Students:
Mohammed Abualdarak
Muaath Itmaizeh
Supervisor:
Dr. Diab Abdelmahdi
Abstract:
Background: Maternal mortality is an indicator for the quality health system. It is important to manage the cause of death in order to decrease avoidable causes. The causes of maternal death can be classified into two broad categories, the direct and indirect obstetric causes. The direct obstetric deaths resulting from complications arising during pregnancy, labor or during the postpartum period. Deaths may result from interventions, omissions, incorrect treatment or from a chain of events resulting from any of the above.
Objectives: the main objective of this study is to establish the maternal mortality rate in pregnant women who attended Rafidia hospital during twelve years.Moreover, to evaluate the most common causes of maternal mortality among Palestinian women in Rafidia hospital.
Methods: a cross sectional study was conducted by reviewing hospital archive files, extracting maternal death files. A thorough review for each file was applied. The inclusion criteria for cases are: death must had occurred between 2000-2012 andmust be classified as a maternal death according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) definition.The deceased woman must had been a resident in west bankand must be between ( 15-49) years of age. Dependent variable is considered to be maternal mortality,Independent variables are socioeconomic status, Attendance at birth by trained personnel, hospital stay and parity.
Results: the most common cause of maternal mortality was eclampsia. There is noticeable progress in the documentation and reporting on maternal mortality cases since 2009.
Conclusions: the results of the present study will help medical workers , the government, and international organizations understand the current status and factors influencing maternal deaths in Rafidia hospital
