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Daniel J. Pallin, MD, MPH, Vandana Sundaram, MPH, Fabienne Laraque, MD, MPH, Louise Berenson, MS and David R. Schomberg, Rpa-C

Daniel J. Pallin, Vandana Sundaram, Fabienne Laraque, and Louise Berenson are with the New York City Department of Health. At the time of the study, Daniel J. Pallin was also with the Preventive Medicine Residency Program, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Mass. Vandana Sundaram and Fabienne Laraque are with the Health Information Services Unit, Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health Program. Louise Berenson is with the Office of Vital Statistics. David R. Schomberg is with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, New York City.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Fabienne Laraque, MD, MPH, Office of Family Health, New York City Department of Health, 2 Lafayette St, 18th Floor, Box 34A, New York, NY 10007 (e-mail: flaraque{at}health.nyc.gov).

Objectives. This study examined the usefulness of computer-assisted active surveillance in identifying maternal deaths in New York City.

Methods. Computerized searches of hospital discharge and autopsy record databases were conducted for maternal deaths occurring in 1997.

Results. Active surveillance revealed 14 new maternal deaths not previously reported, an 88% increase. Nine of these deaths were found through the hospital discharge database search, 1 was found through the autopsy record search, and 4 were found in both searches. Overall maternal mortality ratios associated with active surveillance and routine surveillance were 24.3 and 13.0 deaths per 100 000 live births, respectively.

Conclusions. Active surveillance of maternal mortality is useful in identifying new maternal deaths. Existing databases can be used relatively easily to augment routine surveillance of maternal mortality.

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