ABSTRACT
Objectives: The objectives were to determine the clinical and demographic profile of maternal deaths; determine the most common primary causes of maternal deaths at district hospital level; compare the causes of deaths at district hospital; provincial and national level; and to investigate the quality of care that was provided to maternal deaths patients and to make recommendations.Design: The design was a cross-sectional retrospective chart review.Setting and subjects: Subjects were all reported maternal deaths between January 2006 and December 2010 at Northdale Hospital; KwaZulu-Natal.Outcome measures: Outcome measures were the common characteristics and causes of maternal deaths; avoidable maternal deaths and quality of care.Results: The mean age of the 61 maternal deaths was 28 years. Thirty-three patients attended antenatal clinics. Of these; 57.6 booked at ? 20th week. Of the 28 (45.9) who died in the postpartum period; seven delivered at home and three died of anaesthetic complications. Thirty-nine patients (63.9) tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus. Only 10 were on highly active antiretroviral therapy. The five leading causes of deaths were non-pregnancy-related sepsis; miscarriage; acute collapse; pregnancy-related sepsis and anaesthetic complications. Thirty patients (49.3) received substandard care.Conclusion: The profile of maternal deaths at this district hospital differs from the national profile published in 2005-2007 Saving Mothers Report. While there was an increase in maternal deaths at national level; maternal death numbers decreased at this district hospital. Non-pregnancy-related sepsis remained the leading cause of deaths at national and facility level; but the other four major causes at the hospital level differed from those at the national level