This paper deals with some issues related to maternal mortality as a public health problem and emphasizes others that should be considered when rates are used to measure this mortality. The main questions discussed are the small number of maternal deaths, even when the related rates are elevated; the accuracy of the data; cases where maternal death is suspected; the fertile period; the concept of maternal death and the 42-day period after delivery; the denominator of the rate; the direct, indirect and non obstetric causes of death and other variables of interest.
Maternal mortality; Vital statistics