Deaths from Ectopic Pregnancy, United States, 1979 to 1980

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Abstract
During the 1970 in the USA, the number of hospitalizations for ectopic pregnancy increased more than 2-fold, and ectopic pregnancy emerged as a leading cause of maternal mortality. All known deaths from ectopic pregnancy in the USA from Jan. 1, 1979 to Dec. 31, 1980, were investigated by the Centers for Disease Control to determine incidence, characteristics and risk factors for fatal ectopic pregnancy. Deaths were reported primarily by state health departments; numbers and characteristics of women who had ectopic pregnancies were obtained through the National Hospital Discharge Survey of the National Center for Healthy Statistics. Deaths (86) were confirmd among an estimated 102,100 cases of ectopic pregnancy, for an overall death-to-case rate of 0.8/1000. Women of black and other races had a relative risk of death 3.2 times that of white and Hispanic women. Continued surveillance should help to reduce the number of deaths through the education of women and health professionals.