Causes of mortality of pregnant mothers admitted to hospitals affiliated to Tabriz University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

The death of a pregnant mother is a sensitive indicator of the status of women in society, access to care, the quality of health care, and capacity of service delivery system to respond to needs of women's society, and it reflects economic and social situation of any society. Aim of this study was to determine the causes of mortality of pregnant mothers admitted to hospitals of Tabriz. Method: All pregnant mothers who died during pregnancy or 42 days after that between 2015 and the end of 2018 in Tabriz city or hospitals around this city were included in the study. diagnosis of the forensic medical committee was used as the final cause of death. Results: mortality rate of pregnant mothers in period between 2015 and 2018 was equal to 52 patients, 10 of whom were excluded based on the exclusion criteria. The average age of mothers was 32.19 years. majority of mothers (69%) lived in the city. Tabriz and its surrounding villages had the highest prevalence. majority of mothers were housewives (48%) and had a diploma (23.8%). most common underlying diseases were hypothyroidism (28.6%), hyperlipidemia (9.5%), and diabetes (7.1%). Care during pregnancy was done in 85.7% of the patients, which in the majority of cases was done by a doctor in a private center. Death occurred in 76.2% of postpartum cases. prevalence of cesarean in patients was higher than NVD (71.4% vs. 4.8%). most common causes of death among mothers were bleeding (16.7%) and underlying malignancy (9.5%).