Keele Research Repository

Significant disparities in maternal mortality between white and black mothers have been noted for over 80 years and remain an extremely serious problem. Black women are still four times more likely than white women to die in pregnancy or childbirth in the UK [[1]].
The lack of progress in resolving this issue is surprising. Whilst socio-economic conditions and related factors are thought to be responsible for some of the health disparities between ethnic groups there remains the possibility that other contingencies may contribute to the link with skin colour.
In this communication we suggest a mechanism which may be a contributary cause of the adverse obstetric and perinatal outcome. Since there is correlation between maternal deaths and epidermal pigmentation this may indicate that the skin pigment melanin is in some way directly implicated.