Researchers Explore Anesthesia Related Maternal Mortality

Newswise — According to a new study to be featured at the 2008 meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), data compiled over the 6-year period from 1997 through 2002 indicates that the risk of dying from an anesthesia-related complication during childbirth is only about one in a million.

Anesthetic complications rank 7th as a cause of pregnancy-related death in the United States. In the period studied, reports maintained by Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance at the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention indicated that embolism, hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, infection, cardiac disease and stroke were the six leading causes of maternal mortality. Joy L. Hawkins, M.,D., Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, who headed the 5-member research team explained that the purpose of the study was to "examine the number of maternal deaths during anesthesia, the causes of death, and the frequency of general or regional (spinal or epidural) anesthetics used."

According to results of the study, anesthetic deaths have stabilized at about 1.1 maternal deaths per million live births. There were 42 anesthesia-related deaths during the 6-years studied. Of those occurring during live birth or stillbirth, five occurred during general anesthesia and 18 occurred during regional anesthesia, Dr. Hawkins indicated. Previous work had indicated that general anesthesia was much riskier for women during childbirth than regional anesthetics like spinals or epidurals, but the new data shows the safety of general anesthesia has improved and the risks are probably no different now between the two techniques.

Dr. Hawkins cautions, however, that while there has been a steady decline in fatality rates during general anesthesia, from 32.3 to 6.5 per million general anesthetics over the 18 years ending in 2002, the rate for regional anesthesia has risen from 1.9 to 3.8 deaths per million regional anesthetics during that same period.

Dr. Hawkins suggested that further monitoring of anesthesia-related maternal mortality may help to clarify the disparity and further improve maternal safety during anesthesia care.

Anesthesiologists: Physicians providing the lifeline of modern medicine. Founded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists is an educational, research and scientific association with 43,000 members organized to raise and maintain the standards of the medical practice of anesthesiology and improve the care of the patient.

For more information visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists Web site at http://www.asahq.org.

Media Registration for the 2008 ASA Annual Meeting is now available at http://www2.asahq.org/web/miscfiles/08media.asp.