Maternal Mortality: A Two-Decade Review of Cases in a Tertiary Health Centre in Northcentral, Nigeria.

Abstract

MATERNAL MORTALITY: A TWO-DECADE REVIEW OF CASES IN A TERTIARY HEALTH CENTRE IN NORTH CENTRAL, NIGERIA.

ABSTRACT

Background and setting: Maternal mortality is a catastrophe associated with pregnancy resulting in the loss of life of a woman; and is a global indicator of the obstetrics performance of a centre. This study reports the maternal mortality in National Hospital Abuja, a 400-bed tertiary public hospital located in the cosmopolitan city of Abuja the capital of Nigeria, a low resource country. 

Aims: To determine the ratio, aetiology and cause of Death, presentation and management of maternal deaths in National Hospital Abuja (NHA), North Central Nigeria.

Materials and method: All patients with ‘pregnancy associated mortality’ (54 in number) in NHA for the period of twenty years were retrospectively reviewed against the total live birth of 29,389 in the same period.

Results: During the twenty - year period the maternal mortality ratio was found to be 184 per 100,000 Live Births. The mean age of the patients was 31.46 years ± 5.7 with mean gestational age of 30.34 weeks ± 9.6. Most (57.4%) of the maternal deaths were in the age range of 30-39 years and 87% were unbooked patients. Majority of the deaths (77.8%) were in the third trimester and most of the patients were of low parity. The commonest underlying cause of death was pre-eclampsia/eclampsia.

Conclusion: Maternal mortality ratio from our facility is low when compared with national data. These deaths were found mostly among unregistered patients and were commonly caused by pre-eclampsia/eclampsia with haemorrhage coming closely second. The post mortem examination rate for maternal mortality is low. Strengthening the secondary health care facility in the zone as well as early referral of cases could help curtail maternal death.

Key words: Maternal mortality, aetiology & causes of death, preeclampsia/eclampsia, post mortem, north central Nigeria