Table 1 PICOS Inclusion Criteria

Population

Postpartum women who delivered in a LMIC, as defined by those countries currently (2019) classified by the UNDP^a as having low to middle HDI^b [17]

Exclusions:

• No maternal data or maternal data not well differentiated from other populations

• No disaggregation between ante-, intra- and post-partum results

• Maternal data exclusively following abortions

• Maternal data exclusively following stillbirths

• Maternal data exclusively following home deliveries

Interventions

Usual care, or care during an intervention of any kind

Comparisons

None

Outcomes

Primary outcomes:

• Risk factors for postpartum* maternal mortality

• Risk factors for postpartum* maternal readmission

Risk factors include location and mode of delivery, and socio-demographic or clinical characteristics. Risk factors must be identified and evaluated with reported measures of association, such as odds ratio or risk ratio, or provide necessary data to calculate a measure of association

Secondary outcomes:

• Postpartum maternal mortality rate

• Postpartum maternal readmission rate

*Postpartum period defined using the WHO^c standard of within six weeks of delivery [18]

Study Design

Eligible study designs include the following:

• Randomized control trials

• Prospective or retrospective cohort studies

• Case–control studies

• Studies utilizing surveillance data

Exclusions:

• Case reports

• Commentaries

• Conference abstracts

• Review articles (including systematic reviews)