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