ArticlePaediatric and perinatal epidemiology2020
A national population-based cohort study to investigate inequalities in maternal mortality in the United Kingdom, 2009-17.
Article in Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Systematic review of patient safety incident reporting practices in maternity care.BMJ open quality · 2025Pooled it
- Community-Based Initiatives to Improve Maternal and Newborn Health in High-Income Settings: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review.Journal of midwifery & women's healthPooled it
- Antenatal magnesium sulphate for neuroprotection of preterm babies: data analysis of inequities in treatment in England 2014 to 2024.BMJ open quality · 2026Article
- Review
- Black parents' views and understanding of prenatal genetic testing: a cross-sectional survey of attitudes, knowledge and trust in UK healthcare.European journal of human genetics : EJHG · 2026Article
- Racial Disparities in Severe Maternal Morbidity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the New Jersey Integrated Population Health Data Project.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- The Impact of Community-Based Midwife Continuity of Care Models for Women Living in Areas of Social Disadvantage and Ethnic Diversity in the United Kingdom: A Prospective Cohort Study.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2026Article
- Beyond the report: a qualitative exploration of safety incidents in maternity services.BMJ open quality · 2026Article
- The Burden of Poor Reproductive Health in England: Results From a Cross-Sectional Survey.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2025Article
- Death and Nationalism's Moral Imperative: The Battle for Britain, Industry and the 'Left Behind'.The British journal of sociology · 2025Article
- Managing obstetric bleeding in Wales: A qualitative evaluation of the OBS Cymru care bundle using Normalisation Process Theory.PloS one · 2025Article
- Factors associated with the knowledge of obstetric danger signs among pregnant women attending primary health care antenatal care clinics in Abha city.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2023Article
- Defining global strategies to improve outcomes in sickle cell disease: a Lancet Haematology Commission.The Lancet. Haematology · 2023Review
- Levels, trends, causes, place and time of, care-seeking for, and barriers in preventing indirect maternal deaths in Bangladesh: An analysis of national-level household surveys.Journal of global health · 2023Article
- Reducing psychiatric illness in the perinatal period: A review and commentary.World journal of psychiatry · 2023Review
- Defining vulnerability subgroups among pregnant women using pre-pregnancy information: a latent class analysis.European journal of public health · 2023Article
- Minoritised ethnic women's experiences of inequities and discrimination in maternity services in North-West England: a mixed-methods study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2022Article
- Birth Experiences, Breastfeeding, and the Mother-Child Relationship: Evidence from a Large Sample of Mothers.The Canadian journal of nursing research = Revue canadienne de recherche en sciences infirmieres · 2022Article
- Role of ethnicity in high-level obstetric clinical incidents: a review of cases from a large UK NHS maternity unit.BMJ open quality · 2022Review
- The role of social risk factors and engagement with maternity services in ethnic disparities in maternal mortality: A retrospective case note review.EClinicalMedicine · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDisparities have been documented in maternal mortality rates between women from different ethnic, age and socio-economic groups in the UK. It is unclear whether there are differential changes in these rates amongst women from different groups over time. The objectives of this analysis were to describe UK maternal mortality rates in different age, ethnic and socio-economic groups between 2009 and 2017, and to identify whether there were changes in the observed inequalities, or different trends amongst population subgroups.
methodsMaternal mortality rates with 95% confidence intervals (CI) in specific age, deprivation and ethnic groups were calculated using numbers of maternal deaths as numerator and total maternities as denominator. Relative risks (RR) with 95% CI were calculated and compared using ratios of relative risk. Change over time was investigated using non-parametric tests for trend across ordered groups.
resultsWomen from black and Asian groups had a higher mortality rate than white women in most time periods, as did women aged 35 and over and women from the most deprived quintile areas of residence. There was evidence of an increasing trend in maternal mortality amongst black women and a decrease in mortality amongst women from the least deprived areas, but no trends over time in any of the other ethnic, age or IMD groups were seen. There was a widening of the disparity between black and white women (RR 2.59 in 2009-11 compared with 5.27 in 2015-17, ratio of the relative risks 2.03, 95% CI 1.11, 3.72).
conclusionsThe clear differences in the patterns of maternal mortality amongst different ethnic, age and socio-economic groups emphasise the importance of research and policies focussed specifically on women from black and minority ethnic groups, together with other disadvantaged groups, to begin to reduce maternal mortality in the UK.
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