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Original Article

Maternal mortality in Denmark

Although women rarely die during pregnancy and childbirth in an affluent country as Denmark, these unfortunate events still occur. In the September issue of Danish Medical Journal, two papers by Bødker et al focus on this topic.
Dan Med J 2021;68(9):A02210144
Dan Med J 2021;68(9):A02210144

Editor

1. sep. 2021
1 min.

In the first, the authors describe secular trends in maternal mortality in Denmark from 1985 to 2017and conclude that the mortality has declined substantially, particularly in the period from 2002 to 2017.
The second paper analyzes in more detail the 70 deaths that took place in the latter period. The authors identify cardiovascular disease, hypertensive disorder, suicide and thromboembolism as the most common death causes and conclude that 34% of the deaths were potentially avoidable.

Read original articles

Reduction in maternal mortality in Denmark over three decades
Birgit Bødker, Lone Hvidman, Tom Weber et al

An audit of 70 maternal deaths
Birgit Bødker, Lone Hvidman, Tom Weber et al