[Maternal mortality in Switzerland 1985-1994]

The maternal mortality rate in the west has dropped drastically in the last 100 years. As yet there are no detailed numbers of the actual causes of death for Switzerland. We re-evaluated the anonymous patient documentation for the years 1985-1994 using the officially registered (ICD-8) cases of maternal mortality. 45 deaths out of 812,825 births remained from the original 76 registered cases, which corresponds to a direct maternal mortality of 5.4/100,000 live births. The other cases had to be reclassified (indirect, late or pregnancy-related obstetric deaths). The majority of the deaths were caused by thromboembolism (15%). The mortality rate for cesarean section was 0.09 per thousand. The large number of reclassified cases shows that further teaching is necessary in the completion of the death certificate. In the attempt to reduce maternal mortality, one has to direct attention to the consequent prophylaxis of thromboembolism and induce a premature birth in cases of HELLP syndrome.