Facility Based Maternal Death Review at Tertiary Care Hospital: A Small Effort to Explore Hidden Facts

Abstract

Aim: Maternal mortality is one of the most important indicators of quality of health care. One of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals is to reduce the maternal mortality rate to 75% by 2015 and India is lagging behind in achieving the goal. The current study is designed to evaluate various aspect of maternal death at tertiary care centre. Methods: Facility based maternal death review conducted at tertiary referral centre with around 6500 deliveries a year. Observational cross sectional study was carried out from January 2010 to September 2014. A pre-structured coded Performa provided by National Rural Health Mission was used for present study. Results: The mean maternal mortality ratio in the study period was 203.42/100000 births. 21(35%) patients did not attended any health facilities during ante natal period. Forty six(60%) deaths occurred in the age group of 20-29 years. Out of 60 maternal deaths, 18 (30%) were primigravida and 42(70%) were multiparous. Thirty nine (65%) mothers died of direct causes in which the most common was haemorrhage in i.e. 21 (35%) Twenty one (35%) mothers died of indirect causes in which 7(11.66%) mothers died because of anaemia. Conclusion: Maternal deaths were higher in reproductive age group i.e. between 20-29 yrs and more in multiparous as compared to primigravida. Among the direct causes haemorrhage and among the indirect causes anaemia was the most common cause contributing to maternal deaths.