Poorest women 20 times more likely to die in childbirth

Women in the most disadvantaged groups of society are nearly 20 times more likely to die from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth than women in the two highest social classes, the latest Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths for the United Kingdom published this week has shown.

The report is the first in a series to evaluate social and economic factors in maternal deaths. In addition to showing a greatly increased risk of maternal death in disadvantaged women, results showed that women from ethnic groups …