Extremely serious maternal morbidity. An obstetric problem in public health and seriously ill patient care

Abstract

The concept “extremely serious maternal morbidity” is considered very useful because it is an indicator closely associated to maternal death and an intermediate stage in practically the totality of maternal deceases. As a part of the first stage of a research project, a review on the theme was carried out, and LILACS, EBSCO and HINARI data bases were consulted. The used descriptors were: maternal mortality, morbidity and seriously ill obstetric patient. The results of the search were limited to the last five years in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese languages. Extremely serious maternal morbidity is an indicator very frequently associated to maternal death, and it is considered a suitable alternative for using it as an indicator of the maternal care quality. The increasing interest for integrating the analysis of extremely serious maternal morbidity to the study of maternal morbidity allows identifying the risk factors that are present in pregnant women, beginning from a pregnancy without complications and ending with death, because they are found in a bigger quantity of cases, and new deceases could be avoided with the management of those favourably evolving after the extreme seriousness.