Table 1.

UK Databases of maternal mortality and morbidity

	Database
Database characteristics	Hospital Episode Statistics (HES)	Office of National Statistics (ONS)	UK Obstetric Surveillance System (UKOSS)	Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths (CEMD)	Confidential Enquiries into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH)	Mother and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries (MBRRACE)
Time period	1987–	1996–	2005–	1952–2002	2003–2011	2012–
–Country	England	England and Wales	UK	Initially restricted to England and Wales, it was extended in 1985 to whole of the UK	UK	England, Wales and Scotland; modified arrangements are in place for Northern Ireland
Retrospective/prospective	Prospective	Prospective	Prospective	Retrospective	Retrospective	Retrospective
Voluntary/mandatory	Mandatory	Mandatory	Voluntary report	Voluntary report	Voluntary report	Voluntary report
Deaths	All deaths	All deaths	Maternal deaths	Maternal deaths	Maternal deaths, stillbirths and infant deaths	Maternal deaths, stillbirths and infant deaths
Events other than death	All hospital episodes	Births	Rare disorders during pregnancy	Nil	Nil	Nil
Lead institution	Health and Social Care Information Centre	UK statistics authority, reporting to UK parliament	National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (NPEU) at Oxford University	Department of Health	Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists	National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (NPEU) at Oxford University