Background Maternal obesity is increasing. There is growing evidence of its effect on severe maternal morbidity. We assessed prepregnancy obesity as an independent risk factor for severe maternal morbidity by timing and cause. Methods We designed a case‐control analysis within the EPIMOMS prospective population‐based study conducted in six French regions in 2012‐2013 (182 309 women who delivered at ≥22 weeks). Cases were all women who experienced severe maternal morbidity during pregnancy to 42 days postpartum as per a multicriteria definition derived by national expert consensus (n = 2540, severe maternal morbidity prevalence 1.4%). Controls were randomly selected from the same health centres (n = 3651). The association between obesity and severe maternal morbidity was assessed from fitting multivariable logistic regression models: overall, by timing (antepartum and intrapartum/ postpartum), and by cause. Results Prepregnancy obesity was associated with overall severe maternal morbidity (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.34, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14, 1.59) and antepartum severe maternal morbidity (OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.61, 2.65), but not with intra/postpartum severe maternal morbidity (OR 1.15, 95% CI 0.96, 1.38). Among antepartum severe maternal morbidity, severe hypertensive disorders were most strongly associated with obesity (OR 2.50, 95% CI 1.85, 3.40) but the risk of antepartum severe maternal morbidity due to other causes was also increased among obese women (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.13, 2.37). Obesity was not associated with severe postpartum haemorrhage (OR 1.12, 95% CI 0.92, 1.37). Conclusion Obesity is associated with an increased risk of antepartum, but not intra/ postpartum, severe maternal morbidity.

Differential prenatal care may delay diagnosis of pre-eclampsia among African compared with native French women.

Objectives Most indicators proposed for assessing quality of care in obstetrics are process indicators and do not directly measure health effects, and cannot always be identified from routinely available databases. Our objective was to propose a set of indicators to assess the quality of hospital obstetric care from maternal morbidity outcomes identifiable in permanent hospital discharge databases. Methods Various maternal morbidity outcomes potentially reflecting quality of obstetric care were first selected from a systematic literature review. Then a three-round Delphi consensus survey was conducted online from 11/2016 through 02/2017 among a French panel of 37 expert obstetricians, anesthetists-critical-care specialists, midwives, quality-of-care researchers, and user representatives. For a given maternal outcome, several definitions could be proposed and the indicator (i.e. corresponding rate) could be applied to all women or restricted to specific subgroup(s). Results Of the 49 experts invited to participate, 37 agreed. The response rate was 92% in the second round and 97% in the third. Finally, a set of 13 indicators was selected to assess the quality of hospital obstetric care: rates of uterine rupture, postpartum hemorrhage, transfusion incident, severe perineal lacerations, episiotomy, cesarean, cesarean under general anesthesia, post-cesarean site infection, anesthesia-related complications, postpartum pulmonary embolism, maternal readmission and maternal mortality. Six were considered in specific subgroups, with, for example, the postpartum hemorrhage rate assessed among all women and also among women at low risk of PPH. Implications This Delphi process enabled us to define consensually a set of indicators to assess the quality of hospital obstetrics care from routine hospital data, based on maternal morbidity outcomes. Considering 6 of them in specific subgroups of women is especially interesting. These indicators, identifiable through codes used in international classifications, will be useful to monitor quality of care over time and across settings.