1. Blehar MC, Spong C, Grady C, Goldkind SF, Sahin L, Clayton JA. Enrolling pregnant women: issues in clinical research. Womens Health Issues. 2013;23(1):e39–45. doi:
10.1016/j.whi.2012.10.003
.
2. • Van Parys AS, Verstraelen H, Roelens K, Temmerman M. Maternal intensive care: a systematic literature review. Facts Views Vis Obgyn. 2010;2(3):161–7. There is no standard definition for maternal intensive care.
3. • Tunçalp O, Hindin MJ, Souza JP, Chou D, Say L. The prevalence of maternal near miss: a systematic review. BJOG. 2012;119(6):653–61. doi:
10.1111/j.1471-0528.2012.03294.x
. Maternal death constitutes the tip of the iceberg. The real issue is maternal critical illness which occurs at much higher rates and is often missed.
4. •• Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC). Female admissions (aged 16–50) to adult, general critical care units in England, Wales and Northern Ireland reported as ‘currently pregnant’ or ‘recently pregnant’. ICNARC, 2013.
https://www.oaa-anaes.ac.uk/assets/_managed/cms/files/Obstetric%20admissions%20to%20critical%20care%202009–2012%20-%20FINAL.pdf
(Accessed 29th April 2016). MCIs comprise >10% of ICU admissions in women aged <50 years. MCI is often treated outside the ICU.
5. Knight M, Kenyon S, Brocklehurst P, Neilson J, Shakespeare J, Kurinczuk JJ, editors. On behalf of MBRRACE-UK. Saving lives, improving mothers’ care—lessons learned to inform future maternity care from the UK and Ireland confidential enquiries into maternal deaths and morbidity 2009–12. Oxford: National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford; 2014.