Prognostic scores for prediction of maternal near miss and maternal death after admission to an intensive care unit: A narrative review

Near miss morbidity and maternal death (defined as severe maternal outcomes - SMO) are the most important adverse outcomes in obstetric settings to assess delays and characteristics of health care management. Intensive care units (ICUs) represent an opportunity of adequate care for women who, in several cases, experienced earlier clinical delays in their maternal health care management. Some prognostic scores widely used in ICU have been useful in characterizing patients in terms of severity of illness in clinical studies, for evaluation of ICU performance, in quality improvement initiatives and for benchmark purposes. Prediction of SMO during the admission to the ICU could greatly improve obstetric care management. We reviewed the feasibility of the existing ICU clinical and obstetric prediction scores in predicting maternal near miss and maternal death.