Audit of maternal deaths at the Saint Louis regional hospital from 2017 to 2019

Abstract

Objective: To audit maternal deaths at the regional hospital center of Saint-Louis. Materials and methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study of all maternal deaths that occurred between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2019 at the Saint-Louis regional hospital center. Data were entered on EXCEL 2013 software. Analysis was performed on Epi Info version 3 software. Results: During our study, 73 cases of maternal death were collected. Maternal mortality was 520 per 100 000 live births. The mean age of the patients was 28.1 years±6.8. Multiparous women accounted for 43.8% and nulliparous women for 1.3%. The causes of maternal death were obstetric hemorrhage (28.77%), hypertension and its complications (20.55%), labour dystocia (15.07%) and anemia (6.85%). Direct obstetric causes of death were responsible for 64.38% of cases and indirect obstetric causes were seen in 35.62%. Death occurred postpartum in 68% of cases, during pregnancy in 25% and during labor in 7%. Death was preventable in 77.5% of cases. Conclusion: Maternal mortality is a real health problem in our practice. It affects young women. Indirect causes of death are becoming more significant causes of death in our practice. Maternal mortality is avoidable in the majority of cases.