Prevalence and Causes of Maternal Mortality in a 10-year period in a University Hospital in Semnan

The rate of maternal mortality is an important indicator of health in any society and the reduction is an important goal in these communities. Based on available resources, prenatal care, delivery and reduce the number of pregnancy is the most important factor in reducing maternal mortalities. The statistics of maternal mortality in underdeveloped countries is more than two thousand cases per hundred thousand births, and in developed countries, less than 5 percent of live births have been reported. Considering that no study was done in this area in Semnan, the present study was conducted for the assessment of maternal mortality and its causes in a 10-year period in Semnan. This retrospective descriptive study, case series from March 2000 to January 2010 were surveyed by available medical records in Amir-al-Momenin Hospital of Semnan. In this study, the number of live births and maternal deaths during a 10-year period was extracted from the statistics available in the archives of Amir-al-Momenin Hospital in Semnan. Possible causes of maternal mortality and its associated assessment were statistically analyzed using the statistical software SPSS (version 16), and were then compared with the global statistics. The maternal mortality ratio was 53.3 in 100000 live births. The most common cause of direct maternal deaths was bleeding during and after the delivery, and 83.3 percent of maternal deaths were direct and 16.6 percent of deaths were indirect. Age, prior cesarean section, cesarean section in recent delivery and multiparity were possible risk factors of maternal mortality. Most type of maternal death was direct and most common type was bleeding.