Publication:

A five-year retrospective study of maternal mortality in a tertiary referral centre

Background The objectives of this study were to calculate the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and the causes of maternal deaths in an urban tertiary care institution.

Methods A retrospective study of 305 maternal deaths over the period from January 2014 to December 2018 was carried out. Data was analysed using frequency and percentage with the help of Microsoft Excel 2019.

Results The MMR during the study period was 666.75per 100,000 live births. Majority of maternal deaths (130, 42.62%) occurred in age group 21-25 years. Maximum number of women (288, 94.1%) came from urban area. Majority of maternal deaths occurred in referred cases (238, 78.03%) to our institution. Majority were registered cases (235, 77.0%).  Maximum women (201, 62%) died in the postnatal period. Majority of maternal deaths (222, 72.79%) occurred within 7 days of admission. Direct and indirect causes contributed to 40% and 59.67% of maternal deaths. Among the direct causes of maternal deaths, haemorrhage (45, 14.75%)) was the leading causes for death followed by hypertensive disorders (42, 13.77%) and sepsis (11, 9.02%). Tuberculosis (34, 18.68%) was the most common indirect cause of maternal mortality in our study followed by hepatitis (30, 16.48%) and respiratory conditions (25, 9.02%).

Conclusions Adequate surveillance of tuberculosis in the antenatal period, health education of pregnant women, proper antenatal, intranatal and emergency obstetric care in the first referral unit with proper blood banking facilities and timely referral to the tertiary care institute will help to lower the high death rate.