Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC)

https://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/Maternal-Mortality-Review-Committee-(MMRC).aspx

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Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC)

The Nebraska MMRC is guided by Nebraska Revised Statute 71-3404 – 71-3411. In part, the statute declares there is a need for the number and causes of maternal death to be examined through comprehensive review. The MMRC reviews all deaths of pregnant and postpartum women in Nebraska to determine the six following measures:

if the death was pregnancy-related
the cause of death
if the death was preventable
the factors that contributed to the death
recommendations and actions that address those contributing factors
the anticipated impact of those actions if implemented

Maternal Mortality in Nebraska

Maternal Mortality in Nebraska: During 2017-2021, a total of 50 Nebraskan women died while pregnant or within one year after the end of the pregnancy. The pregnancy associated mortality ratio (PAMR) for Nebraska residents from 2017-2021 was 41.6 deaths per 100,000 live births. Eighty-two percent (82%) of the pregnancy associated deaths were deemed preventable after committee review.
Medical causes were the most common category of death representing 54% of all pregnancy associated deaths (n=27). One in five pregnancy associated deaths was due to a motor vehicle crash.
The MMRC determined 14 (28%) of the 50 cases reviewed during the reporting period to be pregnancy related. The pregnancy related mortality ratio (PRMR) from 2017-2021 was 11.6 deaths per 100,000 live births (95% CI=6.9, 18.3).

How Does Nebraska Define Maternal Mortality?

Different definitions of maternal mortality are used to track and analyze deaths by different organizations. Most broadly, maternal mortality is the death of a person while pregnant or within one year of the end of a pregnancy.

A pregnancy-associated death is the death of a person within one year of the end of a pregnancy from any cause. Pregnancy-associated deaths represent the broadest category of maternal deaths, and can be broken down further into two main categories: pregnancy-related deaths and deaths unrelated to pregnancy.

A pregnancy-related death is a maternal death due to a pregnancy complication. More specifically, these deaths occur during pregnancy or within a year of the end of a pregnancy and are due to a chain of events initiated by the pregnancy or the aggravation of an unrelated condition by the physiologic effects of pregnancy.