Maternal Mortality in Type 1 Diabetes
- Pekka J. Leinonen, MD,
- Vilho K. Hiilesmaa, MD,
- Risto J. Kaaja, MD and
- Kari A. Teramo, MD
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Central Hospital of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
The ultimate complication of type 1 diabetes in combination with pregnancy is maternal death, which may result from complications of the pregnancy itself, diabetes and associated diseases, or causes related to neither pregnancy nor diabetes. From the clinical point of view, the greatest reward would be to identify possible preventable causes of maternal death beforehand, especially because these patients are under close surveillance during the entire pregnancy and postpartum period.
The reported incidence of maternal mortality of pregnant type 1 diabetic women has been ∼0.5% (1,2), which is 5–20 times higher than that of the general obstetric population. However, these estimates date back prior to 1980, and because of the developments in both the obstetric management and the treatment of diabetes during the past 20 years, we have estimated the risk of death and analyzed the causes of maternal mortality in a large single referral center for all pregnant type 1 diabetic women from Southern Finland.
Between 1975 and 1997, 972 type 1 diabetic women delivered, or intended to deliver, in the Department …
