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To describe the incidence of three conditions of acute severe maternal morbidity in selected regions in nine European countries.A population-based questionnaire survey.Eleven regions in nine countries of Europe.All the pregnant women in each region who had delivered during the period covered by the study.Standard definitions of three severe obstetric conditions, pre-eclampsia, postpartum haemorrhage and sepsis were established by a steering committee. A common questionnaire was used in each participating country. The incidence of the three obstetric conditions and characteristics of the study women were compared.Incidence of three severe obstetric conditions: pre-eclampsia, postpartum haemorrhage and sepsis.The study identified 1734 women with at least one of the three conditions, with 847 experiencing severe haemorrhage, 793 experiencing severe pre-eclampsia and 142 experiencing severe sepsis. There were wide variations in incidence of three conditions combined, ranging from 14.7 per thousand deliveries in Brussels, Belgium to 6.0 per thousand deliveries in Upper Austria.This study sets a simple and straightforward approach to the definition of three severe obstetric conditions and allows population-based comparisons between developed countries in Europe, even though difficulties may have been present with applying the definition across countries. The reported incidence of these severe obstetric conditions in general and severe haemorrhage varied significantly between countries. Overall, severe haemorrhage in particular was the most common of the three conditions, followed closely by severe pre-eclampsia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) simulated by 17 global coupled ocean-atmosphere models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP). Robust NAO indices are defined by calculating the leading principal components of winter time mean surface temperatures (land and sea) in the North Atlantic region (120°W-60°E, 20-80 #x00B0;N). Encouragingly, 13 out of 17 of the models capture the NAO surface temperature quadrupole pattern with centres of action over Northwest Europe, the northwest Atlantic, the southeastern USA, and the Middle East. The northern dipole is better captured than the southern dipole which is often simulated too far eastwards over the Atlantic Ocean. Out of the 17 models, ten models produce NAO indices that vary similar to the observations as stationary ''weakly red noise'' with only small correlations between successive winters (r < 0.3). Another five models drift monotonically towards warmer conditions, and two models exhibit long-term stochastic trends. Several of the models significantly overestimate the teleconnection between NAO and the tropical ENSO phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a clustered randomised controlled trial which examined the effectiveness of using a transparent collector bag to measure postpartum blood loss after vaginal delivery in reducing the incidence of severe postpartum haemorrhage. The trial examined 78 maternity units in 13 European countries from January 2006 to May 2007. Severe postpartum haemorrhage was observed in 189 of 11037 vaginal deliveries in the intervention group, while 295 out of 14344 in the control group.