Analysis of Causes and Changes of Maternal Deaths over the Past Twenty Years

Objective: To study causes of the maternal deaths in the second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou Medical collage recently twenty years, and to strengthen the prevention and treatment high risk factors, aiming to reduce the maternal mortality. Methods: A retrospective study was done to analyze the clinic features of maternal death in the hospitals from 1985-2004. Results: The maternal mortality was 48.6/100,000 in the twenty years.The rate of maternal death was 57.5 / 100,000 in the former ten years, and 39.9/100,000 in the later ten years (P 0.05). The leading cause of maternal death was obstetric hemorrhage, the following causes were pregnancy induced hypertension, amniotic embolism, and sever hepatitis and cardiac disease in pregnancy. Conclusion:Obstetric hemorrhage is still the main reason in the maternal death. It is essential to prevent obstetric hemorrhage to decrease maternal mortality.