Maternal Mortality

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31231, 1 December 1966, Page 22

Maternal Mortality

(N.Z. Press Association)

DUNEDIN, Nov. 29. Queen Mary Maternity Hospital, Dunedin, had no maternal deaths in booked cases in 1951 to 1965. In the same period there were 12 deaths in emergency cases. This is shown by Professor J. L. Wright, of Dunedin, in the latest “New Zealand Medical Journal.” Professor Wright is director of obstetrical research for the Medical Research Council.

Live births at the hospital in the period totalled 16,561, of which 2789 were unbooked cases, Professor Wright says. This means a maternal mortality rate in unbooked cases of 4.3 a 1000. At National Women’s Hospital, Auckland, a maternal

mortality rate of 0.32 a 1000 had been recorded in booked cases for the years 1946 to 1965, with a rate eight times greater in unbooked cases—--2.56 a 1000. This emphasises the wide safety margin available to the booked case, Professor Wright says.

He is reporting on a survey of maternal deaths in New Zealand in 1959. Official Health Department figures for the year show 36 maternal deaths in 62,811 births. Excluding four deaths from illegal abortion and two from non-related causes there were 30 deaths, or roughly one in 2000 live births.

While this figure is satisfactory—much better than the position 10 years ago, when the rate was nearer one a 1000—maternal mortality was capable of further reduction in New Zealand, Professor Wright says. “Avoidable factors are pre-

sent in many cases, both for the patient and the doctor.” He mentions patients’ failure to attend for antenatal care or refusal to enter hospital. “Many other factors stand out, but are difficult to overcome in a scattered community—for example isolation, lack of consultant services and lack of blood transfusion.”

Maori deaths seem disproportionately high—two or three to every one European death—and this could be a project for special study under the Maori Purposes Fund Board, he suggests.

Under urban conditions—for example in Queen Mary Hospital—there had been no difficulty with Maori patients and their mortality rate was less than the European.