Causes and trends in maternal mortality in a tertiary health facility in North Central Nigeria

Background: Nigeria remains one of the top three countries with the highest maternal mortality worldwide. Due to poor vital registration in the country, hospital-based maternal mortality statistics still remain an important source for tracking trends and causes of maternal mortality. The aim of the study was to determine the causes and trends of maternal mortality in a tertiary health facility in North Central Nigeria.Methods: This was a retrospective review of cases of maternal deaths at the Jos University Teaching Hospital from 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2022. Case records of patients that died from pregnancy-related complications were retrieved from the medical records department and other service points of the hospital. The information extracted was maternal socio-demographic characteristics, clinical diagnosis on admission, and duration of hospital stay before demise. The maternal mortality ratio was calculated per 100,000 live births.Results: There were 80 maternal deaths during the period, and 10,348 live births during the same period, giving a maternal mortality ratio of 773/100,000 live births. The mean age of the women was 27.0±8.1 years, 12.5% were teenage mothers, 6.4% were women ?40 years. About 27.5% were nulliparous, 16.5% para 5 or more. For women where information on educational level were available 68(85.0%), 48.5% had only primary education or no formal education, 42.5% had no antenatal care. About 72.5% of the maternal deaths were due to direct causes-pre-eclampsia/eclampsia (30.0%), maternal sepsis (17.5%), complications of unsafe abortion (12.5%), obstetric haemorrhage and uterine rupture 6.3%. The main causes of indirect maternal deaths were sickle cell disease, cardiac disease, diabetes mellitus and liver disease in pregnancy. Most (41.3%) of the maternal deaths occurred within the 24 hours of admission. There was no consistent trend noted in maternal mortality between 2016 and 2019; however, a remarkable increase was observed during the Covid-19 period from 2020-2021.Conclusions: The maternal mortality ratio in Jos, North Central Nigeria remains high, with major causes related to pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, maternal sepsis, unsafe abortion and obstetric haemorrhage. The global Covid-19 pandemic led to an increased maternal mortality in the health facility.