Study of pregnant women's mortality in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari province in a 10-year period (2002-2012)

Women’s pregnancy- and childbirth-associated mortality is one of the most important indices of a country’s development status. Therefore, It was examined the mortalities of pregnant women in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari province within a 10-year period. This descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective study was conducted in 2013-2014 in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari province. All files of the pregnant women from 2002 to 2012 were examined. Within this 10-year period, 28 (17.2% of 100000 live births) pregnant women died. The mean age of women was 31.1±5.9 years old and the mean gestational age was 35.17±6.61 years old. The majority of the women were illiterate and rural (71.4%). A high proportion (46.4%) of the women experienced ≥4th pregnancy and most (46.4% of the) deliveries were cesarean. 19 (67.9% of the) deaths were directly pregnancy-related and nine were indirectly pregnancy-related. The most prevalent reasons for direct and indirect deaths were bleeding and heart disease, respectively. 4 (14.28% of the) died women whose death was due to direct reasons did not receive complete pregnancy healthcare. Regarding the results, promotion of literacy and knowledge of mothers, prevention from repeated pregnancies in older ages, appropriate pregnancy healthcare, and prevention from unnecessary cesareans help to decrease mortalities among pregnant women.