Associate Professor

Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact

McMaster University
1280 Main St. West,
HSC3V - 43B
Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1
Canada

Maternal deaths following severe maternal morbidity during childbirth in Canada

Journal article

Mackenzie Campbell, Qi Wen, Giulia M. Muraca, Neda Razaz, K.S. Joseph, Sarka Lisonkova
J Obstet Gynaecol Can, vol. 48(6), 2026, p. 103268

DOI: 10.1016/j.jogc.2026.103268

Semantic Scholar DOI PubMed

Cite

APA Click to copy
Campbell, M., Wen, Q., Muraca, G. M., Razaz, N., Joseph, K. S., & Lisonkova, S. (2026). Maternal deaths following severe maternal morbidity during childbirth in Canada. J Obstet Gynaecol Can, 48(6), 103268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jogc.2026.103268

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Campbell, Mackenzie, Qi Wen, Giulia M. Muraca, Neda Razaz, K.S. Joseph, and Sarka Lisonkova. “Maternal Deaths Following Severe Maternal Morbidity during Childbirth in Canada.” J Obstet Gynaecol Can 48, no. 6 (2026): 103268.

MLA Click to copy
Campbell, Mackenzie, et al. “Maternal Deaths Following Severe Maternal Morbidity during Childbirth in Canada.” J Obstet Gynaecol Can, vol. 48, no. 6, 2026, p. 103268, doi:10.1016/j.jogc.2026.103268.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{mackenzie2026a,
  title = {Maternal deaths following severe maternal morbidity during childbirth in Canada},
  year = {2026},
  issue = {6},
  journal = {J Obstet Gynaecol Can},
  pages = {103268},
  volume = {48},
  doi = {10.1016/j.jogc.2026.103268},
  author = {Campbell, Mackenzie and Wen, Qi and Muraca, Giulia M. and Razaz, Neda and Joseph, K.S. and Lisonkova, Sarka}
}

Abstract

Severe maternal morbidity (SMM) includes potentially life-threatening illnesses during pregnancy, childbirth, or the postpartum period. Our objective was to describe SMM case fatality rates in Canada from 2015/16 to 2021/22, including SMM-specific mortality rates and provincial/territorial variations. We studied all hospital deliveries in Canada (excluding Quebec) with data obtained from the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Among 1 917 857 women with a hospital childbirth, 35 432 experienced SMM (18.5 per 1000 deliveries) and of these, 75 died before hospital discharge (2.12 deaths per 1000 women with SMM). Cardiac conditions, assisted ventilation, and embolism/shock/DIC were associated with the highest case fatality rates. Case fatality rates differed significantly across provinces/territories.