Maternal-fetal risk assessment.

In first-world countries, maternal and infant mortality has significantly decreased over the past 50 years due to factors such as skilled pregnancy care practitioners, aseptic hospital births, antibiotics, safe blood transfusions, and oxytocin. However, international maternal and infant mortality statistics from underdeveloped countries remain high. Pregnancy risk management requires implementation of risk-reduction strategies that have been proven to be effective. Marked physiological alterations in biochemical indices that occur in pregnancy require that laboratories participating in the evaluation of new interventions in pregnancy must ensure that tests are compared to appropriate gestation-specific reference intervals.