The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #40093

Elizabeth Muggah, MD, Fabienne Laraque, MD, MPH, and Tamara Dumanovsky, PhD. Office of Family Health, New York City Department of Health, 2 Lafayette Street, 18th Floor, Box 34A, New York, NY 10007, 212-442-4864, emuggah@hotmail.com

Objectives: To provide a detailed review of maternal deaths identified through active surveillance methods in New York City from 1998 to 2000, and to compare case identification results from routine surveillance with those from active surveillance. Methods: Data for routine surveillance of maternal deaths are provided by the Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics (OVS). Additional data for augmented, active surveillance included: (1) hospital discharge data from the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) and (2) cases identified through the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME). Data for both maternal deaths and pregnancy related deaths were collected. Results: The 1998 maternal mortality ratio for New York City calculated through routine surveillance identification alone was 19.3 per 100,000 live births, increasing to 25.7 when maternal deaths identified through augmented surveillance are included. A significant black/white disparity in maternal mortality persists in New York City with black women having a mortality ratio almost seven times that of whites in 1998 (53.4 v. 8.1). Hispanic and Asian women had a maternal mortality ratio two times that of whites (20.1 and 22.8, respectively). Conclusion: In 1998, augmented surveillance identified seven additional maternal deaths, increasing case ascertainment by one-third compared to routine surveillance alone. These findings strongly support the continued use of augmented surveillance as a tool to further identify and understand maternal deaths.

Learning Objectives:

(
• To evaluate the advantages and drawbacks of routine v. augmented maternal mortality surveillance methods in terms of implementation, comparability, and reporting. (
• To examine the contributions of augmented surveillance methods to maternal mortality case ascertainment in NYC. (
• To learn how to implement, coordinate and maintain an augmented maternal mortality surveillance program.

Keywords: Maternal Health, Surveillance

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.