Major causes of maternal deaths per million maternities notified to the CEMD: United Kingdom 1985–9911
| 1985–87 | 1988–90 | 1991–93 | 1994–96 | 1997–99 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Including sepsis in early pregnancy. | |||||
| †Until 1993–96 counted as “coincidental”. | |||||
| ‡Until 1997–99 not classified separately. | |||||
| Total maternities (n) | 2268766 | 2360309 | 2315204 | 2197640 | 2123614 |
| Direct causes | |||||
| Thrombosis and thromboembolism | 14.1 | 14.0 | 15.1 | 21.8 | 16.5 |
| Pregnancy induced hypertension | 11.9 | 11.4 | 8.6 | 9.1 | 7.1 |
| Haemorrhage | 4.4 | 9.3 | 6.5 | 5.5 | 3.3 |
| Amniotic fluid embolism | 4.0 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 7.7 | 3.8 |
| Early pregnancy | 7.9* | 7.6 | 5.2 | 6.8 | 8.0 |
| Sepsis | 4.4 | 5.5 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 6.6 |
| Uterine trauma | 2.6 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 1.0 |
| Other | 9.3 | 5.9 | 4.3 | 0.9 | 2.3 |
| Anaesthetic | 2.6 | 1.7 | 3.5 | 0.5 | 1.4 |
| Indirect causes | |||||
| Cardiac | 10.1 | 7.6 | 15.9 | 17.7 | 16.5 |
| Psychiatric† | – | – | – | 4.1 | 7.1 |
| Other | 37.0 | 31.0 | 27.0 | 39.1 | 35.3 |
| Malignancies‡ | – | – | – | – | 5.1 |
| Total direct and indirect causes | 98.2 | 100.1 | 98.1 | 121.9 | 114.0 |
| Coincidental causes | 11.3 | 16.5 | 19.9 | 16.4 | 10.8 |
| Late causes | – | 20.3 | 19.9 | 32.8 | 50.3 |