trauma is one of the major non-obstetric causes of pregnancy-associated maternal deaths. most cases of maternal trauma include: motor vehicle crashes, domestic violence, falls, burns, suicide, and toxic exposure. pregnancy-related anatomic and physiologic changes like increased joint laxity, weight gain, and changes in the center of gravity during pregnancy increase the risk of falling. one of ...

OBJECTIVE To describe and analyze the evolution of perinatal mortality with regards the scale and extent of the problem. METHODS A descriptive time trend study with 10,994 perinatal deaths to mothers living in Salvador, Bahia, Northeastern Brazil, with a gestational age of ≥ 22 weeks, newborn age of up to six days and birth weight of 500 grams or more, recorded from 2000 to 2009. Data from th...

Congenital anomalies are already the second cause of infant mortality in Brazil, as in many other middle-income countries in Latin America. Birth defects are a result of both genetic and environmental factors, but a multifactorial etiology has been more frequently observed. Here, we address the environmental causes of birth defects - or teratogens - as a public health issue and present their me...

The use of continuous intrapartum electronic fetal heart rate monitoring (EFM) using a cardiotocograph (CTG) was developed to enable obstetricians and midwives to analyse the changes of fetal heart rate during labour so as to institute timely intervention to avoid intrapartum hypoxic-ischaemic injury. Although CTG was initially developed as a screening tool to predict fetal hypoxia, its positiv...

Diabetes concurrent with pregnancy is a high risk condition and is associated with an increased risk of prenatal mortality. Stillbirth is defined as fetal death after 20 weeks of gestation. Other terms for stillbirths include fetal death, intrauterine fetal death, fetal demise, intrauterine fetal demise. Stillbirth rate is 4-6 times and neonatal mortality is 2-4 times higher in diabetic than in...

We used the Lives Saved Tool (LiST) to estimate deaths averted if midwifery was scaled up in 78 countries classified into three tertiles using the Human Development Index (HDI). We selected interventions in LiST to encompass the scope of midwifery practice, including prepregnancy, antenatal, labour, birth, and post-partum care, and family planning. Modest (10%), substantial (25%), or universal ...

We were pleased to see the recently published data from MANA.1 However, critically reading the report leads to very different conclusions than those of the authors. Absent statistical comparisons, statements regarding “statistical congruence” falsely imply statistical comparability to earlier publications. After indicting birth certificate-based data as unreliable, the authors repeatedly cite s...

BACKGROUND The in utero period is one of increased susceptibility to environmental effects. The effects of prenatal exposure to environmental toxicants on various adverse pregnancy outcomes, including fetal death, are not well understood. OBJECTIVE We examined the risk of fetal death in relation to maternal residential proximity to hazardous waste sites. METHODS We conducted a population-ba...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of maternal involvement in motor vehicle crashes on the likelihood of adverse pregnancy outcomes and to estimate the effect of seatbelt use in reducing the occurrence of those outcomes. METHODS Statewide motor vehicle crash, birth, and fetal death records from 1992 to 1999 were probabilistically linked. Logistic regression was used to compare the likelihood of a...