Evidence mapPaperPMID 41536006Full record

ArticleJournal of public health (Oxford, England)2026

Lessons to be learned: a retrospective study of MBRRACE-UK perinatal mortality surveillance (2015-2024) to identify maternity services most consistently reporting higher- and lower-than-average deaths.

Pauline McDonagh Hull, Tiffany Boulton, Bonnie Lashewicz

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Article in Journal of public health (Oxford, England), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Pauline McDonagh HullDepartment of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, CWPH Building, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N 4Z6, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-2954-6811
Tiffany BoultonCommunity Rehabilitation and Disability Studies, Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, TRW Building, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N 4Z6, Canada.
Bonnie LashewiczCommunity Rehabilitation and Disability Studies, Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, TRW Building, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N 4Z6, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThis study aimed to identify maternity services in England that most consistently reported both higher-than-average and lower-than-average rates of extended perinatal mortality (EPM), including stillbirths and neonatal deaths, throughout the government's decade-long National Maternity Safety Ambition to halve the rate of stillbirths and neonatal deaths.

methodsWe conducted a retrospective study of MBRRACE-UK Perinatal Mortality Surveillance Reports (2015-2024) to compare EPM rates for births occurring in 121 organizations providing maternity services in England between 2013 and 2022. Utilizing MBRRACE-UK definitions and designations, we devised a scoring method to determine which organizations most consistently reported higher-than-average and lower-than-average deaths.

resultsWe identified 10 organisations providing maternity services (8.3%) with the five highest scores and 15 (12.4%) with the five lowest scores. A total of 20 organisations (16.5%) reported higher-than-average deaths in ≥80% of MBRRACE-UK reports and/or each of the past five years, and 22 (18.2%) reported lower-than-average deaths. Strong indications of a North-South divide for EPM were evident.

conclusionsWe provide evidence of regional EPM variation over the past decade, building on previous study findings of a North-South mortality divide in England. We propose that shared learning between outlier maternity services has the potential to ameliorate avoidable harm.

Indexed as

Maternal Health ServicesPerinatal MortalityEnglandFemaleHumansInfantInfant, NewbornPerinatal DeathPopulation SurveillancePregnancyRetrospective StudiesStillbirthUnited Kingdomchildbirthhealth serviceshospital trustsMBRRACE-UKmortalityobstetricsperinatal deathsresearch

Identifiers

PMID41536006
PMCPMC13016885

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.