Clinical Medicine Reviews in Women's Health

Objective: To assess the etiology, trends and causes of maternal mortality in Tanta University Hospital.

Study design: Retrospective study of files for each case of maternal mortality during the years 2007–2009.

Results: There were 21 maternal deaths out of 16,944 deliveries, yielding a rate of 123.94 deaths per 100,000 livebirths. The main causes of maternal mortality were Caesarean section (19.05%), postpartum hemorrhage (19.05%), pre-eclampsia/eclampsia (19.05%), sepsis (14.29%) and embolic phenomena (9.52%).

Conclusion: Maternal mortality in Tanta University Hospital is higher than the national figure, probably because high quality obstetric health care is lacking and because of deficient therapeutic protocols. Nevertheless, the maternal mortality rate may possibly be reduced by eliminating the preventable causes.