PubMed HealthSearch

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Maternal Mortality--changes”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Maternal mortality in the Maltese Islands.

Maternal mortality statistics from the Maltese Islands since 1935 are reviewed to show that there has been a marked decrease in maternal mortality rates. This decrease is probably related to reductions in family size and improvements in the perinatal care of mothers. Hypertensive disease is now the most important cause of maternal mortality.

Adult

Role of antenatal care in reducing maternal mortality.

Maternal mortality in the developed nations has been considerably reduced, but it still is very high in developing nations. I carried out an indepth study of maternal mortality at N. Wadia Maternity Hospital, Bombay. India, from 1929 to 1988, which revealed that the MMR which was 1920 per 100,000 live births during 1929-1939 period has declined to 82 per 100,000 live births during 1980-1988 period. This achievement in reduction of maternal mortality over the decades was due to multiple factors like increased and effective antenatal, intranatal, and postnatal care. This study shows the apathy of pregnant women to come forward to avail of antenatal care though available even free of charge nearby. To give maximum benefits to pregnant women specially in the developing nations, we have to carry the antenatal care at the door-steps of the community.

Female

Maternal mortality and its prevention.

Maternal mortality rates in developed countries have declined steeply during the last 50 years. The introduction of sulphonamides and blood transfusion techniques contributed much to lowering maternal mortality rates. The maternal mortality rate in The Netherlands in 1983-1988 was 8.8/100,000 livebirths. In 57% substandard care factors could be identified. This suggests that further improvement in preventing maternal mortality is possible. Maternal mortality rates in developing countries are still unacceptably high as a result of high fertility and a high risk of dying each time a woman becomes pregnant. Complications of illegal abortion are responsible for 25-50% of maternal deaths. Safe contraception could probably result in an important reduction in the number of maternal deaths, but also the provision of accessible maternal health services is essential to reduce maternal mortality in developing countries.

Cause of Death

Perinatal mortality in Matlab, Bangladesh: a community-based study.

Perinatal deaths, comprising stillbirths and deaths during the first week of life, were monitored over the eight-year period 1979 to 1986 in a rural Bangladeshi population of 196,000. The perinatal mortality rate was 75 per 1000 total births. The rate was 13% higher in males than females. Stillbirth and early neonatal mortality rates were 37 and 38 per 1000 total births, respectively. The major causes of perinatal deaths are presented, as well as some of the maternal determinants. During the period under study, perinatal mortality declined regularly and significantly over time in an area covered by an intensive Family Planning and Health Services programme, but not in the adjacent control area. This raises the issue of the impact of such a programme upon perinatal mortality, and the need to include a strong maternity care component into primary healthcare strategies if further reductions of perinatal mortality are to be achieved.

Bangladesh

Perinatal mortality in rural Tanzania.

Prolonged labour was the most frequent cause of perinatal death in a rural hospital in the south western highlands of Tanzania. After the introduction of an obstetric policy aiming to prevent prolonged labour by making use of the guidelines of the partogram, perinatal mortality was reduced from 71 to 39 per 1000 births. Baird's clinico-pathological classification is still considered a useful instrument for the discovery of avoidable factors in perinatal deaths. The concept of the partogram should be an integral part of the training of medical auxiliaries in the field of maternal and child health (MCH).

Delivery, Obstetric

Changing sex ratio of mortality in the Semai Senoi, 1969-1987.

An excess of male over female deaths is characteristic of modern national populations, whereas in some high-mortality societies female mortality exceeds that of males. Among the Semai Senoi, a Malaysian Orang Asli ("aboriginal") population, women experienced higher mortality than males in the decades before 1969. This differential occurred in all age classes older than 15 years so that the sex ratio progressively increased with age. A recent (1987) restudy of the Semai population found that sex-specific differential mortality is much reduced. A comparison of the 1969 and 1987 life tables shows a sharp shift in the sex ratios of mortality for the post-15-year-old age classes (the geometric means of age classes 15-44 were 0.768 in 1969 and 0.997 in 1987) so that male and female expectations of further life at age 15 are now nearly identical. In contrast to the best-known cases of high female mortality (mostly in South Asia), Semai sex differential mortality does not include the childhood ages. The Semai have traditionally been relatively sexually egalitarian, and sex bias in care has not occurred. Analysis of sex-specific causes of death for the pre-1969 population suggests that maternal mortality is the major cause of the excess female deaths. The reduced number of maternal deaths seems largely due to better health care, particularly the availability of hospital services. Interestingly, the reduction in female mortality has occurred simultaneously with increased fertility, and overall mortality has continued at relatively high levels (eO less than 36). Thus, rather than forming a component of a unitary demographic transition, declining sex differences in mortality can be accounted for by a specific factor, better maternal care.

Adolescent

Effect of the administration of oral poliovirus vaccine on infantile diarrhoea mortality.

Infectious diarrhoea is one leading cause of infantile mortality in developing countries. Rotaviruses and other enteroviruses have an important role in diarrhoea but, currently, there are no vaccines available to immunize infants. The use of oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) over two decades has shown that, besides protecting effectively against poliomyelitis, it can interfere with intestinal infection by other enteroviruses. This interference by the vaccine viruses could explain two epidemiological observations showing that repeated and massive administration of OPV was followed by a statistically significant decrease of infantile diarrhoea mortality. OPV administration could have two objectives: to prevent poliomyelitis and to reduce infantile diarrhoea of viral aetiology.

Developing Countries

Sexual contact patterns between men and women and the spread of HIV-1 in urban centres in Africa.

A simple model of the transmission of HIV-1 by heterosexual contact and from mother to unborn infant is developed to assess the influence of patterns of mixing between low and high sexual activity classes of the two sexes on the pattern of spread of the virus and the demographic impact of AIDS. Numerical studies of model behaviour are based, where possible, on parameter estimates derived from epidemiological studies of HIV-1 spread in Africa. Analyses reveal that the assumed pattern of mixing, ranging from assortative (like with like) through random (proportional) to disassortative (like with unlike), has a very major impact on the predicted spread of the virus and the concomitant demographic impact of AIDS. Patterns of strong assortative mixing are predicted to generate the least spread and demographic impact, by comparison with proportional or disassortative mixing. Analyses also reveal that the rules governing behaviour changes, once AIDS-induced mortality changes the structure of the population (i.e. the numbers in the low and high sexual activity classes of the two sexes), have a very significant influence on the course of the epidemic. Where possible, predicted patterns are compared with observed trends in Africa.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Trends in neonatal mortality in Benin City, Nigeria.

A total of 18,334 live births and 376 neonatal deaths at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital were analyzed. The neonatal mortality rate has declined significantly from 49.5/1000 in 1974 to 16.4/1000 live births in 1981. The decrease mainly resulted from the reduction of mortality of full size infants (greater than 2500 g) and deaths resulting from perinatal asphyxia. Further reduction may be anticipated if careful attention is paid to the management of breech delivery and if a more intensive care for low birth weight infants is provided.

Age Factors

Neonatal vital statistics: a 5-year review in Saudi Arabia.

Neonatal mortality and causes of death at King Fahd Hospital of the University in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia from June 1981 to May 1986 were analysed. The overall neonatal mortality rate declined from 15.6 to 8.1/1000 live births (LB), and after excluding lethal malformations mortality fell from 14.0 to 5.6/1000 LB. The reduction in mortality was most marked in infants weighing 1500 g or less, among whom mortality fell from 92.3 to 33% (P less than 0.001) during the 5-year period. Further, when annual variation in the very low birthweight rate was eliminated, a reduction in the mortality risk ratio from 1.47 to 0.81 was demonstrated. These significant reductions in mortality appear to be related to the establishment of neonatal intensive care. Major identified causes of death amenable to modern perinatal care were hyaline membrane disease, birth asphyxia, meconium aspiration and septicaemia.

Asphyxia Neonatorum

Women's status and infant mortality in rural Colombia.

This paper investigates the effects of maternal demographic characteristics and social and economic statuses on infant mortality in rural Colombia. Demographic characteristics include the age of the mother, parity and length of preceding interbirth interval, and sex of infant. Measures of women's status at the time of birth include education, wage labor and occupation, economic stratum, place of residence, and whether the mother is living with a husband. The life history data for the study (involving 4,928 births) were collected in 1986 from a representative sample of two cohorts of women resident in rural central Colombia. Overall differentials in infant mortality by measures of women's status are small and are in good part associated with the differing reproductive behaviors of the women and variations in breastfeeding practices. The sharp declines in infant mortality recorded in rural Colombia in recent years appear less related to improved status of women than to reductions in fertility that enhance infant survivorship and to public health interventions shared by all segments of the population.

Adult

Perinatal mortality statistics in Harare 1980-1989.

Perinatal and neonatal mortality rates, in the Greater Harare Maternity Unit, which showed a modest decline from 1980 to 1985, have rise dramatically since then. Half of the rise in neonatal mortality rate is due to increased numbers and an increased mortality rate in babies of birth weight less than 1001g. There is also an increase in the numbers of deaths of large babies. There is a strong case for a broad-based on-going enquiry into the reasons for such changes.

Birth Rate

A study of 8 year neonatal deaths (1982-1989) of Toa Payoh Hospital.

A study of 233 neonatal deaths out of 30910 livebirths over an 8 year period in the Toa Payoh Hospital is done. The Hospital has since ceased providing obstetric and neonatal intensive services from April 1990 due to restructuring of hospital care. The Neonatal Mortality Rates (NNMR) from 1982-1989 ranged from 6.52 to 9.55 and there was no significant fall in trend (p = 0.13). One hundred and thirteen (48.5%) neonates who died were below 1500gm (VLBW). Various causes of neonatal deaths were examined and there was a decline in respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) death rates (p less than 0.0002). Deaths due to asphyxia (p greater than 0.05) and infections (p greater than 0.05) have not declined significantly over the same period. It is also observed that less VLBW babies died over this 8 year period and the VLBW mortality rates (p less than 0.02) have declined. However, the congenital malformation mortality has also not declined significantly (p = 0.92) though early study (1972-1981) showed an increasing trend of malformation deaths among total neonatal deaths (p less than 0.02). Improvement in VLBW and RDS management has not contributed to a significant decline in NNMR. It is observed that more VLBW babies were born during this 8 year period (p = 0.01) especially so in the less than 1000 gm group (p = 0.0005) and the survival of VLBW babies has improved (45.5% to 75.8% alive) as a result of advances in neonatal intensive care. The reasons for increase in incidence of VLBW births in the past few years are not known.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Cause of Death