Objective To assess the most commonly employed diag-nostic indicators of severe maternal morbidity (obstetric near-miss). Methods Review of the literature from January 1989 to August 2008. Results Fifty-one manuscripts met the eligibility criteria, and 96 indicators were utilized at least once. Admission to intensive care unit (n= 28 studies) was the indicator most frequently utilized, followed by eclampsia and hemorrhage (n= 27), blood transfusion (n= 26) and emergent hysterec-tomy (n=24). Conclusion Considering these Wndings, a trial version of a 13-item instrument for diagnosing obstetric near-miss is proposed. It includes the indicators eclampsia, severe hypertension, pulmonary edema, cardiac arrest, obstetrical hemorrhage, uterine rupture, admission to intensive care unit, emergent hysterectomy, blood transfusion, anesthetic accidents, urea >15 mmol/l or creatinine >400 mmol/l, oli-guria (<400 ml/24 h) and coma. Further studies should focus on consensual deWnitions for these indicators and evaluate the psychometric proprieties of this trial version.