FOI Reference: FOI/2022/4505
You asked
The total number of deaths in pregnancy by month or quarter for the time period 2014 to 2022. If available this data should be categorised by maternal mortality triennial report categories (as found in the MBRRACE reports).
we said
Thank you for your query regarding maternal deaths data.
We hold deaths registered to women where a pregnancy-related cause is listed on the death certificate and is then coded as the underlying cause (the O codes in the International Classification of Diseases). This can be found in Table 11b of the following dataset: Deaths registered in England and Wales.
However, a maternal death is defined internationally as a death of a woman during or up to six weeks (42 days) after the end of pregnancy (whether the pregnancy ended by termination, miscarriage or a birth, or was an ectopic pregnancy) through causes associated with, or exacerbated by, pregnancy (World Health Organisation 2010).
To provide data to meet this definition the MBRRACE-UK programme of work is better placed to assist you. They are responsible for the national Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths (CEMD) within the United Kingdom: https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk.
The latest report of the UK Perinatal Deaths for Births from January to December 2020, published on 13 October 2022, can be found here: https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk/reports
This is your best source of data on maternal deaths and any queries would be better placed to MBRACE-UK directly mbrrace-uk@npeu.ox.ac.uk.