Morbidity" in November 1999. Among the background papers commissioned was a thorough review of literature providing estimates for population-based incidence and prevalence of conditions related to the antenatal, prenatal, or postnatal period. Medline electronic database was used to search for all pertinent articles for the years 1966 to 1999. The guiding principle was the focus on the impact of morbidities upon pregnant and childbearing women. Many studies were excluded which only discussed maternal conditions as they related to infant health outcomes, or which utilized small sample sizes or clinical case reports. Due to the paucity of research directly attempting to provide population-based estimates, the search was broadened to include studies of smaller scope and to capture preexisting conditions that might be aggravated during pregnancy. Findings on a full range of conditions were also summarized from three leading medical textbooks. This presentation describes the existing literature and applies measures of public health importance (i.e., total number of cases, incidence, and prevalence; indices of severity; mortality rate; index of lost productivity; index of premature mortality; medical costs; and preventablility.) Severe data limitations explain the lack of valid, reliable, or consistent data for most conditions, and point to the urgency of developing and implementing improved population-based measures of maternal morbidity for national monitoring.
Learning Objectives: 1. To become informed about current efforts to improve monitoring of maternal morbidity. 2. To become informed about the state of knowledge concerning complications of pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum period as they affect women's health. 3. To become aware of the data limitations restricting our understanding of maternal morbidity and women's health
Keywords: Maternal Morbidity, Women's Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: The literature review reported here was prepared for the Reproductive Health Division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.