Prevalence and Reasons for Maternal Mortality: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Aim: To determine the prevalence and reasons for maternal mortality at a tertiary care hospital Study design: A retrospective study Place and duration: This study was conducted at Maternal and Child Care Center Hyderabad Pakistan from June 2018 to June 2020. Methodology: To gain access to the records, convenience sampling was utilized. A self-contained proforma was used to gather verified data on variables (age, year of death, cause of death, and domicile), Excel 2016 was used to examine the data and trend analysis was performed using Join point Analysis Software. Results: In three years, 279 maternal fatalities have been reported from "Hyderabad." With 29.4 % (CI= 0.68, SD= 10.42), hemorrhage remained the primary cause, subsequently, eclampsia 16.13 % (CI= 0.63, SD= 7.48), ruptured uterus 8.6 % (CI= 0.56, SD= 8) and sepsis 5.73 % (CI= 0.44, SD= 5.47). The highest rate of maternal fatalities was 40.50 % in women aged 26 to 30, followed by 25.1 % in women aged 15 to 25, 21.15 % in women aged 31 to 35, and 13.26 % in women aged 36 to 40. The P-value for post-partum bleeding was significant (0.003). Conclusion: Maternal mortality continued to increase in women of child bearing age, with principal reasons including hemorrhage, eclampsia, uterine rupture, and sepsis. To avoid these deaths, early referral, decreasing cesarean section rate, improved monitoring during labour and maternal care by skilled personals and community-based education are both in desperate need of improvement. Keywords: Maternal Mortality, Child-bearing age, Obstructed Labor, Eclampsia, Postpartum Hemorrhage, Ruptured uterus, Pulmonary Embolism.