One in five preventable in five years after childbirth, study finds
A world-first analysis by a team of Australian researchers has found that one in five maternal deaths in the five years following birth is preventable.
There is suicide It has long been accepted It is considered the leading cause of maternal death in Australia, but experts have warned previously reported statistics do not reflect the full extent of the problem.
One reason for this is that maternal mortality data are generally limited to 42 days or one year after birth. BJOG: International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology It was observed that the risks did not “suddenly disappear” after the child’s first birthday.
More than 1.7 million live births from more than one million mothers in NSW from 2002 to 2020, Western Sydney obstetrics and gynecology registrar Dr. It was studied by a team of researchers led by Louise Makarious.
This is the first peer-reviewed study to focus on maternal deaths due to suicide, accidental poisoning, and undetermined intent within one year of birth.
The research, published Tuesday, found that these causes represented 26 percent of maternal deaths within the first year after birth, 23 percent within two years and 22 percent within five years.
The most vulnerable were first-time mothers, mothers aged 24 and under, mothers who identified as First Nations, and mothers living in remote or socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.
“Suicide and accidental poisoning deaths are completely preventable,” says Makarious. “This study showed that this at-risk population requires continued care for more than a year.”
Makarious notes that birth-related causes of maternal death, such as bleeding, blood pressure disorders and infections, decreased over the 18-year study period due to targeted improvements in clinical practice. By comparison, mental health-related maternal deaths remained stable.
However, 60 percent of mothers who died by suicide and two-thirds of mothers who died from accidental poisoning or undetermined causes did not seek access to community mental health services in the 12 months before their death.
“This shows that there are barriers to access or access to health care that need to be removed,” says Makarious, noting that although the shortage and cost of psychologists and psychiatrists are prohibitive, other influences include culture, negative experiences with authorities, and location.
Parental mental health services such as the government-funded PANDA national helpline and the non-profit Gidget Foundation Australia aim to close this gap; The latter has supported 26.7 percent more customers in the last 12 months compared to the same period in the previous year.
Makarious says mental health and substance abuse screenings up to a year after birth are one approach to supporting at-risk mothers.
Another would be to educate clinicians to look for risk factors in the prenatal period and to encourage clinicians to openly discuss substance use and mental health with parents and to use continuity of care models that facilitate rapport building between mothers and clinicians.
Regular access to mental health workers through the availability of telehealth or home visits will also make care accessible.
“We must aim to reduce the barriers these women face to avoid preventable deaths,” says Makarious. “These are all preventable and avoidable deaths.”
Bronte Gossling is a reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, WAtoday and Brisbane Times.Connect via email.
