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Objective To compare incidences of perinatal mortality and severe perinatal morbidity between low risk term pregnancies supervised in primary care by a midwife and high risk pregnancies supervised in secondary care by an obstetrician.Design Prospective cohort study using aggregated data from a national perinatal register.Setting Catchment area of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the University Medical Center in Utrecht, a region in the centre of the Netherlands covering 13% of the Dutch population.Participants Pregnant women at 37 weeks’ gestation or later with a singleton or twin pregnancy without congenital malformations.Main outcome measures Perinatal death (antepartum, intrapartum, and neonatal) or admission to a level 3 NICU.Results During the study period 37 735 normally formed infants were delivered at 37 weeks’ gestation or later. Sixty antepartum stillbirths (1.59 (95% confidence interval 1.19 to 1.99) per 1000 babies delivered), 22 intrapartum stillbirths (0.58 (0.34 to 0.83) per 1000 babies delivered), and 210 NICU admissions (5.58 (4.83 to 6.33) per 1000 live births) occurred, of which 17 neonates died (0.45 (0.24 to 0.67) per 1000 live births). The overall perinatal death rate was 2.62 (2.11 to 3.14) per 1000 babies delivered and was significantly higher for nulliparous women compared with multiparous women (relative risk 1.65, 95% confidence interval 1.11 to 2.45). Infants of pregnant women at low risk whose labour started in primary care under the supervision of a midwife had a significant higher risk of delivery related perinatal death than did infants of pregnant women at high risk whose labour started in secondary care under the supervision of an obstetrician (relative risk 2.33, 1.12 to 4.83). NICU admission rates did not differ between pregnancies supervised by a midwife and those supervised by an obstetrician. Infants of women who were referred by a midwife to an obstetrician during labour had a 3.66 times higher risk of delivery related perinatal death than did infants of women who started labour supervised by an obstetrician (relative risk 3.66, 1.58 to 8.46) and a 2.5-fold higher risk of NICU admission (2.51, 1.87 to 3.37).Conclusions Infants of pregnant women at low risk whose labour started in primary care under the supervision of a midwife in the Netherlands had a higher risk of delivery related perinatal death and the same risk of admission to the NICU compared with infants of pregnant women at high risk whose labour started in secondary care under the supervision of an obstetrician. An important limitation of the study is that aggregated data of a large birth registry database were used and adjustment for confounders and clustering was not possible. However, the findings are unexpected and the obstetric care system of the Netherlands needs further evaluation.

ObjectivesBlack women face disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality when compared to White women. Multiple factors contribute to these disparities. This study examines the perspectives of Black women who have given birth in the last 5 years, to understand their pregnancy and birth experiences as a means of ascertaining factors that may be contributing to these disparities.MethodsThe Consortium to End Black Maternal Mortality was established as a collaborative table of cross-sector stakeholders and Black mothers to effectively conduct community-based participatory research focused on Black maternal health. Between January and March 2020, Black mothers who had given birth in the last 5 years facilitated Listening Sessions (LS) with other Black mothers in Rochester, NY. Participants reported on details of their pregnancy and delivery, including interaction with providers, personal relationships and their individual experience. The qualitative data captured during these sessions were coded to draw out key themes which were validated with LS participants and the Consortium.ResultsThe key themes that emerged clustered into four groups, including: (1) Mother-Provider Communication; (2) Social Support; (3) Systemic factors and (4) Maternal Emotional & Mental Health. Mother-provider communication was the most salient factor affecting the maternal experience and was found to be influenced primarily by maternal health literacy and provider discriminatory attitudes and behaviors.Conclusions for PracticeAs a result of the Listening Sessions conducted with Black women, we identified mother-provider communication as the most important factor influencing the maternal experience.

This review examines the initial development of a transport system for neonates, followed by a subsequent evolution of a transportation system for the maternal/fetal unit, and then a maternal transport system (antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum) to specifically address maternal morbidity/mortality. A literature search was undertaken using the electronic databases PubMed, Embase, and CINAHL. The search terms used were \"maternal transport\" AND \"perinatal care\" OR \"labor\" \"obstetrics\" OR \"delivery\". The years searched were 1960-2023. There were 260 abstracts identified and 52 of those are the basis of this review. The utilization of a transportation system with the regionalization of levels of care has resulted in a significant reduction in neonatal, perinatal, and maternal morbidity and mortality. Although preterm delivery remains a concern in women transported, the number of deliveries that have occurred during transport is relatively small. Reimbursement for transportation continues to be a problem in several states. A state-of-the-art transportation system has evolved that transfers neonates, maternal/fetal dyad, and pregnant women (antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum) to the appropriate level of care facility to ensure the best maternal/fetal/neonatal outcomes.

Purpose To improve the outcome of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), one needs to identify potentially modifiable factors associated with mortality. Methods The large observational study to understand the global impact of severe acute respiratory failure (LUNG SAFE) was an international, multicenter, prospective cohort study of patients with severe respiratory failure, conducted in the winter of 2014 in a convenience sample of 459 ICUs from 50 countries across five continents. A pre-specified secondary aim was to examine the factors associated with outcome. Analyses were restricted to patients (93.1 %) fulfilling ARDS criteria on day 1–2 who received invasive mechanical ventilation. Results 2377 patients were included in the analysis. Potentially modifiable factors associated with increased hospital mortality in multivariable analyses include lower PEEP, higher peak inspiratory, plateau, and driving pressures, and increased respiratory rate. The impact of tidal volume on outcome was unclear. Having fewer ICU beds was also associated with higher hospital mortality. Non-modifiable factors associated with worsened outcome from ARDS included older age, active neoplasm, hematologic neoplasm, and chronic liver failure. Severity of illness indices including lower pH, lower PaO 2 /FiO 2 ratio, and higher non-pulmonary SOFA score were associated with poorer outcome. Of the 578 (24.3 %) patients with a limitation of life-sustaining therapies or measures decision, 498 (86.0 %) died in hospital. Factors associated with increased likelihood of limitation of life-sustaining therapies or measures decision included older age, immunosuppression, neoplasia, lower pH and increased non-pulmonary SOFA scores. Conclusions Higher PEEP, lower peak, plateau, and driving pressures, and lower respiratory rate are associated with improved survival from ARDS. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02010073.

The Surgical Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) conference is considered the golden hour of surgical education. However, evaluation methods for ensuring that quality M&M presentations efficiently contribute to resident education have not been clearly defined. To provide surgical trainees with the skills required to present a quality M&M presentation it is essential to have a robust tool to measure presentation skill and guide formative feedback. A prospective observational study was conducted to develop an assessment tool for M&M conference. Literature review and expert consensus provided content for tool development. The tool, created using the situation, background, assessment, and recommendation format, was refined successively based on assessor feedback and assessed for reliability (internal consistency, interassessor reliability) and construct validity. Three successive iterations of the tool were developed. Internal consistency and interassessor reliability improved from the first to third versions. A trend also was shown for increasing construct validity with the third iteration of the tool. A psychometrically robust assessment tool based on the situation, background, assessment, and recommendation format was developed and validated to identify and improve the overall quality and educational value of the surgical M&M conference.

The physiological and operative severity score for the enumeration of mortality and morbidity (POSSUM) is a scoring system used to predict morbidity and mortality. We compared the physiological and operative risk, the expected morbidity and mortality, and the observed postoperative mortality among patients operated by different surgeons and anesthetized by different anesthesiologists. This was a retrospective, single center study. The anesthetic records of 159 patients who underwent hepatopancreaticobiliary surgery were analyzed for the physiological and operative severity, POSSUM morbidity, POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM (P-POSSUM) mortality scoring systems, observed mortality in 30-days, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively, duration of surgery, and units of packed red blood cells (PRBC) transfused. These variables were compared among patients operated by five different surgeons and anesthetized by seven different anesthesiologists. One-way analysis of variance was used for normally and Kruskal-Wallis test for nonnormally distributed responses. Differences in percentages of postoperative mortality were assessed by Chi-squared test. The physiological severity, POSSUM morbidity, POSSUM and P-POSSUM mortality scores, and observed mortality at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively did not differ among patients operated by different surgeons and anesthetized by different anesthesiologists. Duration of surgery ( < 0.001), PRBC units transfused ( = 0.002), and operative severity ( = 0.001) differed significantly among patients operated by different surgeons. The physiological severity score, POSSUM and P-POSSUM scores did not differ among patients operated by different surgeons and anesthetized by different anesthesiologists. The different operative severity scores did not influence the observed mortality in the postoperative period.

IntroductionNational Health Service hospitals and government agencies are increasingly using mortality rates to monitor the quality of inpatient care. Mortality and Morbidity (M&M) meetings, established to review deaths as part of professional learning, have the potential to provide hospital boards with the assurance that patients are not dying as a consequence of unsafe clinical practices. This paper examines whether and how these meetings can contribute to the governance of patient safety.MethodsTo understand the arrangement and role of M&M meetings in an English hospital, non-participant observations of meetings (n=9) and semistructured interviews with meeting chairs (n=19) were carried out. Following this, a structured mortality review process was codesigned and introduced into three clinical specialties over 12 months. A qualitative approach of observations (n=30) and interviews (n=40) was used to examine the impact on meetings and on frontline clinicians, managers and board members.FindingsThe initial study of M&M meetings showed a considerable variation in the way deaths were reviewed and a lack of integration of these meetings into the hospital's governance framework. The introduction of the standardised mortality review process strengthened these processes. Clinicians supported its inclusion into M&M meetings and managers and board members saw that a standardised trust-wide process offered greater levels of assurance.ConclusionM&M meetings already exist in many healthcare organisations and provide a governance resource that is underutilised. They can improve accountability of mortality data and support quality improvement without compromising professional learning, especially when facilitated by a standardised mortality review process.

The USA is one of the few countries in the world in which maternal and infant morbidity and mortality continue to increase, with the greatest disparities observed among non-Hispanic Black women and their infants. Traditional explanations for disparate outcomes, such as personal health behaviors, socioeconomic status, health literacy, and access to healthcare, do not sufficiently explain why non-Hispanic Black women continue to die at three to four times the rate of White women during pregnancy, childbirth, or postpartum. One theory gaining prominence to explain the magnitude of this disparity is allostatic load or the cumulative physiological effects of stress over the life course. People of color disproportionally experience social, structural, and environmental stressors that are frequently the product of historic and present-day racism. In this essay, we present the growing body of evidence implicating the role of elevated allostatic load in adverse pregnancy outcomes among women of color. We argue that there is a moral imperative to assign additional resources to reduce the effects of elevated allostatic load before, during, and after pregnancy to improve the health of women and their children.

Despite their high prevalence, the global burden of anxiety disorders has never been calculated comprehensively. The new Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study has estimated burden due to morbidity and mortality caused by any anxiety disorder. Prevalence was estimated using Bayesian meta-regression informed by data identified in a systematic review. Years of life lived with disability (YLDs) were calculated by multiplying prevalent cases by an average disability weight based on severity proportions (mild, moderate and severe). Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were then calculated and age standardized using global standard population figures. Estimates were also made for additional suicide mortality attributable to anxiety disorders. Findings are presented for YLDs, DALYs and attributable burden due to suicide for 21 world regions in 1990 and 2010. Anxiety disorders were the sixth leading cause of disability, in terms of YLDs, in both high-income (HI) and low- and middle-income (LMI) countries. Globally, anxiety disorders accounted for 390 DALYs per 100,000 persons [95% uncertainty interval (UI) 191-371 DALYs per 100,000] in 2010, with no discernible change observed over time. Females accounted for about 65% of the DALYs caused by anxiety disorders, with the highest burden in both males and females experienced by those aged between 15 and 34 years. Although there was regional variation in prevalence, the overlap between uncertainty estimates means that substantive differences in burden between populations could not be identified. Anxiety disorders are chronic, disabling conditions that are distributed across the globe. Future estimates of burden could be further improved by obtaining more representative data on severity state proportions.

Objective To evaluate the association between umbilical cord pH at birth and long term outcomes.Design Systematic review and meta-analysis.Data sources Medline (1966-August 2008), Embase (1980-August 2008), the Cochrane Library (2008 issue 8), and Medion, without language restrictions; reference lists of selected articles; and contact with authors.Study selection Studies in which cord pH at birth was compared with any neonatal or long term outcome. Cohort and case-control designs were included.Results 51 articles totalling 481 753 infants met the selection criteria. Studies varied in design, quality, outcome definition, and results. Meta-analysis carried out within predefined groups showed that low arterial cord pH was significantly associated with neonatal mortality (odds ratio 16.9, 95% confidence interval 9.7 to 29.5, I2=0%), hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (13.8, 6.6 to 28.9, I2=0%), intraventricular haemorrhage or periventricular leucomalacia (2.9, 2.1 to 4.1, I2=0%), and cerebral palsy (2.3, 1.3 to 4.2, I2=0%).Conclusions Low arterial cord pH showed strong, consistent, and temporal associations with clinically important neonatal outcomes that are biologically plausible. These data can be used to inform clinical management and justify the use of arterial cord pH as an important outcome measure alongside neonatal morbidity and mortality in obstetric trials.