Severe maternal morbidity among immigrant women in the Netherlands: patients' perspectives.

This 2006 study investigated ethnicity-related factors contributing to sub-standard maternity care and the effects on severe maternal morbidity among immigrant women in the Netherlands. In-depth interviews were carried out with 40 immigrant and 10 native Dutch women. The immigrant women reported that health care providers often paid insufficient attention to their pregnancy-related complaints, especially in cases of pre-eclampsia. They also reported delays in receiving information about diagnosis and treatment. Obstetricians who reviewed 20 of these cases judged sub-standard care to have played a role in the development of complications in 16 of them. The women themselves had problems identifying medically significant complications, presenting their complaints to health care providers effectively, and taking an active role as patients. Even highly educated migrant women showed low health literacy skills in their interaction with doctors. Patients' perspectives are valuable as one of the tools to evaluate the quality of maternity care. Communication by maternal health professionals can be improved through more sensitivity to social factors that affect immigrant women's health problems. Women with limited health literacy should be empowered through education about danger signs in pregnancy and information about preferences and policies in obstetrics in the Netherlands. They should also be invited to participate in medical decision-making.

Ethnic disparity in severe acute maternal morbidity: a nationwide cohort study in the Netherlands.

BACKGROUND: There are concerns about ethnic disparity in outcome of obstetric health care in high-income countries. Our aim was to assess these differences in a large cohort of women having experienced severe acute maternal morbidity (SAMM) during pregnancy, delivery and puerperium. METHODS: All women experiencing SAMM were prospectively collected in a nationwide population-based design from August 2004 to August 2006. Women delivering in the same period served as reference cohort. Population-based risks were calculated by ethnicity and by type of morbidity. Additionally, non-Western and Western women having experienced SAMM were compared in multivariable logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: All 98 Dutch maternity units participated. There were 371 021 deliveries during the study period. A total of 2506 women with SAMM were included, 21.1% of whom were non-Western immigrants. Non-Western immigrants showed a 1.3-fold [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2-1.5] increased risk to develop SAMM. Large differences were observed among different ethnic minority groups, ranging from a non-increased risk for Moroccan and Turkish women to a 3.5-fold (95% CI 2.8-4.3) increased risk for sub-Saharan African women. Low socio-economic status, unemployment, single household, high parity and prior caesarean were independent explanatory factors for SAMM, although they did not fully explain the differences. Immigration-related characteristics differed by ethnic background. CONCLUSIONS: Non-Western immigrants have an increased risk of developing SAMM as compared to Western women. Risks varied largely by ethnic origin. Immigration-related characteristics might partly explain the increased risk. The results suggest that there are opportunities for quality improvement by targeting specific disadvantaged groups.