Skip to main content
PMC home page
Bulletin of the World Health Organization logoLink to Bulletin of the World Health Organization
. 1986;64(1):79–84.

Secular trends in maternal mortality in Sweden from 1750 to 1980

Ulf Högberg, Stig Wall
PMCID: PMC2490919  PMID: 3524885

Abstract

Mortality statistics have been kept continuously in Sweden since 1750 and reveal that the maternal mortality rate declined from 900 to 6 per 100 000 live births over the period 1750 to 1980. Two-thirds of this decrease occurred during the 19th century and the remainder in the 20th century. In the 18th century, 10% of deaths among women aged between 15 and 49 years were due to complications at parturition, but today this accounts for only 0.2% of deaths in women of this age group. Life-table analysis indicates that 1 out of 29 women in Sweden lost her life in parturition during the 18th century, while today only 1 out of 1000 women dies as a result of complications during pregnancy and parturition.

Full text

PDF
84

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Augensen K., Koller O., Bergsjø P. Mødredødelighet i Norge 1951-1980. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 1983 Feb 20;103(5):525–530. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bonte J. T., Verbrugge H. P. Maternal mortality: an epidemiological approach. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 1967;46(4):445–474. doi: 10.3109/00016346709158647. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bullough C. H. Analysis of maternal deaths in the Central Region of Malawi. East Afr Med J. 1981 Jan;58(1):25–36. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chen L. C., Gesche M. C., Ahmed S., Chowdhury A. I., Mosley W. H. Maternal mortality in rural Bangladesh. Stud Fam Plann. 1974 Nov;5(11):334–341. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dobbie B. M. An attempt to estimate the true rate of maternal mortality, sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. Med Hist. 1982 Jan;26(1):79–90. doi: 10.1017/s0025727300040795. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. El-badry M. A. Higher female than male mortality in some countries of South Asia: a digest. J Am Stat Assoc. 1969 Dec;64(328):1234–1244. doi: 10.1080/01621459.1969.10501052. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Högberg U., Joelsson I. Maternal deaths related to abortions in Sweden, 1931-1980. Gynecol Obstet Invest. 1985;20(4):169–178. doi: 10.1159/000298990. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Högberg U., Joelsson I. The decline in maternal mortality in Sweden, 1931-1980. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 1985;64(7):583–592. doi: 10.3109/00016348509156367. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Högberg U. Mödradödlighet--ett globalt problem. Fortfarande dör en halv miljon varje år vid förlossning. Lakartidningen. 1985 Jan 16;82(3):129–131. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Högberg U., Wall S. Age and parity as determinants of maternal mortality--impact of their shifting distribution among parturients in Sweden from 1781 to 1980. Bull World Health Organ. 1986;64(1):85–91. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Macpherson T. A. A retrospective study of maternal deaths in the Zimbabwean black. Cent Afr J Med. 1981 Apr;27(4):57–60. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Makokha A. E. Maternal mortality-Kenyatta National Hospital 1972-1977. East Afr Med J. 1980 Jul;57(7):451–460. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. McKeown T., Record R. G., Turner R. D. An interpretation of the decline of mortality in England and Wales during the twentieth century. Popul Stud (Camb) 1975 Nov;29(3):391–422. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Mtimavalye L. A., Lisasi D., Ntuyabaliwe W. K. Maternal mortality in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, 1974-1977. East Afr Med J. 1980 Feb;57(2):111–118. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Schneegans H. J. Die Müttersterblichkeit im 17. bis 19. Jahrhundert. Zentralbl Gynakol. 1982;104(22):1416–1420. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Tietze C. Maternal mortality excluding abortion mortality. World Health Stat Rep. 1977;30(4):312–339. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Bulletin of the World Health Organization are provided here courtesy of World Health Organization

RESOURCES