Maternal death after cesarean section in Georgia

Few reliable data exist on the risk of maternal death from cesarean section. To identify more deaths after cesarean section than reported by vital records alone, we linked data from Georgia resident live-birth certificates to those from death certificates of Georgia women aged 10 to 44 years. We found 16 maternal deaths after cesarean section in Georgia during 1975 and 1976, five more (45%) than the 11 reported through vital records alone. We attributed nine of these 16 deaths to the cesarean section per se. We than calculated a total death-to-case rate of 105.3 deaths per 100,000 cesarean sections and a rate attributable to cesarean section of 59.3 deaths per 100,000 procedures. Pulmonary embolism and cardiopulmonary arrest during general anesthesia were the leading causes of death in this series. Preventive measures aimed at reducing these complications may reduce deaths after cesarean section.