The NPEU is a multi-disciplinary research unit which was established at the University of Oxford in 1978.
Our mission is to conduct methodologically rigorous research to provide evidence to improve the care provided to women, babies and families during pregnancy, childbirth, the newborn period and early childhood as well as promoting the effective use of resources by perinatal health services
Research from the NPEU is covered in a BBC News story published last week, highlighting the findings of our most recent MBRRACE-UK collaboration's annual report, Saving Lives, Improving Mothers' Care by Knight et. al., 2018.
The report shows that the number of women dying as a consequence of complications during or after pregnancy remains low in the UK - fewer than 10 of every 100,000 pregnant women die in pregnancy or around childbirth. However, the report highlights striking inequalities: black women are five times and Asian women two times more likely to die as a result of complications in pregnancy than white women and urgent research and action to understand these disparities is recommended.
A follow-up report will be led by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, which said it hoped to "identify clear ways to reduce the disparity in mortality amongst black and Asian women".
You can read the article "Why are black mothers at more risk of dying?" on the BBC News website.
The Policy Research Unit in Maternal Health and Care (PRU-MHC) was established in 2010 with funding from the Department of Health and encompasses such projects as:
The NPEU Clinical Trials Unit (NPEU CTU) is a fully registered UKCRC Clinical Trials Unit and typically runs a number of large multi-centre Randomised Controlled Trials, such as:
The NPEU also conducts Social Sciences, Health Economics and Epidemiological Research (SHEER) which includes on-going influential studies such as: